Former Chicago police Officer Howard Morgan was pulled over by police on Feb. 21, 2005, for driving the wrong way on a one-way street. By the time the stop was completed, he'd been shot 28 times. What happened in between has been the subject of an intense debate and two trials.
According to police, Morgan opened fire with his service weapon when officers tried to arrest him. His family and 2,600 people who signed a Change.org petition doubt that story, the Huffington Post reports:
"Four white officers and one black Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad police man with his weapon on him — around the corner from our home — and he just decided to go crazy? No. That’s ludicrous," Morgan's wife, Rosalind Morgan, told the Chicago Sun-Times.
A jury even cleared him of opening fire on the officers, but deadlocked on a charge of attempted murder. A second jury, which was not allowed to hear that he'd been acquitted of the other charges, found him guilty in January, and he now faces up to 80 years in prison.
Protesters and Morgan's family believe that the second trial was the equivalent of double jeopardy, and they argue that police officers have obstructed justice.
Watch this clip about the case:
Read more at the Huffington Post.
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