DALLAS (AP) — A former suburban Dallas police officer has been found not guilty of aggravated assault for shooting an unarmed man twice in the back.
Jurors reached their decision Monday in the retrial of Derick Wiley, who was fired by the Mesquite Police Department after the 2017 shooting that wounded Lyndo Jones. Authorities have said the officer mistook Jones for a burglar while Jones was trying to unlock his own truck.
At trial, prosecutors portrayed Wiley as reckless and “hellbent on violence” on the night of the shooting. But Wiley’s attorney, Rafael Sierra, argued that the officer did not know Jones was unarmed and that he had to make a split-second decision.
In September, a judge declared a mistrial after the jury deadlocked in Wiley’s first trial.