Former St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley was found not guilty of first-degree murder in the 2011 shooting death of Anthony Lamar Smith.Stockley, who is white, shot Smith, a black man, five times after a high-speed car chase following an encounter in a fast food restaurant parking lot where Stockley believed Smith was participating in a drug deal. A gun was found in Smith's car after the shooting with Stockley's DNA, suggesting he had planted it. But St. Louis Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson was not swayed by that evidence.
"This Court, in conscience, cannot say that the State has proven every element of murder beyond a reasonable doubt, or that the State has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant did not act in self-defense," Wilson wrote in his ruling.St. Louis Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson wrote in his ruling.
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