In lawsuit against former Little Rock officer who fatally shot teen, jury debating

After telling a judge they could not reach a unanimous verdict late Wednesday night, the jurors in a federal civil trial against a former Little Rock police officer who fatally shot a teenage burglary suspect in 2012 will resume deliberations this morning.

The 11 jurors hearing the wrongful-death lawsuit against Josh Hastings sent a note to Chief U.S. District Judge Brian Miller at about 10 p.m., 9½ hours into their deliberations, saying that they were unable to reach a verdict. Miller then sent them home, telling them to get some rest and be back at the courthouse at 9 a.m.

The jury is deciding whether Hastings, 31, used excessive force in the shooting of Bobby Moore III -- what Moore's family has said was a violation of the teen's Fourth Amendment rights -- and whether any other reasonable officer would have used the same type of force.

Moore's mother, Sylvia Perkins, filed the wrongful-death lawsuit in federal court in 2015 against Hastings, former Little Rock Police Chief Stuart Thomas and the city. Earlier this year, Miller dismissed Thomas and the city from the case.

Hastings faced manslaughter charges in two criminal trials, in 2013 and 2014. Both ended in mistrials after jurors could not agree on verdicts.

On Wednesday night, Miller told the jurors that the civil case will have to be retried if they cannot reach a verdict.

The civil trial centers on the Aug. 12, 2012, shooting at the Shadow Lake Apartments complex, 13111 W. Markham St. Hastings and another officer went to the complex to investigate car break-ins. The two split up in an attempt to box in the suspects. After hearing glass breaking, Hastings parked his car and peeked through a gate, spotting Moore and two other teens. He scaled the gate to get into the complex grounds and hid behind a dumpster.

Hastings saw the three teens starting to get away and popped out from behind the dumpster in an attempt to stop the Honda Civic that Moore was driving.

What happened next has been at the heart of the issues.

Hastings said he initially thought the teens were trying to scare him but soon realized they were trying to run over him, prompting him to fire to "eliminate the threat." The two surviving teens testified in the civil trial that they were just trying to get away.

On Wednesday, Perkins' attorney, Mike Laux, and Keith Wren, who represents Hastings, made their closing arguments.

Laux recalled a scene in a Spider-Man movie in which character Peter Parker receives some advice from his uncle: "With great power comes great responsibility."

"A police officer is authorized by the state to take a human life on behalf of the state," Laux said. "There's one caveat: With great power comes great responsibility. So we hope, we pray that these individuals ... are focused, are level-headed, are dedicated and are truthful. Truthful."

He brought up Hastings' record with the Little Rock Police Department and said the former officer received special treatment because he is the son of a police captain, who is good friends with the former chief.

"Mr. Hastings has never had to stand on his own two feet," Laux said.

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Hastings had lied about his location during a police emergency, lied about investigating a 2012 burglary at a City Market store and lied about hearing another officer's "racist" statement, Laux said.

"He lied to you again in this courtroom when he said he heard [the statement] through the grapevine," Laux said. "I don't mean to be over the top here, but that should offend you in some way. ... You have no reason to believe anything this guy says."

During the trial -- after Laux pointed to an October deposition in which Hastings said he heard the other officer's statement -- Hastings testified that he was not within earshot when the officer made the statement but that he had heard it through gossip.

Laux called the day of the shooting a "he said, they said" situation.

The other teens -- Keontay Walker and Jeremiah Johnson -- said during the civil trial that Moore was driving slowly when Hastings popped out with a flashlight in one hand and a gun in the other. Johnson said Moore placed the Civic in reverse when the shots were fired. Walker testified that the car came to a stop after Hastings appeared, that he ducked down into the front passenger floorboard and that Moore had placed the car into reverse when the officer shot.

Moore suffered three gunshot wounds. One pierced a finger on his left hand, another went into the right side of his chest and the fatal shot entered his left temple. Daniel Dye, the former associate medical examiner for the state Crime Laboratory, said it was likely that the same bullet struck Moore's finger and chest first and that another struck his temple. A third was lodged in the Civic.

Laux called on jurors to use their common sense and said Hastings faced no serious threat of death.

"If you can shoot three times and get out of the way, you can get out of the way without shooting," he said. "Isn't that common sense?"

In his closing argument, Wren told jurors that all the evidence lined up with Hastings' story.

Both witnesses and Hastings said the shooting took place in front of the car and that Hastings was about 5 to 6 feet away from the teens. Wren questioned Walker's testimony that the car was stationary, saying a good shooter in short range of a stationary target would not have the span that the bullets in the windshield did. The attorney pointed out that Walker had been crouched down into the floorboard and could not see what was happening.

Hastings fired at the "last possible point" to stop the threat, Wren said. He added that no re-enactment could be a true re-enactment of the night in question because Hastings did not know how fast the Civic was going.

He called into question the testimony from Jeremy Cummings, an expert hired by Laux to review the case. Cummings, a biomechanical engineer, had created a diagram that put Hastings more than 6 feet into the road and incorrectly placed the bullet casings, Wren said.

"This is absurd," he said. "In order to make his theory work, he has to monkey with the evidence. It doesn't take a scientist to see he's just making this stuff up."

The attorneys and jury had been in the courtroom eight days to decide what Hastings had to decide in a matter of seconds, Wren said. He played the radio traffic from the time of the shooting to show his client's state of mind.

In the radio traffic, Hastings yelled, "Shots fired, shots fired, shots fired," and 12 seconds later keyed up his microphone and could only be heard saying "over." Hastings testified he was trying to tell other officers that he was almost run over, and Wren said he couldn't have made that up in 12 seconds.

In opening statements, Wren lifted a poster board with a photograph of a car above his head and sprinted toward the jury. He reminded jurors of the routine.

"I hope I didn't scare you," he said. "But I hope I did surprise you because that's what Josh Hastings was feeling that night."

The jury was a person short after a seated juror had a health matter before the first day of the trial. The role does not need to be filled, as civil cases can be tried with as few as six jurors, Miller has said.

Metro on 04/13/2017