Jury deliberations will stretch into a third day in the case of a white police officer kicking an unarmed black man in the head during a stop two years ago.
State prosecutors and the defense attorney for Dover Police Cpl. Thomas Webster rested their cases Friday just before noon. Jurors deliberated for the rest of that day and throughout Monday.
They shortly convened before noon today [Monday] to ask Judge Ferris Wharton to better define “gross deviation” in relation to Webster’s professional conduct that night in August 2013.
Wharton said there was no legal definition and for jurors to use their “common, ordinary understanding” of the phrase when rendering a verdict.
Dozens of black activists have packed the courtroom all week and showed up with signs Monday calling for “justice now” and a few with Webster’s face on it, saying he’s guilty.
Webster faces a single second-degree assault charge, a felony that could land him in prison for up to eight years.
The jury could also convict him of misdemeanor third-degree assault, carrying a jail term of up to a year. The decision must be unanimous.
Jurors will reconvene at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
