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		</div><h6><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Three Chicago police officers go on trial for ‘fabricating a cover story’ designed to protect their colleague who was involved in the of murder of a black teenager while on duty</strong></span></h6>
<h6><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Two months after their colleague, former officer Jason Van Dyke was convicted of murder, they are on trial for lying, to cover up improper conduct </strong></span></h6>
<h6><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Former Detective David March, Police Officers Thomas Gaffney and Joseph Walsh are accused of &#8216;fashioning a story&#8217;, designed to subvert the course of justice</strong></span></h6>
<h6><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Officer Jason Van Dyke riddled Laquan McDonald&#8217;s body full of bullets in October 2014 and lied that the teen charged at him, causing him to draw and fire</strong></span></h6>
<h6><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>In October Van Dyke was found guilty of second degree murder and aggravated battery in the death of Laquan McDonald</strong></span></h6>
<h6><strong><span style="color: #000000;">Three of his colleagues have been charged, but deny trying to help him avoid the consequence</span></strong><span style="color: #000000;">s</span></h6>
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<h6 class="count-text"><strong><img class="alignnone wp-image-302075" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/David-March-left-Thomas-Gaffney-center-and-Joseph-Walsh-right-1.png" alt=" David March (left), Thomas Gaffney (center) and Joseph Walsh (right) 1.png" width="800" height="482" />Former Det. David March [left], officers Thomas Gaffney [center] and Joseph Walsh appear at a pre-trial hearing at Leighton Criminal Court Building in Chicago in October</strong></h6>
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<div id="google_ads_iframe_/424397508/dm.dailymailtvhouse_0__container__">The trial of three Chicago police officers charged with lying in official reports to protect a fellow officer who was convicted of second-degree murder after he fired 16 shots into a black teenager has begun.</div>
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<p class="mol-para-with-font">Laquan McDonald, 17, was shot dead by Jason Van Dyke despite being contained by other officers and one with a taser being 25 seconds away in Chicago in October 2014.<br />
Shocking dash-cam footage of the incident shows the teenager twitching on the road as McDonald continues to blast shots into his body.<br />
Former officers Joseph Walsh and David March and Officer Thomas Gaffney &#8216;violated the public trust&#8217; when they &#8216;began to fashion a story [and] create lies that were designed to help [Jason] Van Dyke avoid the consequences of his actions,&#8217; Special Prosecutor Patricia Brown Holmes said during opening statements yesterday.</p>
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<h6 class="mobile-gallery-icon"><img class="alignnone wp-image-302079" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Joseph-Walsh-second-left-back-David-March-and-Thomas-Gaffney-2.png" alt=" Joseph Walsh [second left, back], David March and Thomas Gaffney 2.png" width="796" height="544" /><strong>Former Chicago police officer Joseph Walsh [second left, back] former Detective David March and Officer Thomas Gaffney arrive in court for the first day of the trial at Leighton Criminal Court Building on Tuesday</strong></h6>
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<div>Special prosecutor Holmes said the defendants violated the public’s trust when they chose to protect Jason Van Dyke over telling the truth.</div>
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<p>Holmes said the officers exaggerated the threat posed by McDonald in their police reports in order to shield Van Dyke from scrutiny, but the now-infamous police dashboard camera video exposed the truth. “Instead of serving and protecting all citizens of Chicago, the defendants tried to protect only one, Jason Van Dyke,” she said.</p>
<h6 class="mol-para-with-font"><img class="alignnone wp-image-302088" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Jason-Van-Dyke-6.png" alt="Jason Van Dyke 6.png" width="713" height="445" /><strong>Van Dyke [in tan suit], was charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery and official misconduct in the police involved fatal shooting and cover up of Black teenager, Laquan McDonald</strong></h6>
<p class="mol-para-with-font">The case against the three officers hinges largely on voluminous paperwork &#8212; as evidenced by the prosecution’s first witness, a Chicago police records department director who spent three hours going over numerous police reports on McDonald&#8217;s shooting line by line.<br />
Prosecutors used Joseph Perfetti as a way to introduce more than a dozen reports into evidence that they allege contain multiple falsehoods in an attempt to cover for Van Dyke’s actions.<br />
He pointed to testimony from Van Dyke&#8217;s partner that night, Joseph Walsh, who said he saw McDonald raise the knife, even though the video doesn&#8217;t show that. Van Dyke made similar claims on the witness stand as he told jurors that he was afraid for his life and acted according to his training.<span class="mol-style-bold"><br />
</span>&#8216;The video is not enough,&#8217; he said.<br />
He added: &#8216;It shows a perspective, but it&#8217;s the wrong perspective.&#8217;<br />
Furthermore, an investigator for the Cook County medical examiner’s office testified that detective March told him on the night of the shooting that the victim, Laquan McDonald lunged at officers with a knife before being shot.<br />
Earl Briggs said he got a call from March and confirmed that the narrative was correct before writing it in his report. However, a review of the dashcam video, does not show the teen lunging at the officers.<br />
James McKay, attorney for David March suggested that it may not have been March who called at all, despite the caller identifying himself as March, giving the detective’s assignment and badge number.</p>
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<h6 class="mobile-gallery-icon"><img class="alignnone wp-image-302086" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Laquan-McDonald-and-Jason-Van-Dyke-1.png" alt="Laquan McDonald and Jason Van Dyke 1" width="836" height="591" /><strong>Police dashcam shows Laquan McDonald [left], being shot 16 times by Jason Van Dyke [right], killing him. The jurors found Officer Van Dyke guilty of second-degree murder and aggravated battery. </strong></h6>
<div class="mobile-gallery-icon">Herbert did not note that Walsh is one of three officers charged with conspiring to cover up and lie about the circumstances of the October 20, 2014, shooting to protect Van Dyke.</div>
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<p class="mol-para-with-font">Jurors were told only that Walsh was testifying under &#8216;use immunity,&#8217; meaning his testimony can&#8217;t be used against him as long as he was truthful, but were never told about the allegations he faces.<br />
The jury panel was made up of eight women and four men, seven of them white, one black, three Hispanic and one Asian voted to convict Van Dyke after hearing that police encountered McDonald after a 911 call reported someone breaking into vehicles.<br />
As officer Van Dyke arrived, police had the 17-year-old mostly surrounded on a city street. An officer with a Taser was just 25 seconds away, when he drew his service ahandgun and shot the youth 16 times at close range.<br />
<img class=" wp-image-302082 alignleft" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Laquan-McDonald-2.jpg" alt="Laquan McDonald 2" width="231" height="302" /></p>
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<div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery">The case marked what is believed to be the first time in Chicago history police have faced criminal charges for trying to cover up the actions of a fellow officer in an on-duty shooting.</div>
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<p class="mol-para-with-font">Defense attorneys, however, have dismissed any suggestion that their clients created a cover story to help Van Dyke in the killing of teen victim, Laquan McDonald [left].<br />
The defense also took a tack that proved unsuccessful for Van Dyke&#8217;s attorneys in the trial that ended with a conviction on second-degree murder and aggravated battery charges. They pinned the blame for McDonald&#8217;s death on the shoulders of the teen who was shot 16 times.<br />
&#8216;This is a case about law and order,&#8217; March&#8217;s attorney, James McKay, told the judge. &#8216;It&#8217;s about Laquan McDonald not following any laws that night.&#8217;<br />
McKay also called McDonald a &#8216;crazed individual&#8217; with the drug PCP in his system.<br />
William Fahy, Gaffney&#8217;s attorney, agreed. He reminded the judge that McDonald had punctured the tire of Gaffney&#8217;s squad car and smashed a knife into the windshield of the vehicle. Fahy said &#8216;that was an assault.&#8217;<br />
&#8216;The evidence will show Laquan McDonald looked (Gaffney) in the eye and raised that knife,&#8217; he said.</p>
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<h6 class="mobile-gallery-icon"><strong><img class="alignnone wp-image-302087" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Jason-Van-Dyke-4.jpg" alt="Jason Van Dyke 4.jpg" width="675" height="421" />In a landmark trial, a jury in Chicago convicted police officer Jason Van Dyke [left], last month for shooting dead black teenager Laquan McDonald</strong></h6>
<h6><strong><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-302091" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/David-March-1.jpg" alt="David March 1.jpg" width="760" height="443" />Former detective David March [photo], allegedly led the cover up web</strong></h6>
<div>Testimony from prosecution witnesses focused on the police reports that the men wrote, and the differences between what they put on paper and the dashcam video that the jury in Van Dyke&#8217;s trial saw several times.</div>
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<p class="mol-para-with-font">Joseph Perfetti, a civilian director of the police department&#8217;s record services division, read from March&#8217;s report on the witness stand.<br />
&#8216;Criminal attacked officer,&#8217; Perfetti said was written in the former detective&#8217;s report of what happened the night of Oct. 20, 2014, when Officer Van Dyke confronted McDonald. &#8216;Then that officer killed criminal.&#8217;<br />
An investigator for the Cook County medical examiner&#8217;s office testified that March telephoned him to say the teenager lunged at Van Dyke before being shot.<br />
Earl Briggs said March called on the night McDonald was shot by Van Dyke with details about what happened.</p>
<h6><strong><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-302092" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Joseph-Walsh-and-Thomas-Gaffney.jpg" alt="Joseph Walsh and Thomas Gaffney.jpg" width="760" height="964" />Former Chicago police officer Officer Thomas Gaffney and Joseph Walsh [right] along with former Detective David March are on trial for the McDonald police killing cover up</strong></h6>
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<h6 class="mobile-gallery-icon"><strong><img class="alignnone wp-image-302080" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Jason-Van-Dyke-4.png" alt="Jason Van Dyke 4.png" width="709" height="450" />Jason Van Dyke is led away after his guilty verdict on October 5 after this murder trial in the shooting death of Laquan McDonald, in Chicago </strong></h6>
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<div class="vjs-has-started vjs-visually-ready vjs-controls-enabled vjs-default-skin video-js vjs-paused vjs-user-inactive">Briggs acknowledged the report he drew up that night reflected what March told him. He said he read his report back to March, who confirmed it was correct.</div>
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<p class="mol-para-with-font">McKay asserted the man Briggs talked to may not have been his client.<br />
The three men are on trial for felony charges of obstruction of justice, official misconduct and conspiracy.<br />
March and Walsh are no longer with the department, while Gaffney has been suspended.<br />
The bench trial, in which a judge and not a jury will decide the defendants&#8217; guilt or innocence, is expected to last about a week.<br />
Van Dyke has yet to be sentenced for the murder of McDonald but faces between four and twenty years behind bars.</p>
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