Ex-officer not guilty of manslaughter in Georgia shooting

WOODBINE, Ga. (AP) — A former Georgia police officer who fatally shot a fleeing, unarmed black man was acquitted Saturday of voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter.

The jury, however, found Zechariah Presley guilty of violating his oath of office in the 2018 shooting of Tony Green, 33, in coastal Camden County near the Georgia-Florida state line.

Presley was ordered to be jailed pending sentencing Oct. 18. He faces a prison term of one to five years.

Presley sat silently at the defense table. Green's relatives wiped away tears after the verdict was read.

Pastor Mack De'Von Knight, whose church Green attended, denounced the acquittals outside the courthouse, saying the evidence was "open and shut."

"He admitted that he killed Tony Green in cold blood," Knight said. "To me, it's hunting season for the young black man and we're being gunned down in the streets and there's no repercussions, there's no consequences for these officers."

Though Presley's body camera recorded his fatal encounter with Green, darkness and something covering the camera lens obscured the shooting and the moments leading up to it. That left the jury to weigh Presley's court testimony recalling what had occurred with a sometimes conflicting account by prosecutors and investigators.

Presley said he followed Green's car on the night of June 20, 2018, because he believed Green was driving with a suspended license. Dash camera video showed Green drive the car off the road, then open the door and run. He briefly returned to the vehicle to grab an unseen object, then fled again.

Presley chased Green on foot down a darkened street. A short struggle followed that's not visible on the video. The recording picked up the electrified clicking sound from Presley's Taser, followed by eight...