Personal bias. I was disappointed no doubt about it. However, he relied on the law. And the inputs which are the charges and the indictment which he could not control, dictated his output. I think that it was an inappropriate charge from the start there were many other officers there and there could have been charges that would have implicated the other officers who did set this chain of events which caused death, into motion. Which is exactly how and why mr. Brelo was acquitted. So joey one thing that the judge pointed out, is that causation was a real problem in this case. And it appears that thats one of the things that that led to his decision of not guilty on both counts. He did indeed joe. You know its interesting, though whenever a judge acts as a finder of fact in addition to a concluder of law, the judge of course is placed in a position as a jury would be placed in. Its interesting because the judge certainly could have gone another route had he credited expert testimony. And remember what the judge said he evaluated and took the unusual step of getting off the bench, demonstrating as you see with the dummies that were there. The trajectory angles. What bullet caused what. You know and essentially what he was saying joe, was that you know at the end of the day, it was a fatal shot that was fired by brelo. But there were other fatal shots as well. And whos to say that those shots were not equally in terms of causing the death, responsible for causing the death. Had he concluded that the expert is the expert said that brelos shot was the cause of death, he certainly cover went the other way. Did not draw such a conclusion. And as a result of that said that it was not the straw that broke the camels back. Causation could not be established and as a result he would be found not guilty. Well the hope now is that things will stay peaceful in cleveland, but of course remember this is coming after a twoyear Justice Department investigation that found Cleveland Police used guns tasers pepper spray and their fists excessively, unnecessarilior or in retaliation. And this particular case was part of that investigation. So to look further into whats going to happen from this point on and to examine it we want to send it over to our colleague, fredricka witfield, who has been sitting here with us watching this whole thing unfold. Were going to continue the conversation. Walter madison is going to stick with us as well as joey jackson now talking about the equital of officer Michael Brelo there in cleveland, ohio. Its 11 00 on the east coast. Hello, everyone. Welcome to the news room and Avery Friedman in cleveland with us now. The breaking news a continuation of the discussion a Police Officer found not guilty of voluntary platte anywhere the deaths of an unarmed man and woman. That of Timothy Russell and Melissa Williams. The verdict read just moments ago from the judge. There you see the tearful brelo there, hearing that he is acquitted after being one of 13 officers who fired 137 shots. Killing Timothy Russell and Melissa Williams after a police chase back in november 29 2012. Brelo jumped on to the hood of the car and fired into the windshield. And you heard the judge there saying while one of his shots, if not at least one of those shots may have led to a fatal injury. It appeared based on medical examiners report that likely the prior shots are what caused the deaths of those two people. This is what the car, you saw the image of the vehicle with the bulletriddled windshield thats what it looked like after the shooting. There again, the vehicle that they were driving. Ryan young is also live in cleveland, hell be joining us a a reporter there on the scene. So lets talk more about how the judge rendered this decision. Again back with me attorney Walter Madison, hes also the attorney for the tamir rice family out of cleveland, ohio. That investigation still ongoing. Avery freeman with us as well and joey jackson. So walter and joey weve been hearing from you all this morning. I want to hear from you as well first, avery this right in your back yard as well. This was an unusual style. Here were talking about a saturday and a decision rendered by this judge. It was Michael Brelos decision not to have a jury trial. But instead one commandered by the judge. And the judge didnt just read his verdict. But he he really set the stage, did he not, with the justification, as to why he rendered the decision. And these live pictures right now of people reacting outside the courthouse. Upon hearing. In fact think we can hear what theyre, what theyre saying lets listen in. No peace no peace no justice why . Why . [ crying ] why, why, why . Clearly a real disappointment there and sadness that the officer would be found not guilty of the deaths of Timothy Russell and Melissa Williams. Avery to you, the style of the judge as to set the stage as to why he was rendering this decision. How unusual was this or how necessary in your view might this have been . Well i think what judge John Odonnell was doing, fredricka, was putting this case first of all in a national perspective. He talked about ferguson he talked about charleston. He talked about new york. And he talked about baltimore. And he explained how important the process involving the rule of law is. And after setting that up what he did, he was very precise in analyzing not only the specifics of what the experts had to say, but then making a determination of accepting and rejecting some of the expert testimony. And this is what happens. Remember if it were a jury we may have seen a very different result. It would have been a clevelandbased jury. But the defendant has the right to waive that so it was on the shoulders of one individual and thats judge John Odonnell and thats exactly what he did. And i think within this community, that verdict is a surprise to many. Because i think the opinion at least, and these are nonlegal opinions of course but the opinion generally in the community is that it was pretty 50 50. Most cut down the middle on whether or not there was going to be a guilty verdict here. And walter if i could bring you into the equation here here are you in the studio with me but cleveland is your town as well. And so was this a surprise to you that a decision would be rendered this way . Even though the judge said based on a lot of medical testimony, he helped set the stage as to what bullet holes did what at what time. To best you know he could account based object the knowledge of the medical examiners . The conclusion and the manner is not a surprise. Cleveland all along has developed a practice and a pattern of releasing information late friday or even on the weekend when it would get the least amount of attention. As the case is brought, the county controlled that. They selected this charge and this particular defendant. Why wouldnt a dozen Police Officers involved why did it fall on one officer, the one who was standing on the hood carrying out the final shots, why would he be the only one facing these. Charges . Thats. In the prosecutors discretion. , but thats the real issue. We cant fault. Judge odonnell for how he opined and found his conclusion. S. Of fact and law here. , for that matter i agree, causation always jumped out at me as a big problem in this case. Officers are. Issued the same weapons, same ammunition you know i dont know how they would have ever established causation on the part of mr. Brelo. Bad input, bad output. Did anyone see that it might present some questions, even after trial, with just one officer, when you had 13 officers who were involved . Well fredricka, i think the overriding concern, concerning brelos conduct was just that his conduct. He was the officer, notwithstanding the fuselage of 140 shots or so approximately being fired. His gun there were 49 that were fired. In addition to that he was the officer who jumped up on the hood and started dischargeing his weapon. Using the victims as target practice. They took issue with his conduct. When you look at the overall judges decision one of the things about the law is that essentially a judge, through reasoned judgment applying lawsuit to the facts, can reach any conclusion that they think is just. And of course whenever a judge puts themselves in a position and i shouldnt say puts themself. Certainly the defendant opted to go with the judge. But the judge is now, fredricka, acting as a finder of fact. Acting in the province of a jury to determine what facts are provable what facts are not. A judge could have gone a different way if he credited certain facts, for example, facts suggesting by medical testimony that brelos shot was indeed the shot that took the life of those victims. He decided that that was not clear to him. And certainly was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Programs another judge may have reached another conclusion perhaps a jury would have reached a different conclusion. Based on the expert testimony, him saying that that shot alone did not establish to him, was the cause of the death and that was not the straw that broke the camels back and therefore he opted to acquit. Im hearing you walter and i have avery with your audible noises as to the judges finder of fact i want to get your comments on that in a moment. But first, just moments ago, brelos attorney spoke outside the courtroom. Patrick dangelo this is what he had to say. Having said that, i would like to state that it was my privilege to have represented officer brelo. Coy not have done it without the team that we had of tom shaugnessy Fernando Mack and marissa seraut. They were all equal and important contributors. Its clear to me after a 37year career that the civil rights lawyers that everyone talks about were on display in this courtroom. One of us one of our citizens was taken on by the state of ohio. And the prosecution in this case spared no expense and was in fact ruthless. But notwithstanding that we fought tooth and nail as you saw in this courtroom. It was classically a case of david versus goliath. And at the end, you saw lawyering at i think its very highest level in this courtroom. And i dont say that as a braggert. Im proud to have played a role in this case. And i hope that all the naysayers out there, all the socalled plaintiffs lawyers that claim that theyre civil rights lawyers and never tried one of these damn cases to a verdict. But theyre out there for a money grab all the time. Officer brelo was the judges opinion set forth, risked his life on that night. We regret and we acknowledge that two people died. None of us like that and that in fact was a tragedy. But at the end of the day, that tragedy was brought about by conscious decisionmaking and lifestyles that those two individuals irrespective of their mental states voluntarily took throughout their adult lives this Society Needs personal responsibility. And all of us need to look in the mirror. The naacp has been at the forefront of the fight for civil rights. But the fight for civil rights should not be premised upon the color of ones skin. And many in this community that profess to be civil rights advocates and who claim all these lofty principles of setting innocent people free after theyre wrongfully quicked and prosecuted [ crying ] sorry about that. We were still hearing from the attorney Patrick Deangelo the representative of Michael Brelo. And called this a ruthless act, the pursuit of this one officer for all that took place on that november 29th back with me now, Walter Madison and joey jackson and Avery Friedman both avery and walter youre familiar with cleveland this is your home town. And let me just go to you first, walter. You said this in your view is classic victimblaming hearing from the attorney there who said you know this was wrong, to pursue his client. And that the outcome is fair and just. And you know, i clearly disagree with that and so does the department of justice and our United States government when they wrote that scathing report about the excessive patterns of abuse and violence. Mr. Brelo should have been indicted as well as others. Our focus clearly is on the input here versus the output. I dont disagree with the operation of law. I think the judge came to a reasonable conclusion with what he had to make the decision. You know what he had to base his decision upon. And i have tried cases, hundreds of them. And i can see this a mile away. That causation was going to be an issue. Its unfortunate. Spent a lot of money prosecuting this case and rehashing the injury for this family and who they are and what they are has nothing to do with being shot 137 times. So avery, in your view case closed . You know Involuntary Manslaughter not guilty. Theres an acquittal of this officer. Is there any recourse for the prosecution to pursue any of the other officers the other 12 officers . Well actually unbeknownst to most there are pending criminal cases against a handful of the officers involved. Those cases are of a minor nature. But the case isnt over in terms of civil claims. I heard Patrick Deangelo talk about civil rights lawyers. Well patrick and i actually cocounselled in a case against the klu klux klan. So in a sense patrick was a civil rights lawyer in that case and he he was a civil rights lawyer in a sense for Michael Brelo. His job was to assert constitutional protections and frankly, judge odonnell bought it. So at the end of the day im not sure i understood what he was talking about after that. Im also in agreement with walter and joey that in terms of what judge odonnell did, in carefully looking at expert testimony, looking at the circumstances, thats the call that judges make as finders of fact and it may very well be that it is the end of it in terms of the criminality issue. But i dont think its the end of it in terms of civil potential civil claims. All right. Weve got more straight ahead. I want to continue our conversation with Avery Freeman, joey jackson and Walter Madison and ryan young who is in cleveland will be joining us right after this. If you struggle with type 2 diabetes youre certainly not alone. Fortunately, many have found a different kind of medicine that lowers blood sugar. Imagine what it would be like to love your numbers. Discover oncedaily invokana®. Its the 1 prescribed in the newest class of medicines that work with the kidneys to lower a1c. 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Tell your doctor about any medical conditions medications you are taking and if you have kidney or liver problems. Using invokana® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may increase risk of low blood sugar. Its time. Lower your blood sugar with invokana®. Imagine loving your numbers. Theres only one invokana®. Ask your doctor about it by name. Hello, everyone im fredricka witfield. Welcome to the newsroom. Live pictures in cleveland after Police OfficerMichael Brelo is found not guilty of two counts of voluntary manslaughter in the case of november 29th 2012. Two people in their vehicle. Were chased by police and 13 officers unloading their weapons on Timothy Russell and Melissa Williams. The two dying in their vehicle. But the judge this morning, judge john p. Odonnell saying while there were fatal shots, administered by Police Officers it was difficult to discern which fatal shots came from which officers. Helping to justify a not guilty verdict. Saying this officer, Michael Brelo was legally excused in his participation in what turned out to be the deaths of these two people. Youre sheing live pictures youre seeing Police Officers in riot gear and youre hearing from many yelling no justice, no peace. But clearly live pictures right now. People very upset with the verdict of not guilty. For officer Michael Brelo. Lets continue our conversation with attorneys Walter Madison of cleveland, but joining me here in atlanta. Avery friedman also in cleveland and joey jackson, cnn analyst as well. Joey i want to hear from you. Because while while the judge even said it is likely that this is a case. That is you know provoking a lot of emotion, not just in cleveland but across the country, and now youre seeing images of people who are upset with this verdict. At the same time theyre being met with Police Officers in riot gear and one has to wonder whether this helps quell, maintain peace, or if this helps instigate. Sure. Fredricka. You know the judges job of course is to assess the facts before him. And make a decision on what those facts were in the court of law. I think there are certainly ways you can disagree with the judges decision if you disagree obviously with what this officer did. And there are ways that you can support it. I think that