he was indicted for a criminal offense, manslaughter. reporter: witnesses say the teen had his hands in the air in a gesture of surrender at the time of the shooting. thelma: it s proven evidence. he surrendered. that s murder. he just shot him when he gave up. paul: listen, this was a tragedy, but phillip was a kid who had a gun who shouldn t ve had a gun. gervonn: it just didn t fit the narrative of a young boy that grew up in this community. i mean, this was teaneck. walter: to me, the facts in the case are so obvious, at least in this instance. we re going to get justice (music) reporter: we reported this morning defense lawyer robert galantucci surprised everyone in the courtroom, especially the prosecution team, by calling the defendant himself to the stand. let s go to the courtroom now live, where gary spath is testifying in his own behalf. mike: we didn t know that gary spath would testify as the trial began. there was some concern on the part of spath s defense atto
courtroom for the trial of new jersey versus police officer gary spath. mike: it is extremely rare for police officers to be put on trial. this was a police officer who claimed he was doing his duty. and in the course of doing his duty, he was indicted for a criminal offense, manslaughter. reporter: witnesses say the teen had his hands in the air in a gesture of surrender at the time of the shooting. thelma: it s proven evidence. he surrendered. that s murder. he just shot him when he gave up. paul: listen, this was a tragedy, but phillip was a kid who had a gun who shouldn t ve had a gun. gervonn: it just didn t fit the narrative of a young boy that grew up in this community. i mean, this was teaneck. walter: to me, the facts in the case are so obvious, at least in this instance. we re going to get justice (music) reporter: we reported this morning defense lawyer robert galantucci surprised everyone in the courtroom, especially the prosecution team, by calling the defendant
thelma: when he walked on the stand, you know, i m telling you, i was saying he s nothing but the devil. that s what i said to myself. he is going to come up and he is going to say he was afraid of his life. he tried to save his life and not going to the jail or whatever. so i knew he going to try to defend himself. spath: and just spun. like this. franklin: that was the story that they were propagating, that the officer felt a threat to his life and physical well-being. the case by the prosecution was that there was
than his share of unholstering his gun. there should have been a very large red flag. jackie: i did learn that there had been some problems when he used his gun and maybe should not have. but again, i felt that what happened on april 10th was not some trigger happy police officer running around looking for a black person to harass or even worse. i felt that it was a tragic mistake. luis: well, what we learned at the academy was the only time you draw your weapon and shoot it, is to prevent the imminent threat of death or bodily harm to yourself or someone else. william: police officers could go their entire careers and never shoot their gun at all. when you have 16 firearm discharges
mike: gary spath presented himself as a victim. he felt he had been mistreated by the legal system and the media. spath: the media had completely sensationalized the shooting and pretty much judged me to be guilty from the start, especially mike kelly at the bergen record, turned the armed- turned the armed suspect into an innocent choirboy who was shot in the back while playing an innocent game of basketball in a schoolyard. i was no longer the good guy, protecting and serving a community and bergen record made sure of that. mike: spath was not only just over the top, but he was downright inaccurate. he said things that were simply not true. never once have they ever referred to phil pannell as being an armed suspect. those words never came out of their mouths. it was never written. this would be about politics and race, not about a cop doing his job chasing an armed felon.