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
and i m gonna address theunited states of america. gary: there s no doubt that night. it was a textbook procedure. i had no choice. i was forced to take a life. i was a white cop whoshot a black 16-year-old. (protestors chanting) natacha: i would like toaddress all law enforcement across the country and around the world. honor the oath. (dramatic music) gary: the other officerskept repeating: he did the right thing.he had no choice. it was a good shoot. reporter: the death ofphillip pannell brought rage the streets of normallypeaceful teaneck, new jersey. m2: this was middle-classmodel city, american. alison: we live in teaneck.this doesn t happen in teaneck. w2: it wasn t the utopia ithought it was for many people. (dramatic music) thelma: we enduredthis pain for 30 years, now we re back here again. crowd: yeah, (music) natacha: on my honor,i will never betray my integrity forthe public trust. m3: the fact of the matter isphillip pannell was executed. m4: i don t care how
i just couldn t understand. like, if a man or a person getting shot in the back and you don t see no wrong with that, you know. i don t understand that. natacha: as we were leaving, it was such a crazy feeling and so bizarre. we had to get out of there. our chests were tight. like, you know, we couldn t breathe. reporter: to the family and friends of phillip pannell, this verdict, according to them, shows that a black person cannot get justice in america. they criticized the fact that in a racially sensitive case like this one, there never should have been an all white jury hearing the evidence. reporter2: spath said he thought his life was being threatened. the jury sided with the police officer. male: to have a jury return a verdict in 9 hours. it s almost as though the jury said, let s hurry up and do this thing and so we can get home for dinner.
she remarried now and her current husband, my step pops, he s a good guy. my father had a landscaping business, and despite that fact that he had an alcohol problem overall, he was a good father. you know, nobody s perfect. my father passed away in 2016. on my father s deathbed, his wish was for me to just go on with my life and just to be happy. i just became passionate about changing the world. i m going to change the world like a crusader, so to speak. i ve spent my whole life from 13 until 45 dedicating time towards preventing this from happening to any other family. but there were so many cases after my brother. reporter: ten years ago today, 17 year old trayvon martin was gunned down by george zimmerman. trayvon s killing launched a movement, but the harming of black bodies continued. freddie gray. eric garner. michael brown. breonna taylor.