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
irresp. not responsible for their actions. the question becomes when will civilians hold them accountable? natacha: maybe the police have learned a lot from my brother s death, but has teaneck? they still won t honor my brother. they just said, no, we re not going to have phillip pannell s name on, on the mural. and why? if you want this mural and you re going so hard for this mural, you take it or leave it. (birds chirping) limu emu & doug it s nice to unwind after a long week of telling people how liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. showtime. whoo! i m on fire tonight. (limu squawks) yes! limu, you re a natural. we re not counting that. only pay for what you need. liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty.
the town that s made up of almost 30% black people. the town that was the first to voluntarily integrate schools in this country, the same town that mourns and never forgets the life of phillip pannell, back in 1990. phillip pannell s name was denied approval to be painted on this mural, but his life matters. while his name is not physically on here, let s have this mural be a representation in our hearts and minds of his legacy and that every single black brother and sister whose lives have been stolen had a legacy, too. (music) natacha: i was angry because all these years later, teaneck has still never acknowledged my brother. but then some of the young people that were on that blm mural committee, along with the superintendent and the board of education, said, no, you know, we re going to do a second mural and we re going to make sure that phillip pannell s name is on there.
i think the town overcame as best as it could, this tumultuous period, and therefore my objective was to try to get the mural and focus on what will bring us together as a community and not what will continue to divide us. (music) javalda: there s a schedule. as people come, they re going to get in their group and whoever s taken area a, they come, they get their group, they do their letter. we have it all planned out what letter is going when. male: thank you (music) natacha: with the council saying we don t want phillip pannell s name on there, i wasn t going to go to the blm mural painting, but the young people, they motivated me to go. my mom convinced me to go.