Unarmed Black Male This World

This programme contains very strong language

and from the start contains scenes which some viewers may find upsetting.

MUFFLED CONVERSATION OVER RADIO

It's not as easy as it looks in the movies.

You don't just shoot somebody and, "OK, let's go back to work,"

or, you know...

There's nobody out there that it doesn't weigh heavily on.

There's so many people out there

trying to kill you for absolutely no reason.

I can't tell you how many times I've been assaulted on the job.

It's just... It's part of the job.

-NEWSREADERS:

-..police are investigating a deadly altercation

between a Portsmouth officer and a suspect.

Gunfire rattled customers and morning commuters

outside Walmart just 30 minutes after the store opened.

Investigators say an officer shot and killed the 18-year-old suspect.

It was an 18-year-old male.

He allegedly shoplifted from this Walmart.

And the guy came at him

and we heard two shots and the cop took a shot at him.

And the guy fell, I mean, he went down quick.

Deadly force has gained national attention

ever since a teenager was shot dead in Ferguson, Missouri.

Deadly force used once again here.

I did exactly what I was trained to do.

I followed the department policy step by step.

I followed our training step by step.

I followed the law.

Normally, you get three weeks of administrative leave

where they investigate if you did anything wrong.

And then you come back to work after that three weeks

and, uh, they give you a medal for a valorous act,

if that's appropriate, which it usually is.

Three weeks and a medal.

We begin with breaking news in Portsmouth,

where a police officer has been indicted for first-degree murder.

Today, the Office of the Commonwealth's attorney,

by way of direct indictment,

presented the case against Stephen Rankin

for the shooting death of William Chapman.

Stephen Rankin, the defendant, is now charged with first-degree murder

and the use of a firearm with the commission of a felony.

-Once the defendant...

-Nobody understood why she did that.

First-degree murder in Virginia involves premeditation.

The indisputable facts of the case,

the things that she can't get around,

are that I was called to this location

and that I had never met this guy before,

so she would have somehow had to say that

while driving my car,

I premeditated a murder of this individual,

and it's just... It doesn't make any sense.

Despite whatever the facts of the case are,

we've almost always a kneejerk reaction to,

"Oh, the police officer shot somebody, he must be wrong."

I believe it's not just me that's on trial,

I believe it's all American police officers are on trial right now.

And it's my butt that's in the hot-seat.

I called them and I said...

I said I heard about there was a shoot-out at Walmart

and somebody was dead at Walmart,

and they said it was a male...

First, they said it was a juvenile, then they said he was 18 or whatever

and I was like, "Well, my son is not home, and he goes to Walmart."

She asked me what his name was, and I told them.

And she said, "His name is what?" and I said it again.

And she's like, "Ma'am, please hold."

They came to my yard,

and I told them, don't come no closer, just let me know,

and they still didn't pay me no mind. They walked up to me,

I guess he had to be up close and personal when he told me,

and he were like, "Yes, ma'am, sorry, that was your son...William

"that passed at Walmart at 7.30-something in the morning."

And...I just hollered.

Say hey, Gabby! Gabby, hey!

Big girl!

I didn't want to hear it.

And I... I didn't want it to be true.

I didn't even tell my daughter that...

What they said out there, calling 911, I didn't even tell her.

But when she heard me holler, she already knew.

She ain't been the same since.

Since he shot my brother, I never came outside.

I feel like I'm taking a risk,

like my brother took a risk,

from going to Walmart, and I...

don't want nothing to happen to me.

I just...

I just feel scared.

Some people are talking about, "That's what he get,

"that's what he deserve, he was a thug."

My brother wasn't a thug.

He wasn't...like that. He didn't gangbang or nothing.

He wasn't into gangs.

He just liked doing karate and skateboarding.

You know the saying, like,

you know how people be like, "You, black boy, you act white"?

That's just how he is.

I was asleep all that day, and then when I woke up,

they were just like, "Your cousin got shot," or something.

I ain't know...cos it's a town with a lot of stuff going on.

A couple of my cousins got shot. But I ain't expect it to be him.

That just...

It hurt me, though, like, to see him got shot.

It really hurt.

He got hit in the face.

It's just weird, you know, when they talk about how William

-lunged at the officer or stuff like that.

-No.

He would have never did that. If anything, he would have ran.

You know, cos William wasn't no fighter.

He was a quiet child, and everyone understand.

He liked to read. He had a lot of books.

When I were young he used to take me to the library,

I'm like, "Where you going here, fool?

"I'm not no book-crazy, so I ain't like that!"

He used to like... He liked to read books and stuff at home.

So I don't really like the police.

They're supposed to protect you, but they kill you.

If I see that officer, I'm running.

Won't catch me.

GUNSHOT

SEVEN RAPID GUNSHOTS

GUNSHOT

FREDDIE SCREAMS

Freddie Gray broke his neck

after Baltimore police arrested him, back on April 12th.

-REPORTER:

-Gunfire and blood on the streets as protesters

continue for a second night surrounding the anniversary...

They're getting away with it!

They can do it again and again and again.

This, as massive protests erupt in major cities all across the country,

including Baltimore, New York City and Washington DC.

SHOUTING

PROTESTERS CHANT

PRESIDENT OBAMA: The fact is, in too many parts of this country,

a deep distrust exists

between law enforcement and communities of colour.

VIDEO PLAYS ON TABLET

We did watch it on YouTube.

And I was telling William,

I said, "William," I said, "it is very different out there."

He were like, "Mom, don't let it bother you."

He said, "That'll never be me."

Hey. How you doing?

All right.

It's crazy, like, I can't even keep my eyes open.

I got to get some sleep, I just can't.

You gon' need to be rested,

because it's going to be a tiring

and taxing process for you,

cos you're going to have to,

you know, sit there and hear everything as it comes in.

It's going to be difficult.

I want to see any sort of lies he's gonna say.

Wish I could stand up and say, "I disagree."

"You're lying." But I can't.

I can't tell you what's going to happen.

The good thing is, we're all from Portsmouth.

I know you have great faith in the people of this city, just like I do,

that they're going to get on that jury

and do the job that they're supposed to do.

We just want the truth, you know?

And just to give some life back to our family,

back to our community.

Just back to America, period.

That justice can be served, you know? That's all we're asking for.

And if we can't get justice in 2016, God knows, I don't know.

We're going to rise up again as a family.

And we're going to let the world know...

enough is enough.

Enough is enough.

It's really stressful.

There's a lot at stake,

especially it being a first-degree murder charge.

The max term for that is life in prison.

And Virginia doesn't have a parole programme,

so it would be life in prison.

It's scary.

It's so...

infuriating...

..to know that people who don't even know him would go to such lengths

to make him seem like such a terrible human being.

-FEMALE OFFICER:

-You don't need to be there, it's OK.

The climate in this country right now is extremely volatile.

The year running up to the indictment itself,

there had been protests and just constant news coverage.

And people making T-shirts and people making posters saying

that he should be charged.

So, no, we weren't surprised.

He had been tried and convicted in the media

long before the indictment ever came.

It's a dangerous time to be a police officer.

Is that a cop?

It's a cop down.

Dude, that's a cop down!

Dude, that's a cop down!

-Yeah, he shot five, seven times?

-It's a dude?!

-No, it's a sniper from up here somewhere.

-It's a sniper?!

-You hear the shots?

-Get down!

-Get down, get down.

-In the name of Jesus!

-SIRENS BLARE

Shit!

There's a fuckin' sniper. He shot four cops.

GUNSHOT

I'm not... You hear it! He's shootin' right now!

Can y'all see him?

GUNSHOT

Get back! Get back!

They're going to block us.

You can't... You're refusing us service?

Let it be known that Walmart is refusing us service.

Quiet, quiet, please!

You're more than welcome to come in and shop,

but we do not allow cameras in the building.

That's Walmart policy.

So if you're here to shop, you're more than welcome to do that.

-What do we want? CROWD:

-Justice!

-When do we want it?

-Now!

-What do we want?

-Justice!

-When do we want it?

-Now!

-What do we want?

-Justice!

-When do we want it?

-Now!

-What do we want?

-Justice!

I think they're coming out the other side.

-Justice!

-When do we want it?

-Now!

-What do we want?

-Justice!

-When do we want it?

-Now!

In this very spot, William Chapman was murdered one year ago.

Unarmed.

A young man who could have been your son, your brother,

your cousin, was murdered by an officer,

and we want to turn this over to William Chapman's mother so she

can let you know just what's on her heart tonight and going forward.

Hello.

Thank all of y'all.

Thank you. And I can't believe that this chalk is still here.

That's a sign, cos even though he's not here in person,

he's still here in spirit.

He'd want us...

He'd want us to keep speaking for him because he's not here

to speak for himself.

God knows he's not here, he's supposed to be here...

This is ridiculous. It's ridiculous!

It should have never happened.

That was my baby who went to that fuckin' store!

And he wanted to come home.

If he'd stepped off that street right there, he would've been home.

But he never made it. That man knew my baby wanted to go home!

And guess what? I'm still a little afraid...

-but I'm not alone no more.

-That's right, that's right.

I'm not alone no more.

APPLAUSE

Mine's going right here.

There you go.

Freedom is a God-given right.

And it's not up to me, and it's not up to you, and it's not up to

Stephen Rankin whether you make it back home.

So we're keeping the light on for justice.

This week is a very big week.

Wednesday starts the trial for Officer Rankin.

We want justice and we're tired of hearing "no conviction".

Justice for William, William Chapman.

ALL: William Chapman.

-William Chapman.

-William Chapman.

-William Chapman.

-William Chapman.

My baby.

My son that never came home.

Yeah, that's what I said, I'm not alone. I'm not alone no more. Yeah.

DOG BARKS

..A judge deciding on evidence in a former police officer's murder

trial, lawyers for former officer Stephen Rankin want to introduce

18-year-old William Chapman's school records into evidence.

Defence attorneys for the former Portsmouth cop charged with murder

plan to highlight the troubled history of the teen he killed...

Mr Chapman had a felony record as a juvenile.

He had an assaultive behaviour record.

So all those things are relevant in determining, who's the aggressor,

who's the one with the violent and turbulent background?

A court found him guilty -

in the juvenile system, it's called not innocent -

of four violent offences.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-How's everybody today?

-How are you?

-Is it happy hour time yet? Close enough?

The law allows, as we indicated during the hearing,

for the defence to introduce evidence of an alleged victim's

violent, aggressive or turbulent nature.

And the hope then is that, from these records,

you may be able to subpoena witnesses? Can you explain that?

-Potentially, yes.

-Of course, it's difficult because the family's

going to say that William Chapman is the victim

and he shouldn't be put on trial,

so he shouldn't have his dirt exposed in an open court.

What would you say about that?

We have an obligation to zealously represent our client,

and present a defence.

William Chapman is not on trial.

That's what I really think about that, OK?

What he did as a young man cannot reflect somebody shooting him

in the head with a gun. He was unarmed.

He was young, he grew up and he didn't get an opportunity

to become a man because Rankin shot him.

If we're going to go with background checks,

let's check out his police record.

SIREN BLARES

He was just banging on the door.

Like, he didn't do nothing bad.

I mean, he was super drunk.

I was like, in my head, I knew who it was, but I didn't know for sure.

So I knocked on my neighbour's door.

I told her, "We need to call cops," because she didn't want

to go downstairs and I didn't want to go downstairs.

I think, like, it's something what I did was wrong.

Because we shouldn't call police.

SIREN BLARES

GUNFIRE

MUFFLED SPEECH

Rankin said he charged him.

I'm telling you, he couldn't take three steps without falling down.

That's how drunk he was.

This is where I seen him last.

I left him right here.

I tripped over the steps a lot of times.

But I think he was banging right here, just knocking,

you know, trying to get in and yelling to Natalya, "Open the door."

And...when the cop came out of nowhere...

..he just, you know, "Hey, freeze," gave his command.

I think Kirill actually tripped over here.

Because when I saw his body, it was over here.

Officer Rankin's story was that Kirill had his hands in his pants.

Yeah, they're always going to say that, you know what I'm saying?

They're going to say that he had his hand in his pants.

They say that everybody.

You know, like the officer who shot the guy in Boston. He lied.

This is where they were.

Each and every last one of the shells that hit Kirill.

You can count the bullets, many times they shot him.

There's one, two, three, four...

..five, six, seven, eight,

nine, ten, 11...

It seemed like he was just going like this...

You know?

I think when he shot the first time, he was still alive.

I think when he got the first round in him, he was still alive.

Now you're in trouble.

So he finished up the job. It's an assassination. He killed him.

You fucked up, Rankin.

You fucked up.

You're a fuckin' asshole.

You killed my friend.

That's it.

When I read his statement,

it specifically said, "hand in the waistband".

A chill went up my spine.

And I realised this was not a standard line-of-duty shooting.

I realised that...

this was what he'd been waiting for.

I met Stephen Rankin when I was 17 years old.

He was 22, about to be 23.

I had been dating him for six weeks when he proposed.

Judging by the couch,

this must have been at my mom's house before we were married.

He used to like taking pictures of all of his guns.

Every time we were in the presence of any other police officer

or any person who carried a gun,

he would pose the question,

"Don't you think you'd be justified in shooting somebody

"if they put their hand on their waistband?"

It was almost like an icebreaker for him.

After the first shooting, not only was he told it was OK,

but in his world he was empowered by it.

It made him a hero.

It made him a badass.

Why give that up? Why stop?

I believe that if William Chapman taunted him or baited him,

it was because he never thought for a second that

somebody in a police uniform would actually want to end his life.

William Chapman had the wrong cop.

There are some people that come into law enforcement

that are not suited for the job.

And I think that Stephen Rankin was one of those people.

He had a tendency to generate a lot of citizen complaints.

He had more than his share of use-of-force incidents.

And a lot of those use-of-force reports that he filled out

seemed questionable.

He was one of these guys that could, like,

cause a riot at his church social.

He could just go to any event and it would just, like,

escalate out of control, some way.

I made a recommendation that Officer Rankin be terminated.

I thought he'd be fired.

It was several months before Officer Rankin was involved

in his first shooting incident.

Didn't surprise me.

I think you could have put 100 other officers in that same situation

and you would not have had that same outcome.

It's highly unusual for an officer

to shoot and kill two unarmed people.

I've not heard of that before.

Show me your hands! Show me your hands!

Get on your knees!

Please don't shoot. It wasn't me, sir!

I didn't do it, officer! I didn't do...

The first man he killed, he was a grown man,

but that was that lady's baby.

She didn't get justice for her son,

but if Rankin gets convicted,

that's her justice right there.

I feel like that's both of ours.

He took our babies.

Oh, God.

I know she can't understand because she doesn't speak that good English.

I'm here for you.

We can get through this together.

He won't get away with it no more.

Have faith in God.

-Mm-hmm.

-Faith in God.

YELLING

If you fucking move, I swear to God.

GUNSHOTS

Get on the ground!

GUNSHOTS

Stay with me.

We got pulled over for a busted tail-light in the back

and the officer just shot him in his arm.

-We're waiting for...

-Keep your hands where they are.

-I will, sir.

-No worries, I will.

-Fuck!

I told him not to reach for it! I told him to get his hand off it!

He had... You told him to get his ID, sir, his driver's license.

Oh, my God, please don't tell me he's dead.

Please don't tell me my boyfriend just went like that.

Keep your hands where they are, please.

Yes, I will, sir, I'll keep my hands where they are.

Please don't tell me this, Lord.

Please, Jesus, don't tell me that he's gone.

-NEWSREADER:

-The murder trial of a former Portsmouth police officer,

Stephen Rankin, starts in just about an hour and a half.

Months-in-the-making trial gets under way for the former

police officer accused of killing a teen shoplifting suspect.

It's a trial with plenty of security and plenty of people

with something to say outside the courtroom.

No more. No more violence.

Take the guns out of our community, out of our community.

And when you give the guns to the police,

make sure his mental is good to go.

Yeah, there's a rally gathering.

They'll be leaving now in a couple more minutes.

There's some people still there.

I'm going to share it on Facebook again.

Cos at the very beginning we were slaves over here, OK?

We was in the cotton fields.

But we come in peace. We want peace.

I'm not communicating?

First of all, let me tell you something.

William Chapman died...

-Why was he shot?

-Why was he shot?

-Yeah.

-Why was he shot? He was unarmed.

Why was he shot? You tell me why he was shot.

-He was resisting arrest.

-He was resisting arrest?

I've seen a lot of police officers

just want to take black folk's lives.

We're not going to take this. We can't.

Back it off, back it off, back it off.

We don't want to hear ignorance.

And people talking about slaves -

we white people came from Europe and they're just servants.

We were as much handicapped as any other race there is.

-LAUGHTER

-OK?

Do you think that's funny? Look up your history, young man.

-I know my history.

-OK.

-I know my history.

-OK.

NEWSREADER: The trial comes amid rising tensions between police

and the community over recent high-profile

officer-involved shootings across the country.

I'm really anxious about this cos he's claiming self-defence

and I just want to know...

I'm ready to hear how it all went down.

I want to know what he has to say or whatever,

and I wish I could stand up and say "I object", because I know

it's going to be a whole bunch of trickery, foolishness.

Come on, baby.

Come on.

Rankin was escorted through a secure door.

We were not able to talk to him. Heavily guarded.

Not only that, his vehicle was escorted by

a law enforcement escort - sheriffs, deputies and police

obviously concerned about his safety during this trial.

These people are exercising their First Amendment rights.

We're going to help them do it.

And as long as they don't interfere with the process, we're happy.

None of us could have foreseen the circumstances that developed

beginning in the summertime.

Baton Rouge and Minneapolis and then Dallas,

all of which we were concerned about in terms of how it would affect

jurors, how it would affect the safety of the participants

to the case.

For security reasons, the court is not identifying any of

the jury members, they're using numbers to protect their privacy.

This is serious business and I was scared.

It's scary. You don't know.

I mean, you just don't know what people are going to do,

you didn't know if they were going to show our faces,

if they were going to tell our names.

I don't want to give anybody any way to find me.

There's too much racial division in this country already

that I don't want any haters showing up at my door.

This is the group of people that will decide Stephen Rankin's fate.

God, I just ask you to keep us and guide us,

to make sure that we are all right.

And we know without you, Lord, it would not be possible.

And we're going to put this together in such a way

that they're going to know they got to give us justice.

-Amen.

-Amen.

Let's go in.

Hi. Hi!

Hi.

Please be seated.

Enquire about why they're wearing their hats.

No hats in the courtroom.

Can you take your hat off, please?

'Every time I see him, like, my stomach drops.'

And I'm just looking at him.

He never would turn his head, you know,

he has no emotion and I'm just like...

..who are you?

Right, bailiff, bring the jury up, please.

When things like this happen,

everything that you do is ripped apart.

And your life becomes a spectator sport.

'There's a lot of people there that don't like you very much,'

that think you're terrible people.

Obviously, you must be terrible people

if you're sitting on that side.

'We have had some pretty credible threats on our lives.

'After the shooting itself first happened,

'the police department put us in a hotel for a week out of town.'

People were talking on Twitter about how, you know,

"I know where they live, they live right behind me,

"we're going to go to their house, blah, blah, blah."

So they chose to create this detail

just to make sure that it was deemed safe.

Commonwealth of Virginia versus Stephen Rankin.

-Is the Commonwealth ready?

-Commonwealth's ready.

-Is the defence ready?

-Yes, Your Honour.

This matter involved a first-degree murder.

This defendant, Stephen Rankin,

shot and killed 18-year-old William Chapman.

He did this with premeditation, and he did this intentionally.

Ladies and gentlemen...

The evidence will show...

that this was his last resort.

The evidence will prove to you that this was his last line of defence.

The evidence will demonstrate to you...

..Stephen Rankin had no choice but to discharge his service revolver...

..to stop an assailant who was charging to disarm him...

..from his own ground.

Rankin's attorney said the teen escalated the situation

by refusing Rankin's commands.

The defence said Chapman became violent,

knocking Rankin's Taser away,

and leaving Rankin no choice but to shoot.

-Thank you, Your Honour. May I approach the witness?

-You may.

Tell the jury about how the Taser works

in conjunction with a Taser camera.

OK. So...

The Taser was very significant, because it's the only objective,

unbiased witness.

The tape doesn't lie. What's said on the tape doesn't lie.

Rankin's Taser had a 15-second missing gap in its video,

and it's in that missing portion when the police shooting took place.

15 seconds in between. That's what my concern is.

And when the Taser supposedly came back on, he was lying down dead.

So my thing is this, right here.

The family will want to ask,

what happened to 15 seconds?

And that right there will tell the truth. That will tell us the truth.

It was incredibly frustrating, and on top of that,

the prosecutor is accusing us of deleting it.

If that footage was there, this would have been so much easier.

Erm...

But...

I guess the experts said that the Taser malfunctioned

because it hit the ground so hard.

It was incredibly frustrating.

That 15 seconds would have been crucial.

Mr Chapman knocked the Taser out of the officer's hands,

flew 20 to 30 feet, in the air,

on a grass median strip.

And he hit that Taser so hard...

..it stopped working.

And at that time, the evidence will prove to you

that Mr Chapman turned from a shoplifter...

..to an assailant. To a threat...

..as he disarmed and assaulted this officer.

Just a few minutes ago, we got to see

the immediate aftermath for ourselves

of that shooting from Rankin's Taser video.

Let's go to this video.

You will see a man standing there near the kerb.

That is the worker at Wal-Mart.

He was the one that reported Chapman as a shoplifting suspect.

The prosecution called its star witness to the stand,

Wal-Mart's loss prevention officer.

Good morning, sir. Please state your name for the court.

Gregory Provo.

Mr Provo, how are you employed?

-I do security for Wal-Mart....

-HIS VOICE FADES OUT

Tell the court what you observed outside of the Wal-Mart

on that morning.

I saw Officer Rankin, at that point, pulling his gun out.

He was giving commands, "Get on the ground."

At this point, Rankin was basically right beside me.

The guy made a quick gesture to fight.

After that, that's when there was two shots came off ringing.

Are you certain about whether he charged or lunged at the officer?

Yes, I am sure, and he did not charge.

-And he did not lunge?

-No.

-And you could see his hands?

-Correct.

-No gun in his hands?

-No, I didn't see nothing.

-No knife in his hands?

-Correct.

Thank you, sir. I don't have anything further.

The Commonwealth argued Rankin couldn't have felt threatened

because Chapman didn't move forward

and at no time did he see Chapman lunge or charge at Officer Rankin.

-Have a nice weekend.

-You too.

-Thank you.

You OK?

The officer was right here.

My brother's right here, that's how far they was,

so how is that a threat? That's what I don't understand.

And they were just in front of each other,

and he was further away from William.

And they were just exchanging words,

and he just opened fire and shot him.

You killed him on purpose. You took...

You took his whole life away from him.

He did not have no type of weapon on him at all,

so it doesn't justify anything.

The officer had no reason to kill him.

At all.

Rankin ain't shit. I don't even want to talk about his ass no more.

I'm about to get justice for my son.

I'm about to walk away and get with my family. Thank y'all.

There is a time when we've got to move

from just loving mercy to doing justice.

Praise God, praise God.

We do want justice for William Chapman.

ALL: Yes!

CHEERING

You can go and fight for this country,

the land of the free and the home of the brave...

..and not sure if your child is going to make it home

from a Wal-Mart.

-Exactly!

-Praise the Lord Jesus.

We stretch our hands towards this family, God.

As the case is heard and as pictures are painted with tainted facts,

God, we pray now for the strength of this mother

who has to relive this situation, Lord.

The strength of this sister, Lord,

as they deal with the verdict that shall come forth.

We pray even for court officials, O God,

that they administer your justice, O God.

CHEERING

I thank you for our sister, O God.

O God, continue to have people hedging her up.

Have your angels, Lord God, who are charged over her, O God.

Gird her up like never before.

She said the jury would hear Rankin's state of mind.

She said she would h... The jurors would hear...

And so, that's where we are right now.

We do expect the defence to call several more witnesses.

The question is, do they contradict the statements we heard

from the Commonwealth's key witness, Gregory Provo?

Judge, actually, may we approach with one...

Obviously, perfect world,

we would have had a Taser video or a body cam,

showing everything that happened,

but for Officer Rankin's sake,

I am glad that there were a number of eyewitnesses there.

Paul Akey.

The eyewitnesses are completely unbiased,

and they were interviewed immediately after the shooting,

and were able to recount what they observed.

It looked like, at one time, he had a handcuff on him.

Like, his left hand was behind him, and the cop had him,

and then all of a sudden, guy went nuts

and started whaling on the cop.

Paul Akey said he had a clear view from the construction site

attached to the Wal-Mart parking lot.

And the guy came at him, and the cop took him

and we heard two shots, and the cop took and shot him.

And the guy... The guy fell, I mean, he went down quick.

What was your job at that time?

Did you see how the man knocked the Taser out of the officer's hands?

What did you see happen then?

All right. And what happened then?

'Guys from the construction crew testified that

'Rankin was being whaled on, or punched, or hit.'

You know, they had to be telling the truth

because they saw that they were in a struggle

and there was a confrontation.

They... Their stories were...

I think, I think not credible.

They have demonstrated a charge that seemed very unrealistic,

and put their hands up and showed, like, "This is what he did",

and then they started doing like this.

And I was like, "Nobody fights like that".

That seems like an exaggeration, to say the least.

And I thought that the most significant and telling point

was when they talked about Chapman, like,

taking off his jacket and getting ready to attack Rankin.

That can only be construed as an aggressive action.

His hands were in a fighting position, jabbing, lunging.

I mean, everybody agrees that Mr Chapman

basically started the fight.

They're saying my son had on a white shirt and he took it off

and he charged at the officer.

My son ain't had...

He had on a tie-dyed shirt and a hoodie over that.

And you all the way over on the building that you...

you building on, but you see all this stuff?

I mean, it was so... was so many lies.

And that witness that lied like that?

Come on, now. You don't lie about stuff like that.

You don't do that.

CHILDREN SCREAM

One witness said his first statement was incomplete

because he was, quote, "in shock".

-TV:

-'..the Medical Examiner and the ballistics expert.

'Along with it,

'testimony difficult for family members of Chapman to see or hear.'

'..Chapman's bloodied sweatshirt on display for the court.'

-'But on cross, defence attorney James Broccoletti...'

-TV GOES SILENT

Yeah.

Two bullets that he put into my child...

..ruptured everything in his body.

And he only could have survived, like, a couple of seconds.

William was dead before he even hit the ground.

He shot him to kill him.

And he shot him twice to make sure that he was dead.

And he's sitting there like, "self-defence".

"He was reaching for something, he was coming my way.

"I shot him, like I did the first one.

"But they ain't really have nothing.

"So I'm just going to keep on killing them.

"So I can say, 'This is my third one,' or, 'This is my fourth one.' "

I can't talk no more.

I can't.

It is a critical day in the murder trial of Stephen Rankin.

Later this morning,

the former Portsmouth officer is expected to fight back against

charges that he intentionally killed an unarmed teenager.

Rankin is taking the stand in his own defence.

His defence team hopes its star witness convinces jurors to

acquit him of first-degree murder.

Rico, an incredible move by the defence.

Yeah, Don, trying to bolster their argument for self-defence,

Rankin's lawyers want jurors to hear testimony from the man himself.

What are you wanting to hear from Rankin today?

First of all, I know he's going to stand up there

and he's going to lie. I know he's going to do that.

He shows no emotion.

I want him to say something like, "I shouldn't have took it that far.

"I should have called for backup."

I want him to say that, "I took it too far."

I want him to say that he took it too far.

How does it feel having Yelena Denyakina here with you,

side by side?

SHE SIGHS

This woman here, she didn't get her justice for her son.

My case, concerning my son, we still connected.

We're connected so if I get justice, then we get justice together.

What are your thoughts about what you've heard

and about what happened to your son?

TRANSLATED FROM KAZAKH:

Rankin, he not only killed your son, but he broke your whole family.

I was speaking to people in Portsmouth and one woman said...

she feels like there's going to be a war in Portsmouth.

There's already a war going on. Y'all don't see it?

There's already a war going on.

People killing every day, people dying every day.

There's already a war going on. Somebody has to put a stop to it.

They don't put a stop to it, it's going to keep going on.

Thank you.

Thanks, Andy.

SHE SIGHS

Good morning, everyone.

All right, bring the jury in, please.

All right, counsel, you may proceed.

Judge, we call Mr Rankin.

Do you solemnly swear that testimony you give in this case shall be the

truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

I do.

I didn't find out that I was going to go to the stand until

about a week before the trial. Um, everybody assumed that I just knew.

And so it kind of got dropped on me.

I said, "Wait, what? I have to testify?"

Because I had assumed this is all in good hands,

I've got an amazing legal team and, you know, I'm out of play.

And I went, "Wait a minute,

"so my life really is hanging in my hands now."

We were trained and it's been in our head for our entire careers,

"Hands up or I'll hurt you. Hands up or I'll kill you."

And when he's in his pocket and he's telling me he's not going to

cooperate and his hand is stiff in his pocket,

I think he's reaching for something.

I told him, "Take your hand out of your pocket..."

I don't know how many times. A lot.

-Did he take his hand out of his pocket?

-No, he didn't.

-And did you deploy your Taser?

-I did.

This is the Taser that I was carrying on the day of the incident.

You unlock it by flipping your thumb.

What was the effect?

Immediately, he became enraged and he became very aggressive.

He was no longer just resisting. He was...

At that point, this instantly changed into a fight.

-A very high-level fight.

-How did the Taser get knocked out of your hand?

He turned and made an aggressive movement and I could feel

the Taser just go flying out of my hand with great force.

What effect did knocking the Taser out of your hand have?

I've been disarmed.

I'm trying to use this device against him

and he's disarmed me of it.

Were you concerned about your weapon

and about him taking possession of it?

Yes. He had already got my Taser away from me.

And I had no reason to think that he was going to stop trying to

disarm me. I had no reason to think he was going to stop attacking me.

Most people don't understand what it takes to control someone

who wants to fight, what it takes to take charge of a situation

with people you've never met before and people that want to be violent.

Um, and it's not pretty.

And it's not things that people want to see or want to accept

that that's how they happen.

This is very dangerous. This is as dangerous as things get out there.

-Did you shoot to kill him?

-No.

-Did you intend to kill him?

-Absolutely not.

-What did you intend?

I wanted to stop him from attacking me,

cos he was...very aggressively coming at me.

He was attacking me and I felt I needed to save my life.

Thank you. Nothing further, sir.

-All right, counsel, you may proceed.

-Thank you, Your Honour.

-May I inquire?

-You may.

-Morning, Mr Martin.

Good morning, ma'am.

You stated on direct examination that you did not murder Mr Chapman.

That's correct.

And you do recognise that that is the charge of this jury

-to determine and not you, correct?

-Yes, ma'am.

-So you know that you killed him, correct?

-Unfortunate that...

You shot him in the face and heart.

-Ma'am, I'd really like to answer your question.

-Yes or no question.

It was unfortunate that I had to discharge my weapon

and Mr Chapman did die.

That's a yes, that you killed him?

-I... Yes.

-You shot him in the face and heart.

I did shoot him, yes, ma'am.

And it's this jury's job to determine whether you

murdered him or not?

Yes, ma'am.

'I've...been beat up by defence attorneys on a regular basis,'

defence attorneys that have been doing it a lot longer than she has.

And, uh, one of the things that I kept telling myself

whenever I got nervous before I took the stand was,

"I've been a police officer since she was in high school.

' "I can deal with this."

'She really tried, but, uh,

'the evidence is what it is and I just got to tell my story.'

What is this?

-Point to this orange button. What is that?

-It's an orange button, ma'am.

-What is it? What does it do?

-Um, it sends an emergency signal.

-To who?

-Uh, to the dispatch room.

Sends an emergency signal to the dispatch.

Yes, ma'am. The function of that button, when you push it,

it's called a Code One button,

-it sends an emergency signal, such as...

-This is...

No, ma'am, I'm trying to...

I want to point out this is non-responsive.

-She asked him what the button was!

-Overruled.

You did not hit the orange button on your radio, correct?

-That's correct. It wouldn't have...

-You did not...

-Ma'am, I'm really trying to answer your questions.

-Yes or no questions.

It's not a yes or no question, ma'am, and I'm trying to answer it.

'I felt he wanted to answer what he wanted to answer,

'regardless of whether it was responsive to my question or not.'

There's that defiance there and you are so aggravated

because of me asking you questions.

What does that possibly say about what your temperament could have

been on the day of this incident, with this young man,

who obviously has no power? I don't know if that was something

'that the jury may have picked up on.'

You just saw his body coming... You just saw his body... Excuse me?

I was paying attention to the fact he was charging at me and

he was yelling, "Shoot me, motherfucker, shoot me."

'One of the jurors said, "He lost his cool at that point.'

"What do you think he would've done

"in the situation at the parking lot?"

There was other jurors who were,

"Oh, yeah, OK," as if they had hit on an epiphany of some sort, like,

"Oh, yeah, that makes sense. I didn't think about it like that."

'So other jurors were,

' "Yeah, this person is questionable, to say the least." '

And while he's doing that, I'm telling him,

-"Get on the ground, get on the ground."

-You indicated that,

in your training, the hands are the deadliest thing.

Yes, ma'am.

But, yet, when he's coming towards you...you did not look and

were not focused on his hands.

This is a physiological reaction that happens when the body

gets an adrenaline dump.

-I object.

-It's called tunnel vision.

-Objection.

-He's not a scientist, he's not a doctor.

-Overruled. Go ahead.

It's called tunnel vision.

You experience it in life-threatening situations,

when you have that kind of adrenaline dump and you focus

on very specific things, and that's what I was focused on.

This isn't something that I chose to look at his hand.

So, at this point, because he didn't get down on the ground

and he was coming in your direction, that's why you decided to shoot him?

I decided I had to shoot him...

and I did everything that I could

to not have to shoot him,

but I decided I had to shoot him after he had overpowered me,

after he had gotten away from me, after he had gotten my Taser

away from me, after he had turned to attack me, after he started

charging at me and yelling, "Shoot me, motherfucker, shoot me."

And then he charges at me and I had no other choice.

I had to discharge my weapon.

And then I went immediately to try and make this guy OK.

I didn't want him to die, I didn't even want to hurt him.

That's not correct, though, that you didn't have other options.

Thank you.

-Yes, sir.

-You may step down.

HE CLEARS THROAT

All right, members of the jury, there is no more evidence

to come before you with respect to this case.

It is now time for you to first

retire to the jury room for your deliberations.

Well, the jury's made up of 12 men and women.

Eight of them are black, four of them are white,

and they all must agree in order for their verdict to stand...

I didn't look at it as a racial thing at all,

but some people definitely did.

There was one juror in there, for lack of a better word,

was constantly giving me the stink eye.

I don't know if she was trying to intimidate me,

to make it the decision that they wanted to hear, but...

She can give me the dirty looks all you want.

I'm there to make the right decision and try and do the right thing,

based on what was presented in the courtroom.

Yes, racial influences and what you decide in the case,

like, for each of the jurors,

I think that they each probably used that

and they would start putting in, like, examples of why they thought

it was appropriate because of their upbringing

or examples of what they've seen

or things that they've lived through in their life.

You know, this could be my little brother or my little cousin

or somebody that I know.

It all comes down to who made what decisions in the Walmart parking lot

in the one minute of time that transpired.

Broccoletti said Rankin had no choice.

Morales says he chose to kill.

I think Mr Rankin did a great job on the witness stand.

He was very compelling and compassionate and human.

I think it turned out as well as it can

and now it's out of our hands.

If they're confident, good for them.

We just focused on doing our job and I feel like we did.

-INTERVIEWER:

-And when do you expect a decision?

IF there is a decision, which is another issue.

If there's a decision, they normally come back by lunch or by dinner.

It's funny, they normally come back at 12 to 12.30 or 4 to 4.30.

I know that for this family it would bring some peace.

Everybody in the community seems to be paying attention.

It seems as though they need some type of closure.

SIREN WAILS

POLICE RADIO CHATTER

GUNSHOTS

SCREAMING

MAN SHOUTS

MUFFLED RADIO CHATTER

Put your hands behind your back!

The fuck you shoot at us?

SIREN WAILS

I will never be quiet.

This is my son.

You know, pain... You know, pain is love.

I'm telling you.

SHE SNIFFS

This is for my baby.

NEEDLE WHIRS

All that I can do is hope and pray and have patience.

And I am doing a lot of praying.

I think, you know, I think that he will...

he will get convicted cos my son didn't do anything.

My son is kind of like an example.

Through my son, I think that some change will come.

It's going to come.

So I feel real powerful and...

-..positive that tomorrow justice will come.

-Justice will come.

Yeah.

I think the judge will tell them

that they must reach a unanimous verdict,

so he'll send them out again to try and reach an agreement.

If they can't do that, then we're possibly looking at a mistrial.

Live in Portsmouth, Eric Kane, 13News Now.

It was an emotional ball of everything back there.

I mean, we had people crying,

we had people who were getting mad, frustrated,

people who were just emotionally drained from the whole trial.

Everybody was hitting the limits.

One gentleman stood up and he was just like, you know,

"This is it, 12 people aren't going to agree.

"Let's just all agree to disagree and let's go home.

"Hung jury. Let's go."

I said, "I was here to do and make the right decision.

"I'm not rushing to any judgment,

"so it's going to have to take as long as it takes."

What the motherfuck does she know?

He just kept saying it over and over again.

-They got no right to shoot him.

-Yeah, cos if it was me...

You can see William Chapman's family

just waiting patiently outside the courthouse,

just talking amongst each other,

just sitting on benches and just waiting.

Now we're also seeing Stephen Rankin and his wife being escorted

throughout the courthouse by several security guards and officers

for protection reasons.

-I'm just worried.

-Why you worried?

Because there's so much they keep...

-You don't need to worry like that.

-God got this baby, for real.

You know that he said the truth will set you free.

The truth will send him to jail.

Argh! All right, get something to eat.

We're going to come back down...later on.

All right. I need to prep.

We reviewed everything and that's when...

After all the discussions of everybody's notes,

we took another vote and it was unanimous.

All right, bring in the jury, please.

I didn't even want to go back in the courtroom.

My heart was racing so bad I thought I was going to pass out.

I didn't want to face Chapman's family.

I didn't want to face Rankin's family.

You're making a decision that affects two families

and I didn't take that lightly at all.

The jury came out

and I could see a lot of them were looking at the ground.

They wouldn't look at me,

they were wringing the sweat out of their hands.

-Am I to understand you have a verdict?

-Yes, sir.

All right. Give the papers to them.

..signed juror number 32, dated August 4th, 2016.

I really have no idea how they got to the guilty on this.

SHE SOBS

Breaking - Rankin found not guilty of first or second degree murder,

but guilty of manslaughter.

OK.

Shit!

Voluntary manslaughter,

the charge is more in the heat of passion, in the heat of a struggle,

that this killing happened

and that is clearly what the jury decided.

# And powerful

# There's so much strength in you and me

# Powerful

# A breath away from victory

# I matter

# You matter

# We matter all

# Powerfu-u-ul. #

I felt like my stomach was in my shoes.

At first I thought, "I didn't hear that right."

"They had to have missed something."

You know, the jurors, they had to have missed something.

That's all I kept thinking was, "They had to have missed something."

You know, you put your uniform on and you answer your first call,

you never expect that doing your job is going to send you to prison.

Ever.

I tried to take it like a professional and hold my head high,

but it hurt a lot.

I'm really making an effort to try and make those guys proud

and show, um...

show that we're the good guys.

What do you think of the verdict?

-Hello!

-Stop right there.

Chapman's mother cried after the verdict was read.

Later she didn't want to comment but a family spokesperson

told me justice was served.

Meantime, Rankin's attorneys say the jury wasn't provided the full story.

They say this isn't over.

What are three big things that you will bring up on an appeal

that you think will make the difference in this case?

Just really quickly.

We did not have the opportunity to present his prior criminal...

Mr Chapman's prior criminal record to the jury

to determine his aggressiveness,

his turbulence, his violence. Secondly...

He's got several felony convictions, including weapons violations,

assaulting care workers at his group home

and all of these things should come in

to show what we're dealing with here,

to show that the story that I'm telling

that he attacked me makes sense,

based on what he's done in the past.

-Thank you.

-OK. Thank you very much. OK.

We should have been told about Chapman's history

that he was definitely not a good guy,

by any stretch of the word.

I learnt that he was brought up in group homes

that he got in trouble for some bomb threats.

That tells me he was already an aggressive, mean person.

He should've taken his hand out of his pocket when Rankin asked him

to take his hand out of his pocket and he should have done everything

he was asked and told to do - then he would still be here today.

He wrote the ending to his own life story, not Rankin,

he wrote the ending.

The judge did the right thing by keeping both of their backgrounds

out of the court case.

I think that was smart on his part

because he gave us an equal playing field,

as far as, like, "Don't convolute it with all this extra stuff.

"Just limit it to what's important to give these jurors enough

"to make a decision with what's there."

-Shooting since 2004.

-My goodness, I had no idea.

-I'm going to clip this.

-Where do you think?

-Can I clip this to your collar?

-Yeah.

But then I'm going to have to comb my hair again, OK?

You can't have it on the table? Is that too much...

-Lipstick?

-Yeah.

-OK. Thank you.

-You're welcome.

Hey, you come over here and get my comb out.

-I'm just going to put this right here.

-OK.

It's like heart monitors,

like having 1,000 things going on here.

For this community to lose this young man and to have

a police officer charged for the loss of his life and now convicted,

it means a lot to this community to see that justice was served.

Don't shoot him. Don't shoot him.

-He didn't do anything.

-Drop the gun!

He doesn't have a gun, he has a TVI.

He is not going to do anything to you guys. He just took his medicine.

-Drop the gun!

-Don't you dare!

GUNSHOTS

Did you shoot him? Did you shoot him?!

Did you shoot him? he better not be fucking dead.

He better not be fucking dead. I know that fucking much.

TV CRACKLES Holy shit.

What the fuck have they got going on with this thing?

Ah-ha!

-Cussing at the television.

-Right. Maybe you're not allowed to have TV

-in this room.

-Maybe it takes a minute.

-What are we going to?

-WTKR.

-It has a live streaming?

-Yes.

REPORTER STARTS TALKING

Here we go.

Brendan, how bad is it this time?

-Oh, look, it's us.

-I know.

-They've got our wedding photo up there.

-I know, I sent that to them.

-You said, "I'd hope".

Stephen Rankin could go to jail tomorrow for killing an

-unarmed teenager.

-The jury recommended two and a half years.

However, the decision will be up to the judge.

We're just bracing for whatever happens.

Judge Morrison has the opportunity to lead me out on bond,

pending my appeal, which would mean I am... Still, I am not in jail.

Police officers don't do well in jail.

Somebody's going to shank him and kill him.

See? Crying. Stupid.

-I love you.

-I love you too.

'Court is at nine o'clock in the morning.

'Bracing for whatever happens.

'Waiting and wondering what will happen next.'

It'll be like somebody taking one of my limbs. He is my partner.

I am ready but...scared.

I am, I am really scared cos... Just the fact that he can

get a bond.

What if he gets a bond and he just leaves the country or something?

You know, something like that could happen.

'Rankin's sentencing has brought together mothers from across

'the nation to support Chapman and share how their children were

'also fatally shot.'

-Hey.

-All right...

'They are sick of it.

'So they want to come and support and say a few words and whatnot.

'Just be there with me.

'Let me know that I'm not standing by myself. They got me.'

At the Portsmouth courthouse, the judge will make

a final determination, only able to minimise,

not maximise, the sentence.

I am just going to show her beautiful face this morning.

-This is Candy.

-Good morning.

-OK, send her love and support.

You can see in her eyes this is very hard

so I'm not going to keep her on camera long.

Just to respect her space.

Sweetheart, we're here and we love you. We're not stopping and we're...

I'm just going to let her...

Let me step aside because I can tell she's having a moment.

Good morning. Thank you very much for showing up.

I want the whole world to see that this man is not above the law

just because he was an officer.

Anybody that takes somebody's life deserves to be punished.

This man really needs to be put away. I have a lot of anger.

-I'm entitled to that.

-You are.

-I'm just sick of it.

I am sick of it and I am ready for it to be over.

Like it will be over as far as him getting put away but it'll

never be over for me.

-Never.

-You know it.

Every day.

-We just all got to stick together.

-Yes, we do.

-It'll be OK.

-We will be right here with you. OK?

I never want to see this courtroom again.

-BEEPING

-All rise.

At this time, the court will affirm the verdict of the jury will

find you guilty of voluntary manslaughter.

And having been found guilty,

sir, do you have anything you would like to say to the court or

can you think of any reason why sentence should not be

pronounced against you today?

The events of last year changed the lives of many people.

I'm deeply sorry for the pain I have caused the Chapman family.

I pray regularly for them and I pray that they will find peace.

I never wanted to hurt anyone and I wished that I never had.

I wish William Chapman was alive today and I am sorry that

I took him from this world.

Miss Chapman, I hope that one day you find peace and one day

you'll be able to forgive me for what I have done.

That's all I have to say, Your Honour.

At this time, the court will affirm the recommendation of the

jury that sentence be served.

Two years and six months in a Virginia state penitentiary.

CHEERING

If you have to do that, you will be excused from this courtroom.

-All right.

-Thank you, Your Honour.

All right.

All rise.

Just the beginning. New beginning.

We get what we want but we...

THEY SHOUT AGREEMENT

Justice has been served.

SHE WHOOPS

His name has to be uplifted... so the multitudes

will know that this behaviour will not be tolerated.

THEY SHOUT AGREEMENT

THEY CHANT: William Chapman! William Chapman!

William Chapman!

William Chapman!

He read his little words of lies and he looks at me.

He's like, "I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me."

And I just looked at him and I said, "I can't."

And I just wave, bye-bye...

..you piece of shit. I didn't say that. I couldn't help it.

2.5 years? No, that is not enough.

But as long as he goes there and gets treated like...crap

because they don't play around with stuff like that.

And two years, that can seem like a lifetime in places like that.

You know, they tell you what to do, they tell you what to eat.

When to sleep and when to get up.

That is going to be very miserable for that man.

And I am happy about his misery.

-Where are my other girls?

-SHE WHISTLES

Lily!

This is my place... Our place.

A lot of police families fly this one with a blue line through it.

The thin blue line represents the police department and the

bond that police officers have.

And they help me because I don't have Steve.

So they just keep me going. For me, the blue line is family.

But to most, they'll tell you that it's the line that stands

between...chaos and peace.

My husband is not the man that the media has made him out to be.

He's a good guy. And he is a protector.

And he'll always be that way.