Why Brelo was not guilty of the voluntary manslaughter of Timothy Russell
Russell was shot 23 times. O'Donnell found that based on the testimony at trial, four of those shots were lethal. Those shots came from three different directions. Two were to the top of Russell's head, but one was to the right side of his chest and another to the left side.
"It is highly unlikely, if not impossible, that during that less than 8 seconds Russell was positioned, then repositioned, then repositioned again so that all four wounds came from the same gun in the same place," O'Donnell said.
In other words, O'Donnell concluded that Brelo fired at least one of those shots, but could not have fired all four.
To prove voluntary manslaughter, prosecutors would have had to show beyond a reasonable doubt that "but for" Brelo's actions, Russell and Williams would have lived.
"I have found beyond a reasonable doubt that Brelo fired a shot that by itself would have caused Russell's death. But proof of voluntary manslaughter requires a finding, beyond a reasonable doubt, either that his shot alone actually caused the death or it was the 'straw that broke the camel's back,'" O'Donnell said.
While Brelo fired at least one lethal shot at Russell, other police officers also fired lethal shots that contributed to his death. Because medical examiners were unable to determine the order of the shots and ballistics could not tie individual bullets to shooters, there is no way to know which lethal shot came from which shooter. It is also impossible to establish which shot actually killed Russell.
In a footnote in his opinion, O'Donnell brought up an analogy to a baseball game made by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Basically, if a baseball game's final score is 1-0, it's obvious which was the winning run – there was only one. But in a game that ends 5-2, none of those runs can be deemed the wining run.
In the Brelo case, his shot was one of many and it was impossible to determine which was the fatal shot.
