3
4
Local music
Da Vida House showcases local musical artists
Bearcat basketball
UC basketball team blew opponents out of the water in last game
THE NEWS RECORD / UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI MONDAY, NOV. 14, 2016
NEWSRECORD.ORG
Jury unable to reach decision in Tensing trial LAUREN MORETTO | NEWS EDITOR ALEXANDRA TAYLOR | PHOTO EDITOR
Elements of a Trial seminar hosted by UC College of Law, Thursday Nov. 10, 2016
UC post Tensing Trial ASHLEIGH PIERCE | CHIEF REPORTER
As the Ray Tensing trial unfolded, the University of Cincinnati’s College of Law, in collaboration with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, hosted an event to examine the elements of a trial and what the community can expect. Panelists for the event Thursday included Rodney Harris, director of the Felony Division in the Hamilton County Public Defender’s Office; Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge Fanon Rucker and UC professor Janet Moore, with UC professor Verna Williams as the moderator. Harris opened the session by asking the audience who saw the body cam video of the July 2015 shooting of Sam DuBose by former UC Police Department Officer Ray Tensing. Everyone in attendance raised their hands. He then asked who had formed an opinion about what they saw in the video. Most hands were raised. Harris used this to illustrate exactly what is not wanted in a jury pool; in any trial, you want to have an impartial jury. As common practice, jurors are given a questionnaire to gain insight about their prejudices and biases. Harris outlined some examples of questions: Do you think police are selective in who they stop for minor violations? Will any feelings you have about groups like Black Lives Matter affect or impact your ability to be fair and impartial? Have you ever had a frightening experience with a person of another race? While some people were critical of jurors selected for the Tensing trial — six white men, four white women and two black women — Harris noted the jury pool comes from Hamilton County, not Cincinnati, which he said demographically is about 80 percent white and 20 percent minority, thereby making the jury a fairly accurate representation. There were two black male jurors from the initial pool, but both men chose not to proceed as jurors in the trial, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters told the assembled media Saturday. As for any trial, Rucker said the state’s case should present overwhelming evidence of guilt. “The defense very rarely has to prove anything,” Rucker said. The defense simply has to prove whether or not the state presented its case beyond reasonable doubt, Rucker said, which Harris believes they did. “I think the state proved purposeful murder in my personal opinion,” Harris said. Bryon Vann, a recent graduate from UC’s College of Law, thought the event was very informative. “I think it’s a critical aspect of the community to have the law school especially take part in activities that are informative about, not just the Ray Tensing trial specifically, but what is going on in the community and be a force in helping the community impact change,” Vann said. The Ray Tensing trial concluded Saturday in a mistrial due to a hung jury that could not come to a unanimous decision about which conviction Tensing should face. Four jurors believed Tensing was guilty of murder, while the remaining eight jurors thought he should receive a lesser charge, as previously reported by WCPO. Deters is to decide whether or not the state will conduct a retrial for Tensing by Nov. 28.
After a tense three days, which included over 25 hours of deliberation, the jury in the Ray Tensing trial remained unable to reach a unanimous verdict on either manslaughter or murder charges, resulting in a mistrial Saturday. The former University of Cincinnati police officer was on trial for the July 2015 shootingdeath of unarmed motorist Sam DuBose. The jury announced Friday they were deadlocked after 16 hours of deliberation, to which Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Megan Shanahan ordered them to keep trying. They were sequestered that night, not having made a unanimous decision, only to present the same outcome Saturday morning. UC students have reported a myriad of feelings in response to the mistrial.
Cole Weirich, a first-year history and sociology student and organizer for Students for Sam DuBose called the mistrial a “travesty of justice.” Other students were unclear on Tensing’s motives. “I didn’t necessarily feel bad for [Tensing.] I felt like there was an error in his training. I don’t think his intentions were to end someone’s life that day,” said Miranda Habig, second-year nursing student. During the trial, a frame-by-frame analysis of Tensing’s body cam footage was presented. “To me and to many others, to students as well, if you look at the videos you see that it’s like a very, very clear, right in front of your face murder, and for jurors to not be able to understand and see that right off the bat, that’s just very upsetting,” said Student Body President Mitchell Phelps. The next court date is Nov. 28, when Hamilton County Prosecutor
Joe Deters is scheduled to decide whether he will pursue a retrial. Processing the “probability of success at trial” will be a contributing factor in whether or not a retrial occurs, according to Deters. Though justice has not been served yet, Phelps said he is hopeful that the process will start again. “We can find Ray Tensing guilty for murder,” said Phelps. The prosecution’s decision could cause ripples throughout both the Cincinnati and UC communities. No retrial will lead to more anger, distrust for the system and create an even greater divide, according to Phelps. Some students note that a new jury, as would be selected in the case of a retrial, could lead to a different outcome. “I heard about the jury diversity issues, if they get a new jury, it may be different,” said Drew Rensing, a second-year mechanical engineering student.
Deters said four jurors thought Tensing was guilty of murder, and eight thought he was guilty of voluntary manslaughter, as previously reported by WCPO. The trial received national attention, adding to a conversation surrounding a string of recent police shootings that involved unarmed black men across the country. Though the trial’s outcome is upsetting, Phelps made a call for unity. “We’ve got to come together once again — continue to fight for justice,” said Phelps. “We’ve been treated with injustice in the past and we’ve continued to fight and come together as one … We’ll just continue to fight, continue to demand justice because it’s truly our duty to fight for our freedom.” Senior reporter Justin Reutter and College Life editor Samantha Hall contributed to this report.
N.C. BROWN | CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
Josh Spring, executive director of the Cincinnati Homeless Coalition, informs the crowd that the Ray Tensing trial results in a mistrial at the Hamilton County Courthouse in Cincinnati, Ohio, Friday, November 11, 2016.
N.C. BROWN | CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
AARON DORSTEN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Kameron Johnson, second-year organizational leadership major, discusses tensing trial outcome, Saturday, Nov. 12, 2016.
A member of the crowd makes a plea for the crowd to take action on their words of “No Justice No Peace” following the announcement of a mistrial in the Ray Tensing trial at the Hamilton County Courthouse in Cincinnati, Ohio, Friday, November 11, 2016.
Finding positives in Bearcats tough season DAVID WYSONG | SPORTS EDITOR
In a season where the University of Cincinnati Bearcat football is 4-6 with two games remaining, a lot of negative issues are highlighted. With that, the question begs to be asked: Have there been any positives to come out of Cincinnati’s 2016 campaign so far? Positives may be few and far between, but there have been some bright spots for this Bearcat football team. While the Bearcat offense has been struggling all year and has not scored a touchdown in 10-straight quarters, Cincinnati’s defense has looked better than they have in recent
history. In 2015, UC’s defense allowed opponents to score 31.2 points per game. This season, that number is down to 24.9. In addition, in 2015 Cincinnati allowed other teams to run for 192.1 yards per game. They have limited their opponents to 179.7 this season. “The defense continues to get a little better,” said Bearcat head coach Tommy Tuberville on Nov. 8 while talking about the team’s 20-3 loss to Brigham Young University. “That was one of our better defensive games against a team that’s put up a lot of yards and points against other teams.”
Senior linebacker Eric Wilson carried the defense, leading the American Athletic Conference in tackles with 104 on the season – 23 more than the next closest player. “He’s smart, he’s very smart and he understands football,”Tuberville said. “He’s the type of middle linebacker you like. He gets people lined up, he does more things than you’ll ever notice … Eric’s a good tackler.” In addition to Wilson, the Bearcats have seen success defensively from senior safety Zach Edwards and senior linebacker Antonio Kinard. Despite being hobbled
with injuries all season, Edwards has recorded 73 tackles, second-most on the team, as well as picking off one pass. Kinard is right behind him with 71 tackles and six of them being for loss. Offensively, Cincinnati has struggled immensely as they are only scoring 18.8 points per game, down from 33.8 last season. There is hope for the future, however, as junior wide receiver Devin Gray and sophomore receiver Kahlil Lewis have succeeded in spite of playing with three different quarterbacks this season. Gray leads the team in receptions and receiving
N.C. BROWN | CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
Senior safety Zach Edwards (4) looks down as the Bearcats fall 20-3 to BYU at Nippert Stadium, Saturday, November 5, 2016.
yards with 49 catches for 684 yards, scoring three touchdowns along the way. Lewis has 44 catches for 574 yards and leads the team with five receiving touchdowns. One of the biggest receiving performances of the season came from Lewis in the team’s homecoming game against East Carolina University Oct. 22. He finished the night with 11 catches for 150 yards and three touchdowns. “It was electricity like I have never experienced. Being in the end zone with the student section … I got to look at the students and I just turned up,” Lewis said. If Cincinnati wants to have a chance to win their last two games, which would qualify them for a bowl game, they will need to see quality performances from their top guys. Their final games come against the 6-4 University of Memphis Tigers and the 7-3 University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane. The Bearcats most recently lost 24-3 to the University of Central Florida on Saturday. “We got to do a better job overall of making plays on offense,”Tuberville said. Cincinnati plays Memphis 8 p.m. Friday in their final home game at Nippert Stadium during 2016. The game will be aired on CBS Sports Network.
FREE