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Barmore Civil Trial Goes To Jury This Week

Susan Stephens
/
WNIJ

The civil trial against the city of Rockford in the 2009 police shooting of an unarmed black man is expected to go to the jury this week.

Mark Anthony Barmore was shot to death in the basement of a Rockford church by two white police officers in 2009. It was one of the city’s most racially-charged events in recent history.

The officers were not charged, but church members and the families of children who witnessed the shooting in the church’s daycare center brought a civil suit against the city of Rockford An all-white jury is presiding over the case -- that has some wondering if that jury will be able to make a fair ruling.

According to the Rockford Register Star, the jury consists of seven women and five men. Of the 56 people in the jury pool, only two were black -- and neither one was picked for the jury.  Former prosecutor and private attorney Chuck Prorok told the newspaper he was surprised by the all-white jury selection.

So was Rev. Melvin Brown, who is the pastor of the church where Barmore was shot. Brown has said “These are not jurors of our peers.”

Closing arguments are expected Tuesday night or Wednesday morning after more than two weeks of testimony.

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