New high-tech evidence was exposed in the Jason Van Dyke trial Tuesday. The defense alleges the Chicago police officer was in fear for his life and the lives of his fellow officers when he shot Laquan McDonald 16 times. NBC 5’s Charlie Wojciechowski has the latest.
What to Know
- Van Dyke is charged with murder in the shooting death of 17-year-old McDonald nearly four years ago
- The Chicago police officer was captured on dashcam video shooting McDonald 16 times the night of Oct. 20, 2014, on the city's Southwest Side
- Van Dyke entered a plea of not guilty
Follow along live from court above and below. (NOTE: Not all witness testimony will be streamed live above. You may notice intermittent bars and pauses.)
In a scene that looked like it was taken from a video game, jurors in Jason Van Dyke's murder trial were shown Tuesday a recreation of the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald, but this time from the officer's perspective.
The recreation was based on laser analysis of the scene and was played over police radio audio from the shooting itself.
According to defense attorneys, the video showed Laquan McDonald was closing the distance between himself and Van Dyke before the officer opened fire. Prosecutors have argued dashcam video shows McDonald appearing to walk away as Van Dyke shot the teen 16 times on Oct. 20. 2014.
This week marks the start of Van Dyke's defense in the highly-publicized trial of the Chicago police officer charged with murder in the shooting that shook the city and the nation.
Tuesday would have been McDonald's 21st birthday.
Van Dyke was charged with six counts of first-degree murder more than a year after he shot McDonald on the city's Southwest Side. He entered a plea of not guilty.
Special prosecutors rested their case against Van Dyke Thursday after calling 24 witnesses over three and a half days.
Van Dyke's attorneys maintain the Chicago officer has been wrongly charged, saying he was acting within the law when he shot the teen, who at the time was an armed felon fleeing a crime scene.
So far in the trial, the jury saw dashcam video of the shooting, graphic autopsy images of the more than a dozen gunshot wounds on the body of 17-year-old McDonald, video recreating the shooting from Van Dyke's point of view and video showing 16 gunshots in under 14 seconds.
They have heard testimony from several Chicago police officers and witnesses at the scene, seen the weapon Van Dyke used, and watched as FBI specialists demonstrated the shooting.
Van Dyke has claimed he opened fire that night to protect himself and other officers.
1:22 p.m.: Testimony concluded for the day
12:11 p.m.: Defense video analysis shows Laquan McDonald was closing the distance between himself and Jason Van Dyke before the officer opened fire...not running away.
11:59 a.m.: In a scene that looked like it was taken from a video game, jurors see the Laquan McDonald shooting from the perspective of Officer Jason Van Dyke. The recreation is based on laser analysis of the scene. The soundtrack is the police radio audio.
11:50 a.m.: For the first time, jurors see recreated images of Jason Van Dyke’s perspective of the shooting of Laquan McDonald.
10:17 a.m.: Judge rules that allegedly stolen CTA card recovered from Laquan McDonald’s body cannot be used as evidence because the chain of custody is unclear.
9:33 a.m.: Community organizer Will Calloway calls for a gang truce to honor Laquan McDonald. “I want to ask all the gangs throughout Chicago...everybody put the guns downs and join our fight for social justice.”
