4/20/15— A Cook County judge ruled prosecutors didn’t prove their case — that a Chicago police detective acted recklessly when he fired into a crowd in 2012, killing 22-year-old Rekia Boyd.

Judge Dennis Porter’s directed verdict means the legal team for Dante Servin didn’t have to put on a defense before he was acquitted of all charges, touching off an angry scene in the courtroom as Boyd’s family screamed.

Porter handed down the verdict Monday afternoon amid heavy security in his courtroom, but not before asking anyone who might become emotional to leave.

“I know this case has generated a lot of emotion … but this is a court of law, not a court of emotion,” Porter said before issuing a long ruling.

Porter said while he had no doubt that Servin did indeed shoot Boyd, he said prosecutors didn’t prove Servin acted recklessly when he did so, a requirement for finding someone guilty of manslaughter.

After the verdict was read, screaming members of Boyd’s family were dragged from the courtroom as Servin hugged relatives.

“You want me to be quiet?! This m———– killed my sister!” Boyd’s brother, Martinez Sutton, screamed as he was dragged from the courtroom by deputies.

Outside the courthouse, protesters began to gather, and Boyd’s mother, Angela Helton, sobbed with family.

“He murdered my daughter in cold blood,” Helton said.

Sutton cried as he gathered with family outside the courthouse.

“When we walked in, we already knew we lost,” he said. “I thought that maybe the judge would grow a heart, but just like the Tin Man, he never had one.”

“What exactly [does] that tell you? That tells you that anybody with a badge can get away with shooting any one of y’all out here. It’s not just about color anymore … It’s people wearing the badge disrespecting [their] badge,” Sutton said.

“My sister was 22 years old. She would be 25 right now if she was living. She will never come back. We’ll never be able to hug and kiss her no more. We’ll never be able to say ‘Rekia, I love you.’…. We’ll never be able to see that smile again.

“Not only did he take away my sister’s life, he took a piece of all of our lives away. Do you know how bad that hurt?”

Boyd’s family said they expected bad news.

“Hell yeah, you know where we live,” Boyd’s godmother, Pat Jordan said. “We didn’t expect nothing else. You can get away with killing black people.”

Servin, now 46, was off duty when he opened fire at a group of people near Douglas Park on March 21, 2012, striking Antonio Cross in his hand and Boyd in the back of her head. Servin has said he saw Cross pull a gun, but police never recovered a weapon, and prosecutors argued Cross was holding a cellphone.

Servin faced charges of involuntary manslaughter, reckless discharge of a firearm and reckless conduct.

Monday afternoon, Servin told reporters he thought it was a mistake for the state’s attorney’s office to charge him for the “tragic accident.”

“If this is what [Boyd’s family] needed for closure … for me to be charged, I hope they got what they were looking for,” Servin said, adding that his family was praying for them.

His bench trial began April 9 with emotional testimony from Boyd’s brother and best friend. Prosecutors have painted Servin as reckless, arguing he fired over his shoulderat an unarmed group standing behind him.

Servin’s defense team, meanwhile, argued that Servin only began shooting after Cross lifted his cellphone and pointed it toward Servin as if it were a gun. According to testimony, Servin told authorities he thought he saw a gun, heard a bang and felt “something” hit the back of his head.

source: DNAinfo

Erica Demarest