Philando Castile

On July 6th, 2016, 32-year-old Philando Castile was pulled over while driving by a St. Anthony, Minnesota police officer, who believed that Castile matched the description of a local robbery suspect. Despite being well-documented in audio and video form, the precious moments after Philando was pulled over remain highly-contested to this day…

A white wide bodied Oldsmobile dappled with rust cruised through the picturesque suburban streets of Falcon Heights, Minnesota on July 6, 2016. The right tail light on the vehicle was recently fixed with red lens repair tape and the center light in the back window needed a replacement. The windows were rolled down letting the comfortable warm air play through the driver's recently cut and done braids. Falcon Heights, Minnesota is known to be a mostly white suburban community with little to no crime and at the 2010 census it was reported that only 8% of the residents were African American, an increase from the 3.36% reported in the year 2000 census. Philando Castile was part of the minority percentage living in the area but never felt profiled or out of place.

With one hand on the steering wheel he dialed his sister's number and while he waited for her to answer he couldn't stop his mind from wandering to Alton Sterling, an African-American man gunned down by police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana just one day before. The Baton Rouge police received a call about a man in red shirt selling CDs who was threatening the caller with a gun outside of a convenience store. When two police officers arrived they quickly detained Alton, who wore a red shirt and typically sold CDs in the parking lot of the store. The officers quickly tossed him onto the hood of a sedan then to the ground with one of the officer's knees pressing into his chest and trained his gun in Alton's face. It wasn't long before the other officer screamed a warning that Alton was reaching into his pocket for a gun and the officer on top fired his weapon six times at point blank range into Alton's body. Alton Sterling did not survive the incident with two white police officers.

Philando was brought out of his musings when his sister, Allyzsa (ali-zay) Castile, answered the call. After the siblings exchanged typical phone call pleasantries, Philando offered to bring his sister take out and later arrived with with Taco Bell. He and his sister easily lapsed into comfortable laughter and conversation that didn't shy away from more serious topics.

“Did you see that video on Facebook of the man getting killed?” He asked into the silence of his mother's home.

“No, I didn't watch it, bro. I refuse to watch another video.” She responded, unable to bear seeing another Black man killed by police.

When Alton Sterling was being detained and eventually killed, the two white officers were clearly caught on video from multiple bystanders' phones and the convenience store's security camera. As is with the internet, the videos quickly circulated through social media and sparked outrage in the Black communities of the United States. Protests shouting “No Justice, No Peace!” ignited in Baton Rouge and an intersection was blocked with 200 people chanting the slogan who were eventually cleared away by police.

The Castile siblings didn't stay chatting for much longer and when Philando left, his sister went to her room for a nap. Back in the Oldsmobile, Philando headed to the apartment he shared with girlfriend Diamond Reynolds and her 4 year old daughter. Though he would've much rather stayed home playing video games for the rest of the night, he loaded Diamond's four year old daughter in the black car seat and with Diamond in the passenger seat they headed to the grocery store.

It was late evening when Philando and his girlfriend rolled down the nearly empty streets to their shared apartment; a trunk full of groceries, another day in the week ended. The sky was lightly colored in fading pastel blues and pinks, the sun hiding behind buildings but not completely dipped into true night. Being the height of summer, sunset wasn't until after 9:00 pm and the dark sky chased the Oldsmobile on its trek home. One moment Philando was driving towards the close of another day, and the next red and blue flashing lights lit up the interior of the car. The sight of a police cruiser in the rearview mirror didn't surprise or alarm him. What could he have done this time? Flicking on the right indicator light, Philando slowly maneuvered the car to the side of the street in a safe location out of traffic; he waited for the routine. A young Mexican-American police officer with his hand resting on the gun at his belt approached the vehicle and bent towards the window while a white officer gradually circled around the passenger side.

“Hello, sir.” The officer at the window said jovially.

“How you doing?” Philando says.

“Good. The reason I pulled you over is your brake lights are out.”

This is the story of Philando Castile.

Quiet. Homebody. Did everything by the book. These were words family and friends used to describe Philando Divall Castile. Unlike people of this generation, Philando didn't have a very active social media presence and usually spent his weekdays working as a nutrition services supervisor for J.J. Hill Montessori Magnet School. Instead of going out to bars and clubs like most young men, Philando would leave work as soon as he was finished and drive back home, playing video games for the rest of the evening until he eventually fell asleep.

Philando was born July 16, 1983 in St. Louis, Missouri where he graduated from Saint Paul Central High School in 2001. He believed in working hard to achieve his goals and doing things the right way, and this philosophy helped him gain employment only a year out of high school, at the age of 19 by the Saint Paul Public School District. He was employed as a nutrition services assistant at Chelsea Heights Elementary School and Arlington High School where he was “responsible for preparing food, keeping students safe, helping students make healthy food choices and making sure that the food facilities were safe and clean.” Coworkers describe him as “quiet, respectful, kind” and was “quick to greet [them] with a smile and hug.” But his quiet nature didn't make him a shy person and his ambition shone for everyone to see. When he interviewed for a promotion, Tonya Stewart, a spokeswoman for St. Paul Public Schools, said “he wore a [dress] shirt and tie to his supervisor interview and said his goal was to one day 'sit on the other side of this table.” It was from this interview that his mentality to work hard and do things the right way lead him to the promotion of nutrition services supervisor in August 2014 at J.J. Hill Montessori Magnet School. “Once he was promoted, his duties included training colleagues and developing relationships with school and district officials.” Even before, when he wasn't a supervisor, he was a kind person to everyone at the school. His calm personality helped teacher Anna Garnaas when she forgot to order lunches for the students going on a field trip. She quickly went to him for help and who took care of the situation without a problem or complaint. Sometimes, when Anna was running late, Philando would let her sneak through the cafeteria so she could get to her classroom before the students arrived. It was obvious that Philando took pride in his work and truly cared for the teachers, faculty, and especially the approximately 500 student students of the school. As each student came through the line he remembered every one of them by name and even made sure to stop specific students from eating or drinking certain foods or drinks on the menu day, knowing they were allergic or had a dietary restriction. “He remembered their names,” Joan Edman, a retired J.J. Hill Montessori paraprofessional, told TIME. “He remembered who couldn't have milk. He knew what they could have to eat and what they couldn't.” He made sure that no student went through his cafeteria leaving hungry, slipping an extra packet of graham crackers into the backpacks of students he knew didn't have enough money to buy a meal that day.

Chipper. Determined. Go getter. These were words friends used to describe Jeronimo Yanez while attending high school at South St. Paul Secondary. He was a driven athlete excelling in football, hockey, baseball, and wrestling.

Organized sports were not the only extracurricular activities he participated in, he was also on the math team and strove to achieve excellence. During his senior year he was voted as having the Most School Spirit and was even crowned Homecoming Prince. People described him as a natural leader, “the sort of guy you wanted to be a cop,” said one of his former classmates.

After high school, Yanez enrolled at Mankato State University where he met and became fast friends with Joseph Kauser on their journey to completing a degree in law enforcement. They worked hard and stood out amongst a group of 500 graduating students as the best in their class to receive the Baton of Honor—“an award given to promising future cops for their smarts, respect and leadership qualities.” Former classmate Paige Burke told the Star Tribune that both Yanez and Kauser were “model students and 'leaders of their class.' She remembers them excelling in the classroom, attending all of the extracurricular training, and being the first whom professors would seek out with any leadership opportunities.” Star Tribune also spoke to former chairman of the law enforcement department, Jeff Bumgarner. “He particularly remembers Yanez as someone who didn't come from privilege, [and was] 'a very nice, sensible guy who got into law enforcement for the right reasons.'”

Yanez was sworn in to the St. Anthony Police Department in 2011, only one year after graduating. He joined the Minnesota Chapter of the National Latino Peace Officers Association and was often praised in annual reports from the police department for taking part in special events for the community such as meeting with individuals to teach bike safety and giving a group of Cub Scouts a tour of the police station. Every year he stood guard in front of the State Capitol at the Law Enforcement Memorial Monument built for the sole purpose of memorializing “Minnesota peace officers who had died in the line of duty” which was engraved with the Bible verse, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” Matthew 5:9. In front of the monument is a thin lighted blue line that is walked by a Law Enforcement Monument Association honor guard member while a peace officer from around the state stands guard; the guard is changed out every 20 minutes. The thin blue line “denotes the final barrier which stands between [the] citizens and chaos. The only time this line is disrupted is when an Officer has fallen or is injured in the course of executing his sworn duty.”

In the evening of November 23, 2011, two days after being sworn in, Jeronimo Yanez was working his usual late night shift when he assisted in a routine traffic stop. A car was driving with a brake light burned out, a pattern of common stops in the St. Anthony Police Department's repertoire. The driver slowed his speed, shifted the car over into a safe area out of traffic, and waited for the officer to appear at his window. The usual script was narrated to the driver and then there was a beat of silence. Stepping back and signalling to the man in the stopped vehicle to exit, Yanez moved forward to help restrain him before leading him to his police cruiser. The driver had been operating the vehicle without a valid license and was being taken in while the other officer remained behind with the car. Yanez transported Philando Castile to jail.

It was late evening when Philando and his girlfriend rolled down the nearly empty streets to their shared apartment; a trunk full of groceries, another day in the week ended. The sky was lightly colored in fading pastel blues and pinks, the sun hiding behind buildings but not completely dipped into true night. Being the height of summer, sunset wasn't until after 9:00 pm and the dark sky chased the Oldsmobile on its trek home. One moment Philando was driving towards the close of another day, and the next red and blue flashing lights lit up the interior of the car.

The sight of a police cruiser in the rearview mirror didn't surprise or alarm him. What could he have done this time? Flicking on the right indicator light, Philando slowly maneuvered the car to the side of the street in a safe location out of traffic; he waited for the routine. A young Mexican-American police officer with his hand resting on the gun at his belt approached the vehicle and bent towards the window while a white officer gradually circled around the passenger side.

“Hello, sir.” The officer at the window said jovially.

“How you doing?” Philando says.

“Good. The reason I pulled you over is your brake lights are out,” the officer continues in a calm tone. “You only have one active brake light and that's going to be your passenger side. Your third one which is up here on the top,” he gestures to the top of the vehicle, “and the one back here is gonna be out.” Yanez pauses. “Do you have your license and insurance?”

Philando doesn't hesitate to search for the requested items. First, he quickly hands the insurance card to Yanez which he briefly scans with his eyes then places it in his left chest pocket awaiting the license.

Red bloomed slowly and brightly over the right side of Philando's once pristine white t-shirt, resembling a macabre flower while his arm hung limply across his chest. Pained groans of a dying man punctuated the brief silences between officer Yanez's cursing and Diamond's disbelieving pleas. Almost imperceptibly Philando whispers, “I wasn't reaching for it,” and slowly slides to the side, body slumping towards Diamond and hanging loosely between the seats towards the four year old girl in the back. Unfortunately this isn't the first time an unwarranted incident like this has happened to a member of the Black community, and Diamond was quick to grab her cell phone. She began to broadcast via Facebook live where millions of users tuned in.

The world was a whirlwind of movement, flashing lights, and scratchy radio sounds but the only thing in Yanez's world was him and his gun unwavering from a clearly unmoving Philando. His breath came out in loud huffs punctuated by curses that were easily captured by the recording device stuffed in his pocket. In addition to Yanez's partner Joseph Kauser, police supervisors and other officers began to flood the scene and close off intersections leading to the location. Sergeant Bryan Adams walked calmly towards an extremely shaken Officer Yanez.

Yanez sounded dazed when Adams approached and tried to receive the appropriate response to his question. After asking multiple times if “all officers are good,” Adams was able to disengage Yanez from the car, give Officer Grant Datillo a short brief, then allowed the officer to take over Yanez's position. An unidentified officer led him away while he continued to breathe heavily and struggle to place his gun in the holster at his right hip.

“You alright? You're not hit any, are you?” The unidentified officer asked.

Yanez's breaths persisted loudly into the microphone. “No I'm not. Fucking A.”

The officer walking with Yanez gestured him away from the Oldsmobile. “Walk back here.” He said.

Sergeant Adams moved in towards Philando, medical gloves snapped in place and began helping Datillo open the driver's side door. They reached inside but couldn't pull Philando from the vehicle because his seatbelt was still fastened. Adams ran around the vehicle and unsnapped the belt from the unmoving man's body, then made it back to the driver's side just as Datillo yanked and dragged Philando's limp form from inside. Yanez was close enough to watch them deal with the mess he'd left behind, and there was no stopping him from reacting to the sight of Philando.

During Yanez's sc reams and curses, the officers didn't wait for the medics to arrive and jumped onto Philando's body to restart the heart of the young man.

Yanez suddenly let out a frustrated scream on a long breath of air, sounding like he needed to let off stress but didn't know how.

“Hey,” an officer snapped, trying to slow down Yanez's panicked spiral.

“I told him to fucking stop. He had his hand on it.” Breathing. “Fuck. Oh my gosh.”

Officer Bryan Anderson escorted Yanez to Officer Teresa Sunde and calmly reassured him. “It's okay bud, we got this.”

The deep breaths didn't stop as Yanez stepped away from the scene and suddenly donned the persona of being the man in charge, instructing officers to have areas and streets blocked off by squad cars. The loud measured breath sounds persisted above the incomprehensible jumble of radio noises from police officers, supervisors, dispatchers, and the medical team descending on the location to defend and protect one of their own. When a Code 3 or “Shots Fired” is called the police radio waves go deathly silent so dispatchers and essential personnel can exchange information without interference that could jeopardize the calling officer's life.

As the medic arrived and the officers kept pumping on Philando's chest, Yanez stood with Teresa Sunde, still agitated.

It was nearly 10 minutes after Yanez shot into the Oldsmobile and he was still breathing loudly, stuttering, and screaming curses. Philando was worked on until the medics arrived who loaded him into an ambulance and drove him to Hennepin County Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at 9:37 pm.

But, during the ordeal, Diamond Reynolds was still present at the scene. When she was asked to step out of the vehicle and walk backwards towards Joseph Kauser, she wasn't immediately taken to the police department. She was handcuffed and shoved into the back of a police car with her four year old daughter, begging for any one of them to at least remove the handcuffs so she could hug the little girl.

Diamond Reynolds was finally released from the police department not knowing what happened to Philando or which hospital he was located in. She stormed out into the street where friends, family, news reporters, and bystanders were gathered waiting to hear more of the story. In between sobs she screamed to the crowd what happened the night of the shooting of Philando Castile. In a broken voice she told everyone who could hear that she worked two jobs and Philando worked one job to support Diamond and her daughter. Diamond cried out that she wanted “Justice and Peace” then broke down into the arms of a stranger where people gathered to lift up a prayer of strength for her and the family of Philando.

Just an hour later Valerie Castile, the mother of Philando, and Clarence Castile, Philando's uncle, appeared on CNN to speak out on the tragedy.

As noted in the podcast 74 seconds--a 22 episode show dedicated to the shooting of Philando Castile--Valerie and many people who were close to Philando can be heard in interviews saying that Philando was not a gangbanger, not a thug, not affiliated with any gangs, didn't go to bars, and did everything by the book. The hosts of 74 seconds talk about this in an episode saying, “That's something we hear a lot when Black men are killed by police. Family members start listing all the reasons the person shouldn't have been killed. They have just suddenly and violently lost a loved one and the first thing they feel they have to do is tell you their loved one is not a criminal. It's this impulse to beat back all the stereotypes that are out there about who gets shot by police and why.” If anyone had doubts about Philando not being affiliated with any gangs, the Minnesota State Statute on concealed carry permits has strict laws on who is prohibited from possessing a firearm. Statute 624.714 Subdivision 2, letter (b), number (5) says “a sheriff must issue a permit to an applicant if the person is not listed in the criminal gang data system…”

In the same interview with CNN, Valerie briefly explains Philando's last hours and a conversation he had with his sister, Allysza.

Nearly every interview brought up Philando's concealed carry permit. In the Facebook video captured by Diamond she informed the viewers and Yanez over and over that Philando was licensed to conceal carry and he, as a responsible gun owner, wanted to let the officer know that he did have a weapon on him. The United States Concealed Carry Association (USCCA) website says permit owners “are not required to tell an officer that [they] are carrying a concealed firearm in Minnesota” and cites Minnesota state statute 624.714 Subdivision 1b entitled “Display of permit; penalty.” Within Subdivision 1b there is an alphabetical bullet list and under letter (d) the statute states, “Upon the request of a peace officer, a permit holder shall disclose to the officer whether or not the permit holder is currently carrying a firearm.” If both of these are correct then Philando was not required to tell Yanez that he had a concealed weapon but, if Yanez would have asked, then Philando would have been required to give that information. Why did Philando feel he had to tell Yanez of his concealed firearm without being asked? Unfortunately it may be the recent and previous unfair treatment of Black people in the presence of police that prompted him to cover all of his bases, divulging the information so that he wouldn't have been shot later if Yanez were to have found out for himself that Philando was concealing. As Valerie said in the CNN interview, she believed her son was shot just because he was “driving while Black.”

In the days after the shooting of Philando Castile, protests broke out in cities across the United States in anger of the rising cases of the Black community being “gunned down” by police - as well as the officers working together to protect their “brother in blue.” The continual show of unnecessary force by police, deaths of the Black community by their hand, and the eventual acquittal or the total absence of charges against the officers involved sparked the birth of Black Lives Matter. At protests and press conferences for Philando some individuals shouted that Black Lives Mattered but the day Diamond had been released from Police custody she reminded everyone listening and watching the video that all lives mattered.

One of the protests that attracted dozens of people was located in front of the governor's mansion in St. Paul where the governor spoke at a news conference with Diamond. Diamond once again recalled the night of the shooting, adding that, “They did not check for a pulse at the scene of the crime” because they were preoccupied comforting Yanez while he was in a panic spiral. Governor Mark Dayton stood before the crowd and, just as angrily as those gathered, he said, “Would this have happened if the driver and the passengers were white? I don't think it would have. So I'm forced to confront that this kind of racism exists, and it's incumbent upon all of us to vow and ensure that it doesn't happen and doesn't continue to happen. Nobody should be shot and killed in Minnesota… for a tail light being out of function. Nobody should be shot and killed while seated still in their car. I'm heartbroken.” He added that he ordered a state investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice and Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA).

“The Minnesota legislature created the BCA in 1927 to assist peace officers statewide in solving crimes and apprehending criminals… [Later the] BCA became a part of the newly-created Department of Public Safety in 1969. The BCA established one of the first DNA laboratories in the nation in 1990, and shortly afterward became the first in the nation to identify a suspect based solely on DNA. [They provide] investigative and specialized law enforcement services to prevent and solve crimes in partnership with law enforcement, public safety and criminal justice agencies. Services include criminal justice training and development, forensic laboratory analysis, criminal histories and investigations.”

Various officials and well-known figures in society spoke on the topic of Philando's tragic story. Sergeant Jon Mangseth, interim police chief in St. Anthony, said, “We haven't had an officer-involved shooting in 30 years or more, I'd have to go back in the history books. It's shocking, it's not something that occurs in this area often.” President Barack Obama wrote in a Facebook post about the mounting number of police shootings saying that he and Michelle Obama shared the “anger, frustration and grief” everyone in the nation was going through and expressing. “All Americans should be deeply troubled by the fatal shootings... We've seen such tragedies far too many times, and our hearts go out to the families and communities who've suffered such a painful loss.” At Warsaw, ahead of a NATO summit, he said, “When people say Black lives matter, it does not mean blue lives don't matter. All lives matter. But the big concern is that the data shows that Black folks are more vulnerable to these kinds of incidents. This isn't a matter of us comparing the value of lives, this is recognizing that there is a particular burden being placed on a group of our fellow citizens and we should care about that. We can't dismiss it.”

Following the identification of the officers involved in the traffic stop, Jeronimo Yanez and Joseph Kauser were both placed on administrative paid leave while investigations were conducted. It only took a couple of days after the shooting for Yanez to lawyer up in preparation. It only took a couple of days for attorney Thomas Kelly to begin speaking out in interviews and press conferences defending his client. “All he had to have was reasonable suspicion to pull him over,” said Thomas Kelly. “This has nothing to do with race, and everything to do with the presence of a gun. Deadly force would not have been used if not for the presence of a gun.”

Star Tribune spoke to the family of Philando and his cousin, Nasiy Mitsvah, “accused Kelly of trying to cover up for his client [saying] 'Even if they say he looked like someone in a robbery, it still doesn't give him a right to kill someone. They're just trying to make a person look really bad.'”

An attorney who assisted the family, Albert Goins, also spoke to Star Tribune saying that officers would have initiated a felony traffic stop if they had reason to suspect that Castile was a robbery suspect. When Yanez was pulling over Philando, he'd radioed to Joseph Kauser letting him know that he was going to conduct a traffic stop because the driver and passenger in the vehicle “just look like the people that were involved in a robbery. The driver looks more like one of our suspects just because of the wide set nose.” He then reported that he had reason, other than being suspicious of the driver, to stop the vehicle because of a brake light that was not working. The unsolved robbery in question was at a Super USA convenience store on July 2, 2016 near the area Philando had been driving. Video surveillance of the robbery showed two Black male suspects, both with dreadlocks, glasses, baseball hats, and firearms. Yanez was one of the responding officers.

Albert Goins told Star Tribune that “a felony stop does not usually involve officers walking up to your car and asking you to produce your driver's license. A felony stop involves bringing the suspect out at gunpoint while officers are in a position of cover and having them lie on the ground until they can identify who that individual is. Either [Castile] was a robbery suspect and [Yanez] didn't follow the procedures for a felony stop, or [Castile] was not a robbery suspect and [Yanez] shot a man because he stood at his window getting his information.”

In the midst of protests igniting throughout the city and around the United States, the funeral of Philando proceeded down the streets of St. Paul on a horse drawn carriage towards the grand St. Paul Cathedral. A large crowd of mourners composed of family, friends, and supporters from the community followed after the carriage towards the church's stone steps. Men wearing white suits gently pulled the white casket from the back of the carriage and somberly walked inside where the pews and aisles overflowed with guests. Philando was buried in a private ceremony at Calvary Cemetery and Mausoleum in St. Louis, Missouri following the funeral on July 14, 2019.

While waiting for the BCA to supply the investigative report to the Ramsey County Attorney's Office, John Choi diligently continued to research and work on his own investigations into the incident. It took him less than a month after receiving the report from the BCA to charge Officer Jeronimo Yanez. “Philando Castile was not resisting or fleeing… He volunteered in good faith that he had a firearm, beyond what the law requires,” John Choi told CBS Minnesota. “Based upon our thorough and exhaustive review of the facts, I have come to the conclusion that there simply was no justification for the use of deadly force by Officer Yanez in this case. No reasonable officer who knew, saw and heard what Officer Yanez did at the time would have used deadly force under these circumstances.” Yanez was charged with one count of second degree manslaughter with culpable negligence creating unreasonable risk for the death of Philando Castile, one count intentional discharge of a firearm that endangers safety for using his weapon in the presence of Diamond Reynolds, and one count intentional discharge of a firearm that endangers safety for using his weapon in the presence of Diamond Reynolds's daughter. The maximum sentence for second degree manslaughter in Minnesota is 10 years in prison and 5 years for the intentional discharge of a firearm that endangers safety.

Though Philando's family supported the charges, many protestors believed the charges didn't go far enough. John Choi and his team were ready to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law, but they also knew that “prosecuting the case in the state of Minnesota might be tricky,” he told CBS Minnesota. “The law in the state of Minnesota gives a lot of protection to police officers.” The case would hinge on use of deadly force laws that are only justified if the officer or others are at risk of great bodily harm or death.

During the time waiting for the BCA to conduct the investigation Jeronimo was still on paid administrative leave and was not put under arrest when the Ramsey County Attorney's Office officially charged him; Choi stating he trusted Yanez would appear in court at his first hearing. Back in August, Yanez was allowed to go back to work on desk duty and performing other administrative tasks until the investigation and official charges were completed. One week later he was put back on administrative leave “after reviewing concerns and other feedback from the community” when protestors gathered at the police department in anger over Yanez's return to work. The city later said they made the decision to put him back on leave “out of respect to the sensitive nature of the tragic incident.” Clarence Castile was in attendance at the protest and spoke to the Associated Press saying, “This guy just shot and killed a man, and a decision hasn't been made whether or not it was a good and lawful shoot — so there's no reason why he should be at work right now. As far as I'm concerned, he shouldn't go back to work until the case is over — until he's exonerated or been charged.”

An article by CBS Minnesota learned that the Associated Press analyzed arrest data from the department Yanez worked for and “revealed Mangseth's department has disproportionately arrested African Americans. While just 7 percent of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area is Black, nearly half of the St. Anthony police's arrests in the first half of 2016 were of Black people, Members of Minnesota's Black community said the statistics were proof of racial profiling.”

Yanez made his way to the courtroom for a hearing that lasted no more than 5 minutes on November 17, 2016. On his way into the building he dodged cameras waiting for him at the front by entering through a different entrance accompanied by attorneys Thomas Kelly and Earl Gray. Inside the quiet courtroom six people occupied the front row reserved for Philando's family, waiting to see the man responsible for killing their loved one. Nakia Wilson, Philando's cousin, sat among the six family members in attendance. Her body shook and butterflies fluttered wildly in her stomach when Yanez stepped into the courtroom, remaining that way for the longest 5 minutes of her life. Judge Mark Ireland proceeded over the hearing, listening to the prosecution outline the charges and the defense voice disappointment in the choice to charge their client. When it was the defense's turn to respond to the charge, Yanez only had one thing to say: “Not guilty.” He did not enter a plea and, much to the dismay of supporters and family, he was released on his own recognizance because of his “clean record and employment as a law enforcement officer. Ramsey County prosecutors didn't argue the request.” The website FindLaw says to be released on own recognizance “no bail money is paid to the court and no bond is posted. The suspect is released after promising, in writing, to appear in court for all upcoming proceedings.” Family supporter Monte Lesure questioned the fairness of letting Yanez go saying, “He walks outside the courtroom on personal recognizance. There are people in the African-American community right now who don't believe the man will be found guilty. How do you do that?” A few months later the trial is set for May 30, 2017.

Various motions were filed by the defense in the months leading up to the May trial. One motion was a request to move the location of the trial to a different city saying their client wouldn't get a fair trial due to press conferences conducted by John Choi and his team that they believed would “intimidate” the jury. Included in the memo was an accusation that the “slanted” media would also color the jury's opinions. “The media coverage and protests have never suggested an iota of fault in Mr. Castile's conduct. That one-sidedness is 'potentially prejudicial,'” the memo reads. “The media has portrayed Castile as an obedient African American male who has been racially profiled his entire life.” Other motions requested to dismiss the manslaughter charge and exclude the opinion of John Noble, an expert in use of deadly force consulted by the Ramsey County Attorney's Office. All of these motions were denied.

The courtroom was small, empty and quiet, waiting for the crowd of people lined up outside the doors for the trial of Jeronimo Yanez on May 30, 2017. Benches just behind the defense and prosecution sat with labels fluttering in the light breeze of the air conditioning reserving them for the families of CASTILE and YANEZ. The next four rows behind them were tensely reserved for the 50 people of the jury pool that would be whittled down to the official 15 of the jury panel--12 jurors and 3 alternates. Another set of four rows were hungrily reserved for the media who were part of the large crowd gathered outside the room and clogging the line of court security. The remaining two rows of the courtroom were left open to members of the public on a first come, first serve basis and not nearly enough for the number of people hungry for justice.

Hearing witnesses and seeing evidence didn't start until the fifth official day of trial on June 5, 2017 after spending four days on interviewing and selecting the final jurors of the panel. During this process, the defense began to “advance the theory that Philando's concealed carry permit was obtained by fraud since there is a question about drug use [on the application] and they claim he was using marijuana at the time he applied for the permit.” Philando's toxicology report did show he had THC in his system at the time of the shooting, and the defense believes that makes him culpable for his own death.

The application for a concealed carry permit states that in addition to taking a firearms safety course, an applicant must not participate in any activity listed on the application. One of the elements says the applicant “must not be an unlawful user of any controlled substance as defined in Chapter 152 of Minnesota Statutes.” Controlled substances, as defined by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), are drugs, substances, and certain chemicals used to make drugs that have potential for abuse and physical or psychological dependence. They are categorized into five schedules contingent upon the drug's abuse potential and current accepted medical use. Marijuana is listed as a Schedule 1 controlled substance which are substances that “have no currently accepted medical use in the United States, a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision, and a high potential for abuse.” Schedule 1 substances are not sold in pharmacies and are illegal to possess unless, as is the case for marijuana, the State allows for medical and/or recreational use. Other drugs in this Schedule are LSD, Ecstasy, and heroin. Though research into medical marijuana is making great strides, there still isn't an accepted medical use for the plant. Minnesota allows for the use of medical marijuana only when a healthcare practitioner certifies that the patient has one or more of the qualifying conditions: cancer pain, glaucoma, ALS, seizures, terminal illness, PTSD, Autism, and Alzheimer's disease amongst others. Recreational use of marijuana is illegal in Minnesota and possessing 42.5 grams or less is a petty misdemeanor.

On the sixth official day of trial, Diamond Reynolds was called to the stand as the prosecution's first witness. They ran Diamond through details of the incident, brought work time sheets for Philando and Diamond to establish a timeline for the day, and produced a receipt of the grocery store to add to the timeline. Defense attorney Earl Gray latched onto Diamond's admission to being a recreational marijuana smoker and that she and her sister had smoked while they were hanging out together after Diamond was picked up from work by her sister. Gray asked her why she did it and she simply responded with “Because I wanted to.” The older man didn't let up saying “you know it's illegal” and all Diamond said was “okay.” He wasn't going to give up on the marijuana line of questioning and began making a big deal about her and Philando smoking daily, moving the conversation towards a baggie of marijuana found in the car after the incident. Diamond continued to be truthful, refusing to let Gray cow her, agreeing she had marijuana with her in the car but it was under the passenger seat when she'd kicked it and the groceries around with her heel during the ensuing tragedy. But she added a concerning piece of information: the marijuana she had was in a mason jar with a gold cap, not a baggie. Diamond made sure the court heard and understood she and Philando had not smoked in the car. Gray continued attempting to dirty up Diamond's reputation, trying to make her out as a liar, and even asked if she and her sister went grocery shopping to use her sister's food stamps. The prosecution objected to that blatant racist and classist line of questioning which Judge Leary sustained in their favor.

The next best witness for the prosecution was called to the stand after Diamond was thanked and dismissed. Joseph Kauser, now an officer for Bloomington Police Department at the time of the trial, sat poised and ready for the questioning he knew he would endure. While being Yanez's partner with the St. Anthony Police Department, Kauser was also a use of force instructor and was asked to describe the steps for a standard traffic stop. He easily listed displaying the emergency lights, notifying dispatch or your partner, and standing at a safe space from the driver. Officers are trained to stand at what is known as the B pillar which is the space between the front and back windows. The prosecution asked Kauser, “Would you agree that most men keep their wallet in their right back pocket?” and he agreed without hesitation, adding if a driver reached in that direction it would be normal during a routine traffic stop and he wouldn't perceive a threat. Continuing on the topic of routine traffic stops, the prosecution asked Kauser what he personally did when he encountered a driver who had a permit to carry. Yanez's former partner explained he would ask where the gun was located and to see the carry permit while also making sure the driver kept their hands on the steering wheel after presenting the document. Satisfied with the answer, they moved on to Kauser's use of deadly force training and what he instructed in his own classes, asking about the St. Anthony Police Department's policies. As noted before, deadly force is only to be used to preserve life and eliminate the threat of great bodily harm. Officers should exhaust other means of de-escalation first such as giving a warning and using language to stop unwanted movement like “stop moving” while watching the hands.

It wasn't long before the prosecution asked Kauser to detail the evening of July 6, 2016. As he patrolled the streets of Falcon Heights, Officer Kauser received a call from Yanez via the radio unmonitored by dispatch saying he planned to stop a car he was following because “the driver looks more like one of our suspects just because of the wide set nose.” He was only around a half mile away and radioed back to Yanez letting him know he would come by for assistance. He pulled up behind the other squad car as his partner was making the stop and casually walked towards Philando's car from the passenger side, stopping at the area behind the backseat window with his fingers comfortably hooked at the edges of his bulletproof vest, completely at ease and unconcerned. The prosecution stopped him to ask if he happened to smell any marijuana coming from the vehicle and he answered, no. They then pulled up the dashcam video of the incident and began walking Kauser through it in short increments. They pointed out Philando moving to the right to retrieve the insurance then moving back to inform Yanez of the gun. Yanez's partner agreed Philando's voice was relaxed, moving his body and hands at a reasonable speed so he hadn't felt threatened standing on the other side of the vehicle as support. It was because of the sense of calm he was suddenly surprised by the sound of gunshots firing and instinctively moved back from his last point of cover, inadvertently crossing Yanez's line of fire, and putting himself in danger. The prosecution asked Kauser, for the sake of the jury, if he knew where the gun was. He said, “I don't know where the gun was. [Yanez] didn't tell me where the gun was.” But he quickly tried covering for his friend saying it takes longer to recognize and react to a threat and police have to be proactive in those kinds of situations, shooting at center mass until the threat is stopped. Officer Joseph Kauser was thanked for his time and dismissed to ask Officer Juan Toran to approach the stand as the next witness.

The evening of the incident, Officer Toran was only a mile away from the scene when he heard the call for “shots fired” on the radio and immediately tore down the streets of Falcon Heights to aid his fellow peacekeeper. In his mind he expected to find a shootout between the perpetrator and the police but he found what appeared to be a standard traffic stop and a visibly shaken Yanez standing like an immovable force at the window of the driver, gun unwavering and still pointed inside. When Toran jumped out of the vehicle another Roseville Police Department officer was doing the same and they both stormed forward with their rifles at the ready, yelling at Diamond to step out of the vehicle and walk backwards towards them. Once she was bundled into Kauser's vehicle, Toran went back to the scene where Philando's visibly limp body was on the ground and assisted in administering first aid. It was when the paramedics arrived on scene that he claims a gun fell from the pocket of Philando's shorts while they rolled his body onto a backboard, and Toran placed it onto the pavement.

The prosecution took the opportunity to ask the officer if he happened to smell any marijuana while he was doing CPR since he was between the car and Philando, sure he would have smelled something? Toran answered that he did not smell any marijuana. To conclude questioning, they asked him how he knew Yanez. He explained he met Yanez at Bulletproof Warrior training which is a three-day class characterized as an officer survival course. Their website explains the course “is designed to prepare students psychologically, emotionally, and tactically for their roles as law enforcement professionals in modern society. Participants will examine the current relationship between law enforcement and the community they are sworn to protect while also identifying the most current threats to both. Finally, officers will learn how their attitudes and personal perspectives could mean the difference between life and death…” Part of the class is taught by Lt. Col. Grossman, who is not a police officer but a member of the military and Toran admitted the course presented many videos of police ambushes and killings. He was thanked and dismissed.

The fifth witness for the prosecution was Eric Torgerson, one of the responding St. Paul paramedics. He explained the call came in at 9:03 pm and would have reached the location of the incident faster then they had since the station was only two miles from the incident, but they'd been stopped at a police barricade and told by dispatch to remain where they were until the scene was declared safe. Many family members and supporters thought those precious minutes waiting at the barricade could have saved Philando's life, but the paramedic said CPR had started long before their arrival. So as not to interrupt their efforts, he let the officers continue lifesaving measures while he knelt down and checked for signs of life. He did not find any. Behind him his partner jumped from the vehicle and dashed to the back of the ambulance to bring the backboard and stretcher while Torgerson remained at the scene as medical support. He watched one of the officers stop to pat down Philando's body and reach deeply into the right pocket of his shorts, pulling out a gun and placing it on the pavement. When his partner returned he kicked back into motion and rolled Philando onto the backboard, listening as the officer adamantly commented about how deep into the pocket the gun had been. As with Officer Toran, the prosecution finished questioning by asking if the paramedic recalled smelling marijuana from his location by the body and the car. Torgerson answered he did not smell any marijuana.

Nearing the end of the sixth day of trial, the prosecution brought forward their sixth witness: Lindsey Garfield of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. She and her team arrived to the location at 11:00 pm, and in the time they had left in the day they conducted a preliminary on-scene investigation. Garfield displayed a diagram of the incident showing where they found seven bullet casings easily identified as belonging to Yanez, and where they'd found Philando's gun on the pavement. She took the time to emphasize that, on retrieval of the gun, they noted there was no bullet waiting in the chamber and it typically would take two hands to engage the bullet into the chamber. Philando had only used one hand to move towards his pocket when asked to retrieve his license. Court was adjourned for the day.

The seventh day of trial opened with Lindsey Garfield returning to finish her testimony. From the outside of the car they took photos of the vehicle from all angles, taking particular care to show all the brake lights on the Oldsmobile illuminated except for the one on the center back window. After the outside of the car and the area around the scene was diagramed and documented, Garfield and her team moved to the inside of the vehicle where they found a baggie of marijuana sitting on the front passenger seat. Making sure not to disturb the interior of the car a photo was taken and presented to the court of Philando's glasses placed next to the baggie of marijuana on the seat for size reference; it was no bigger than one of the lenses and tied securely by a knot. In the background of the same photo a gold mason jar cap could be seen nestled within the cup holder. Once completed with the preliminary investigation, Garfield and team sealed all of the windows with plastic and had the car taken to the BCA's crime lab to continue further analysis. Over the following days, they conducted multiple examinations and bullet trajectory analysis using trajectory rods to determine approximate angles and landing locations of the seven shots fired. Shockingly, the team found one bullet embedded in the center armrest where Diamond was and another bullet had gone completely through the driver's seat, into the backseat, and lodged in the metal underneath the car. Diamond's daughter was, luckily, buckled into her car seat behind her mother and not behind Philando. Concluding her testimony and presentation, Garfield displayed a photo of Yanez in full uniform after the incident with a blank look on his face; Philando's bloody insurance card still in his chest pocket.

The seventh witness brought forth by the prosecution was Dr. Andrew Baker, Chief Medical Examiner for Hennepin, Dakota, and Scott counties. At the stand, he explained to the jury what a medical examiner was and the duties they performed. Philando was brought to him for autopsy and he took various photos that were presented to the court during his testimony. On examination, Dr. Baker catalogued four entrance wounds located on the outside of the left upper arm and one in the lower part of the same arm. As he moved Philando's arm out in search of the trajectories, he found exit wounds in the inner aspect of the arm but also four entrances into the chest and one at the hip. He concluded that the wounds in the chest and body were the same four bullets that had initially entered through the arm, out the inner aspect, and reentered where two of them pierced Philando's heart. The two that struck his heart were not survivable injuries. Dr. Baker added he had to consider the wounds as “indeterminate range of fire” because he didn't have gunpowder residue on the skin to analyse, most likely because they were left on the clothing. As part of protocol he attempted to take blood samples from the femoral artery, the ideal location for toxicology testing, but there wasn't enough blood left for a proper analysis so he also took blood from the chest cavity. It's important to know that cavity blood is not the best choice because blood there is often contaminated, and when both samples were tested separately they showed levels of three marijuana metabolites, or byproducts. Dr. Baker stated he was not qualified to interpret the test results and, because of this, the prosecution's eighth witness was Christine Engebretson, a clinical toxicology professor with the U of M Pharmacy School. Though marijuana metabolites were detected in Philando's blood it was still not an adequate indicator of when he'd last smoked it. Engebretson explained when a person died the body would put any drugs through postmortem redistribution and the marijuana metabolites stored in Philando's fatty tissue would have dumped into the blood making postmortem blood unreliable. She also made it clear to the court there currently was no reliable test that could tell when a person last used marijuana because the metabolites could remain in the body for weeks. Christine Engebretson was thanked for her time and dismissed.

The prosecution called Jeffrey Noble, the use of force and police practices expert the defense wanted to exclude in the trial, as their ninth and final witness. He was first consulted by the prosecution to help them determine if there was sufficient evidence to charge Yanez. Noble was given all files and documents to read, examined the car at the BCA, and reviewed the scene. With the information he analysed and conclusions he made, he was able to provide the prosecution with a 64 page report.

Before going into his analysis he explained the deadly force laws and when an officer is allowed to use deadly force. Graham vs. Connor is the defining law on deadly force, and there are three “Graham” factors used to decide if deadly force is warranted. The first factor is the severity of the crime, the second is if the suspect poses an immediate threat to the safety of the officer or another, and the third is if the suspect is resisting or attempting to evade arrest by flight. Noble applied the Graham factors to the incident and presented his findings: the severity of the crime was a brake light malfunction, the suspect posing an immediate threat to safety was an assumption by Yanez since Philando was Black and had a wide-set nose, and finally Philando had never shown any form of resistance to Yanez's commands or an attempt to evade by running; he was securely seatbelted in his car. The prosecution stopped Noble's testimony and asked about Yanez's assertion that Philando was one of the robbery suspects. Noble disputed that Yanez's assertion was only based on race and a wide-set nose which was not a valid reason to be pulled over or for Yanez to form a true opinion of Philando being a suspect. Normal protocol dictates if a reasonable officer believed they were following an armed robbery suspect they should contact the dispatcher to notify other officers, classify the stop as high risk, and follow felony stop procedures. Yanez and Kauser should have approached the car cautiously if they believed they were dealing with a suspect of an armed robbery but, as seen in the video and according to testimony by Kauser, they were relaxed and unthreatened; at least one of them was.

The dashcam video was presented to Noble and he was asked to view it with the Graham factors in mind. As he watched he noted Yanez approaching the car and stopping at the window instead of the B pillar which would have been a safer location for himself, Kauser, Diamond and her daughter if the need to discharge his weapon arose. The video continued, showing Philando complying when he was asked for his insurance and license then saying the words that lead to his death: “Sir, I have to tell you I have a firearm.” Even though there isn't a law in Minnesota requiring concealed carry gun owners to divulge that information, Noble informed the court that Philando did the right thing. After reading the training materials from the required gun safety course Philando attended, he saw the class taught students to give the information freely when pulled over with their concealed weapon in the vehicle. As the video continued, Noble pointed out Yanez not giving clear and unambiguous commands when he said, “Don't reach for it.” Police are trained to have control of where and what the hands are doing and in this instance the proper command would have been to ask Philando to stop moving and place his hands in the air or on the steering wheel. The command to procure the driver's license wasn't retracted and Philando continued his movement towards it, not feeling or knowing he was in a threatening situation created by Yanez. Within the five seconds from the time Philando told Yanez about the gun and Yanez discharging his firearm, he could have, instead, moved to the B pillar and warned Kauser so he could reposition himself into a safer location by the vehicle then begin de-escalation techniques. At the conclusion of the video the prosecution asked for Noble, with his knowledge of the case and the law, to give his opinion on Yanez's use of deadly force. His response was, “My opinion is that the use of deadly force was not objectively reasonable. No reasonable officer would have believed that Mr. Castile was involved in a robbery. He was not a threat. This was a routine traffic stop. Officer Yanez did not follow his training. The situation did not warrant the use of deadly force.” Being nervous is not a reason to use deadly force.

The defense stood up for cross-examination and worked to attempt disputing Noble's testimony. In response to the defense asking about Yanez utilizing the car to car radio instead of contacting dispatch, Noble said the use of the radio was fine if Yanez was conducting a traffic stop but if he was making a felony stop for an armed robbery suspect he needed to call dispatch. The questioning became heated when the defense asked if, after reviewing the dashcam video, Noble understood Yanez said he saw the gun. Noble vehemently said, “No.” He supplemented his answer by saying Yanez never said he saw a gun, but used qualifiers such as “seems like” and “I believe” multiple times and in the video he expressly told a supervisor “I never saw where the gun was. He never told me where it was.” They asked Noble about officers having to make split second decisions in those kinds of situations and he countered them saying five seconds was not a split second decision. He also said he wasn't looking for specific minor mistakes made by Yanez during the incident, he was looking at the entirety of the circumstances and how they all came together to show there was no reasonable excuse for deadly force. Adding to this he explained common principles taught in police training like firing weapons to stop the threat, not to kill. He maintained his opinion that there was no specific evidence Philando was one of the robbery suspects because there was no way Yanez was able to see height, weight, or hair style in the time it took for Philando to drive by. Philando was simply a Black man driving by with a wide-set nose and no reasonable officer would have believed he was one of the suspects. Pushing forward, the defense explained there was marijuana found in the car and toxicology detected it in Philando's blood, they asked him what he thought of Philando being under the influence. Noble didn't miss a beat and said he did not see any evidence of impairment. Yanez had followed Philando for nearly 1.5 miles and there was no erratic driving, no delay to pull over, and no delay to follow verbal commands. They ended their questioning by asking, “Is it your claim that Yanez had no reason to shoot Mr. Castile?” Noble confidently answered, “My opinion is that Officer Yanez's shooting of Philando Castile was objectively unreasonable.” Court adjourned for the day.

The prosecution closed their case on the eighth day of trial and the defense immediately jumped up to raise a motion for acquittal on all three counts, stating the evidence by the prosecution was insufficient. The prosecution argued the evidence they had addressed all elements of the charge and the defense's motion was denied. The trial would continue.

Juan Cortez, the second paramedic who responded to the call with Eric Torgerson, was the first witness for the defense. Upon arrival at the scene he saw two officers performing CPR on Philando and his partner moved forward to check for signs of life. Cortez remained behind at the ambulance to pull the backboard and stretcher from inside, wheeling it to where Philando's body lay. As he and Torgerson worked to roll Philando onto the backboard he heard something clatter onto the pavement and heard one of the officers say “gun” then watched when the officer placed the gun on the ground. The defense asked if he'd personally saw the gun come out of the pocket and said he didn't see it himself nor did he see an officer patting down Philando in search of it but added, “I'm not saying it didn't happen.” He was thanked for his time and the defense's second witness was called to testify.

Jon Mangseth, the St. Anthony Police Chief, arrived in full uniform which included his gun and taser. He sat at the stand and watched the defense play video surveillance of the Super USA convenience store robbery, the one Yanez believed Philando was a part of. He was asked what he saw. Mangseth simply stated he saw two Black men robbing the store and pointing guns at the clerk. The defense asked him to explain to the jury what officer training was like in his department and Mangseth listed courses they take each year including use of force training, de-escalation techniques, and traffic safety and enforcement. The Chief informed the court that his officers are encouraged to make traffic stops and watch people drive by to look for crime suspects, finding crime wherever it may be. More than half of all traffic stops conducted by Mangseth's department in 2016 were of Black people. The prosecution present a press release by the BCA which concluded over 265 thousand citizens in Minnesota have concealed carry permits, which is 7% of the population and amounts to 1 out of 14 to 15 stops involving someone with the permit. They asked Mangseth what he would have done in a situation similar to what Yanez experienced. He agreed it was a responsible act if a person voluntarily informed him about having a firearm, and citizens should not be blamed for their choice to divulge the information. He continued saying if the officer felt concerned about the presence of a firearm then he should ask to see their hands and inquire about the location of the weapon, communicating the information to any other officers present. The police chief was thanked for his time and dismissed.

Officer Jeremy Stroger, Yanez's use of force instructor at the St. Anthony Police Department, stepped forward as the defense's third witness. They asked to go over one of the slides from his class about factors that indicate a threat.

1. The head and/or shoulders in a back-leaning position could be a possible move forward with assault. This typically didn't apply to drivers since their move would be towards the side for an assault.

2. Eyes straight ahead and not looking towards the officer.

3. Cooperative drivers do not necessarily mean there is less of a threat because they can quickly become uncooperative.

4. Red or flushed face, twitching or jerking, pursed lips, sweating, glazed gaze, clenching or pounding of fists, and acting belligerent.

5. A change in demeanor.

The prosecution cross-examined Stroger and asked if he agreed a calm voice and being polite are not signs of a threat to which he asserted they were not indicators of a threat. To assess a threat the officer needed to communicate with the individual without jumping to conclusions, including listening to what the person was saying.

The next three witnesses were officers who'd been at the scene. Each of them retold the story, but none had any valuable information to add except one officer who claimed to have seen Officer Toran remove a gun from deep within Philando's pocket.

After hearing the incident retold multiple times by the other officers, the defense called Glenn Hardin, former BCA toxicology expert, as their seventh witness. It was immediately clear he was brought in to attempt discrediting the prosecution's toxicology expert. He was asked to explain to the court what his qualifications and accomplishments were. Along with an MA in forensic science, he was also involved in attempting to document the effects drugs had on drivers for the DRE training program. DRE stands for Drug Recognition Evaluator which is a Minnesota officer who is trained to “successfully identify drug impairment and accurately determine the category of drugs causing such impairment. [The program] prepares officers to detect and remove drug impaired drivers from the road.” The defense had Hardin evaluate Philando's THC blood results and give his opinion on the findings. He believed Philando was under the influence of marijuana two hours before the traffic stop and cited an article written in 2001 by Marilyn Huestis containing a model Hardin used to estimate last marijuana usage. The prosecution stood to rebut Hardin's opinion. Their first question was if Hardin had ever used postmortem blood to calculate the last use of marijuana in an individual and the toxicology expert admitted he had never done so. To prove their own expert's views about the unreliability of postmortem blood for toxicology, the prosecution cited various articles including one written by the same Marilyn Huestis in 2011 where she referenced research conducted and published in a December 2001 volume of the Forensic Science International. The researchers applied Huestis and her coworkers' model--the same Hardin referenced--to calculate last usage of marijuana in cadavers. They concluded that “the successful use of the mathematical models of Huestis et al. may rely in part upon the selection of the appropriate blood sample, i.e. plasma. When plasma is not available, whole blood values could be considered with some caution… In the case of blood samples taken postmortem, the use of these models to assess the time of Cannabis exposure is not advocated.” Another article published in the February 2012 volume of the Journal of Pharmacy Practice stated “Postmortem drug levels often do not reflect the blood levels before death. A drug level can be elevated exclusively because of postmortem distribution.” Hardin's testimony was utterly destroyed.

James Diehl was the defense's eighth witness and Philando's concealed carry instructor. Diehl described his class and what he taught his students. He advised concealed carry owners to keep their hands visible on the steering wheel and tell the officer they had a concealed firearm with a valid permit. The defense asked why he taught students to do this even though there was no law requiring drivers to give up that information freely. He says he bases this recommendation on surveys conducted about the preferences of law enforcement officers. The instructor told his students to use the word “firearm” because he believed it was a better word choice and it sounded softer than “gun” or “weapon.” The most important thing he teaches his students to so is always follow the officer's commands.

After the defense's motion to exclude the prosecution's use of force expert from trial was denied, they decided to find their own. Joseph Dutton was a former Golden City police officer and the defense's ninth witness. Right off the bat he admitted to only working on behalf of police officers and his goal was to always defend them. He was given the same documents Jeffrey Noble received for review, and produced a four page report to the defense. Dutton stated boldly his opinion that Yanez used authorized deadly force, saying, “I believe wholeheartedly that he saw a gun. He looked in the video like someone who had seen a gun.” Dutton explained his conclusions came from statements Yanez told the BCA during his interview, statements that could potentially be lies. As Yanez was explaining his side of the story to the BCA, he said he was scared and feared for his life when Philando began reaching down. The BCA transcript reads, “I was telling him something as his hand went down I think… he put his hand around something and his hand made like a C-shape… and it appeared to me that he was wrapping something around his fingers… almost like if I were to put my hand around my gun like putting my hand up to the butt of the gun.” It was the mention of Philando's hand supposedly making a “C-shape” that Dutton latched on to, basing his entire opinion on this possible fabrication and claiming it as a significant detail. When asked if he thought the “C-shape” could have been an indicator of Philando moving to unbuckle his seatbelt to retrieve the wallet from his back pocket, Dutton scoffed. Another possibly fabricated detail the former police officer clung to was Yanez's claims to the BCA that Philando didn't look at him when he drove by which Dutton believed was enough to raise reasonable suspicion since Philando “basically fit the description.” Throughout the rest of his time on the stand, Dutton met the prosecution with hostility when they questioned or challenged his opinions.

Day eight of the trial closed after the next four witnesses testified for the purpose of establishing Yanez as a good and honest person.

The defense's 14th witness, Pennsylvania attorney Emmanuel Kapelsohn, opened the ninth day of trial. Kapelsohn listed a slew of certifications, designated himself a firearms expert, and claimed he specialized in reconstructing scenes involving shootings. When asked his opinion on Yanez's use of deadly force, Kapelsohn thought it was justifiable because “Officer Yanez told him three times not to do what he ultimately did.” He further put blame on Philando saying he should have told Yanez he had a permit first, not the firearm. Continuing to defend Yanez's actions, Kapelsohn mentioned finding the gun on Philando was enough to collaborate what Yanez claims to have seen and says the shooting was still justified even if Philando had been reaching for his wallet since any officer could mistake what someone has in their hand.

Going into his scene reconstruction testimony, he described using a car window at the same height as the Oldsmobile to act out looking into the vehicle as Yanez had done and concluded it was easy for an officer to see inside to determine a suspect had a gun in hand. The credibility of this test was crushed when the prosecution uncovered the vehicle window used was not the same car model so the other dimensions could have been different. Kapelsohn also didn't provide what lighting conditions he conducted the test in--the incident happened at 9:00 pm when the sun was nearly set--nor did he confirm if the person standing-in for Philando was the same height and weight--Philando was a tall, thin man.

The next test Kapelsohn conducted examined how deeply the gun was within Philando's shorts pocket. To do this, he took Philando's shorts from the incident and taped them back together--they were cut off his body when he arrived at the Emergency Department--placed them on a table, then slipped a replica gun into a replica holster before sliding it into the pocket of the shorts. The top of the gun rose above the edge of the pocket by about 1/8 to 1/4 inch which was enough for Kapelsohn to conclude Yanez would've been able to see the gun. It's important to note Philando's gun wasn't found in a holster, and the positioning of the gun would have been affected by his seated posture and the seatbelt strap. A gun in the pocket of a live human would vastly be different than one pushed into a pair of shorts lying on a table.

The final test Kapelsohn conducted was to determine how long it would take someone to pull a gun from their pocket while sitting in a car. He described obtaining the same shorts Philando wore in a size 42 so that he may personally wear them for the test. After placing the gun in his pocket he sat in a car and timed himself pulling the gun out and claimed it only took him 28/100 of a second to do so. This test was also crushed when the prosecution grilled him on the circumstances of his experiment such as the model of the car he used, was it the same one Philando drove? Kapelsohn had made it abundantly clear to the court the shorts he used were size 42 which were considerably larger than what Philando wore so the prosecution questioned if the size of the pockets would also be larger. They also uncovered Kapelsohn had his shirt tucked in while Philando had his shirt outside his shorts. The final blow in the ultimate destruction of the test and credibility of the witness came when they asked if he'd been seat-belted for the experiment. He said he was not. Philando had been.

Trying to salvage his integrity, Kapelsohn claimed he was contracted to testify in many cases where he defended police officers but he also testified against them. This statement was obliterated as his record showed he only testified against police officers 6% of the time in the three years prior to 2016. Notably, he was present in a case to defend a police officer who'd killed a person carrying a bucket.

To finish Kapelsohn off, the prosecution brought up an injury to Philando's right index finger identified as a gunshot graze. Upon examination, there was no evidence of bullet damage to Philando's shorts or gun which would have sustained some sort of scratching or puncturing if Philando's hand would have been at his gun or in his pocket like Yanez claimed. Kapelsohn tried to show the court how Philando could have gotten his finger shot without damaging his shorts or gun but, like one reporter said, “his hand was so contorted that it made no sense.” He was dismissed.

It was a surprise when the 15th witness for the defense was Jeronimo Yanez himself, and after giving information on his upbringing and education he launched into telling his version of the incident. He was only three hours into his shift on July 9, 2016 when the Oldsmobile drove passed him on Larpenteur Avenue. The sun was not completely set but in the waning darkness he made eye contact with the driver where he noticed he had a “deer in headlights” look; he was immediately suspicious. Putting his squad vehicle in drive, he began a leisurely pursuit of the Oldsmoble while he called his partner, Joseph Kauser, through the car to car radio. Yanez told Kauser he was following a car because the driver and passenger “look like the people that were involved in a robbery. The driver looks more like one of our suspects just because of the wide set nose.” He wanted to make a proper stop but needed a good excuse like an equipment violation to pull them over and the one brake light out was his opening. Turning on the emergency lights, Yanez pulled the Oldsmobile into a safe area and began his approach towards the car where he says he smelled burnt marijuana. He briefly catalogued the interior of the car: Philando seatbelted in with his left hand on the steering wheel and the other just below, waiting for Yanez to explain the reason for the traffic stop, Diamond beside him, and a four-year old girl in back. Yanez asked for proof of insurance and identification and with his hand resting on his gun he waited as Philando reached to the right then brought back the insurance card.

“Sir, I have to tell you I have a firearm.” He informed the officer.

Yanez watched as Philando's right hand formed into a “C-shape” and moved towards his right thigh. To the court he said Philando “canted his upper body to the right” so the view of Philando’s hand was blocked. It's extremely important to note the dashcam video clearly showed Philando canting his body towards the left as if to reach for his wallet in his back pocket. At the end of the story, Yanez said Philando “totally disregarded” his commands, and when he saw Philando place his hand on a gun he started shooting to eliminate the threat. Yanez began to cry on the stand saying, “I thought I was going to die.” He began bumbling about not wanting to shoot Philando, it wasn't his intention but he didn't have a choice because “he was not complying with my orders.” Yanez explained was also worried about Diamond being a threat while Kauser was removing her daughter from the car because he says she was moving her hands after he told her not to move her hands. Again, it's important to note that Diamond could be heard in the dashcam video saying “I am not moving my hands, sir.” When questioned about saying “I didn't know where the gun was. He never told me where the gun was” to a supervisor, Yanez gave the excuse that he meant he didn't know where the gun was until after he later saw it.

It was the prosecution's turn for cross-examination. They wanted to play the entire one hour interview Yanez had with the BCA, hoping to allow the jury to hear his exact words and tone. The defense objected and Judge Leary ruled they would not be allowed to play the interview because it would unduly delay the presentation of evidence, or cause the trial to extend for no good reason. He conceded in allowing them to ask Yanez questions based on the transcript. Using the transcript and various interviews, the prosecution moved through rapid-fire questioning to point out inconsistencies with his testimony. Earlier he said he saw Philando driving by with a “deer in headlights” look in his eyes, but in the interview conducted by Kapelsohn he said Philando had given Yanez a hard stare and slumped in his seat. Alternatively, he told the BCA “he didn't make direct eye contact with me and it was very hard to hear him. Uh, he was almost mumbling when he was talking to me and he was directing his voice away from me as he was speaking and as I was asking questions.” They pointed out he'd told the BCA “to me it looked like [his hand] was wrapped around the butt of a gun” but he never claimed that before and never claimed it again to anyone else. Instead he constantly used vague attributes like “it seemed,” “it looked like,” “it appeared,” and “I thought” when answering questions about Philando's gun or the direction of his hands. In another interview he said he didn't remember seeing anything in Philando's hand and to Kapelsohn he says he saw Philando reaching between his thigh and the center console but not if he actually saw a gun. The prosecution finished by asking him, “Is it your testimony today that you saw Philando reach down and grab a gun?” A reporter at the trial says after the defense objected and was overruled “Yanez practically yelled 'IT WAS A GUN.'” He was dismissed from the stand.

The defense's 16th witness was Officer Elliot Erdman who was the St. Another police officer that escorted Yanez home from the police station. His testimony was mainly used to tell the jury about harassment Yanez was facing after the incident. It's unknown if there truly were members of the community harassing Yanez at his home.

The defense rested their case and the jury was told to return to the courtroom on Monday, June 12, 2017 at 10:00 am for closing statements and the start of deliberations.

The unfortunate fact is that... this is where our story just kind of ends. And I can already tell what a few of your are thinking right now. Why is this story being covered on Unresolved? In this case, we know what happened and who was involved. The story worked its way through the legal system, and - by all accounts - has been fully and totally resolved.

On June 16th, Jeronimo Yanez was acquitted of the charges filed against him. The jury's two lone holdouts changed their minds after days of deliberation, and finally agreed that there was not enough to convict the former police officer. However, he had been let go by his employer - the St. Anthony Police Department - and the city would ultimately pay out close to $4 million to the family and girlfriend of Philando Castile. And today, that's where the story rests. Philando Castile was just another black man killed by police for no reason at all, and nobody has been held accountable for his death... other than the Minnesota taxpayers, of course, who always end up footing the bill for these wrongful death payouts. But no real justice has been served, and nothing has been done in the years since... making this story, in my opinion, unresolved in every way possible.

I try not to share my opinion that much on this podcast, but if you ask me, this story really highlights issues that have been plaguing America for decades - and will continue to do so until action is taken. Not only the treatment of African Americans by law enforcement, but the different standards that law enforcement are treated to in our legal system. They are not graded by a higher standard - as you would expect, given their profession - but a different standard altogether. Actions they take are not treated as seriously as they would be if, say, you or I were to do them.

I could get into all of the specific examples - Botham Jean, Daniel Shaver, Stephon Clark, Joseph Mann, and so many others - incidents where police shot and killed individuals that were posing no threat to them, but received only minimal sentences (if any). These incidents seem to happen on a nearly-daily basis, and are not limited to geographical region.

However, of the ethnicities most likely to be shot and killed by police, African Americans top the list. Black women are 1.4 times more likely to be shot and killed by police than their white counterparts, and black men are nearly 2.5 times more likely to be killed by law enforcement than white men. These statistics are truly staggering, and point to an issue that is endemic throughout American law enforcement. Not only racial profiling - which has led to African Americans, who make up just about 13% of the population filling up half of our prisons - but the militarization of police, which regularly provokes non-violent incidents into becoming tragedies.

These are two concepts that we, as Americans, must finally come to terms with and stop struggling to accept as truth. Because until we do, cases like this will continue to happen on a daily basis, and the stories of countless others - individuals just like Philando Castile - will remain unresolved.

Episode Information

Episode Information

Writing and research by Sherilyn Reyes

Hosted, produced, and additional writing by Micheal Whelan

Published on on December 8th, 2019

Producers: Maggyjames, Ben Krokum, Roberta Janson, Matthew Brock, Quil Carter, Peggy Belarde, Evan White, Laura Hannan, Sam Obbard, Katherine Vatalaro, Damion Moore, Astrid Kneier, Amy Hampton, Scott Meesey, Steven Wilson, Emily McMehen, Scott Patzold, Marie Vanglund, Lori Rodriguez, Jessica Yount, Aimee McGregor, Danny Williams, Sue Kirk, Sara Moscaritolo, Thomas Ahearn, Brian Rollins, Marion Welsh, Lauren Harris, and Seth Morgan

Music Credits

Original music created by myself through Amper Music

Other music created and composed by Ailsa Traves

Sources and further reading

Wikipedia - Shooting of Philando Castile

Dashcam Video of Philando Castile (Transcript)

The New York Times - “Philando Castile’s Last Night: Tacos and Laughs, Then a Drive”

The Huffington Post - “Philando Castile Worked At A School, Loved Video Games Before Cop Gunned Him Down”

Time - “Philando Castile Was a Role Model to Hundreds of Kids, Colleagues Say”

USCCA Minnesota Concealed Carry Reciprocity Map & Gun Laws

2019 Minnesota Statutes 624.714 CARRYING OF WEAPONS WITHOUT PERMITS; PENALTIES

Newsweek - “Philando Castile’s Death Sparks Protests, Outrage”

Bureau of Criminal Apprehension

Newsweek - “Minnesota Police Shooting: Philando Castile Shot And Killed, Broadcast Live On Facebook”

Minnesota Law Enforcement Memorial Association

Star Tribune - “Officer’s lawyer: Castile pulled over because he matched robbery suspect”

CBS Minnesota - “Ramsay Co. Attorney: Don Lewis Will Be Special Prosecutor In Castile Case”

The Washington Post - “Police group: Minn. governor ‘exploited what was already a horrible and tragic situation’”

CBS Minnesota - “Officer Who Shot Philando Castile Charged With Manslaughter”

CBS Minnesota - “Ramsay Co. Attorney Undecided On Using Grand Jury In Falcon Heights Shooting”

CBS Minnesota - “Officer in Castile Shooting Back At Work Wednesday”

CBS Minnesota - “Officer in Philando Castile Shooting Back On Leave”

FindLaw - “‘Own Recognizance’ Release”

CBS Minnesota - “Officer Yanez Appears In Court, Released On Own Recognizance”

Twin Cities - “Change of venue request for officer in Philando Castile manslaughter case”

Report from Yanez Trial

Bulletproof Warrior

Drug Recognition Evaluator

Δ9-THC, 11-OH-Δ9-THC and Δ9-THCCOOH plasma or serum to whole blood concentrations distribution ratios in blood samples taken from living and dead people

Postmortem Drug Levels: Innocent Bystander or Guilty as Charged

Yanez BCA Interview Transcript

Definition of Controlled Substance Schedules

Medical Cannabis Qualifying Conditions