Activists calling for a conviction in the first-degree murder trial of former St. Louis police Officer Jason Stockley are warning of “mass disruption” if he is acquitted, reports the Post-Dispatch. “It’s going to look a lot like Ferguson. It’s going to be a hundred-plus days, three hundred-plus days of direct action,” Tory Russell, 33, said Monday on the steps of the Carnahan Courthouse in downtown St. Louis. The bench trial for Stockley, 36, ended Aug. 9. St. Louis Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson has yet to issue his verdict.
Russell was joined by about 45 activists, clergy members and the mother of Anthony Lamar Smith, 24, who was fatally shot by Stockley after a police chase on Dec. 20, 2011. Prosecutors have alleged Stockley planted a .38-caliber revolver in Smith’s crashed Buick after shooting him five times at close range. Smith’s mother called for justice for her son. “I want to know why is it taking so long to get a verdict,” Annie Smith said. “I just hope justice will be served.” Stockley resigned in 2013, the same year the city reached a $900,000 settlement with Smith’s daughter. Prosecutors alleged during the trial that Shockley executed Smith, firing a “kill shot” from six inches away.