Brandon Case and his father, Gregory Case, were charged with attempted first-degree murder, conspiracy and shooting into the vehicle driven by D’Monterrio Gibson in January 2022.
A judge declared a mistrial Thursday in the case of a white father and son in Mississippi who were accused of chasing and shooting at a Black FedEx driver who had dropped off a package at a home, after it was revealed that police withheld evidence.
Brandon Case and his father, Gregory Case, were charged with attempted first-degree murder, conspiracy and shooting into the vehicle driven by D’Monterrio Gibson in January 2022. The case drew comparisons to the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man who was running through a Georgia neighborhood in February 2020 when three white men — including a father and son — chased him in a pair of pickup trucks for five minutes and one of the men fatally shot him. The three men were convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Judge David Strong issued his ruling Thursday morning, a day after the defense asked for a mistrial because Brookhaven police Detective Vincent Fernando acknowledged under oath that he did not give the prosecution or defense a videotaped statement police had taken from Gibson.
“The failure to turn over matters in discovery is just something that can’t be ignored,” Strong said Thursday. “In 17 years, I don’t think I’ve ever seen it happen.”
“But it happened here,” Strong added. “And with great reluctance, the court has no choice in this matter but to grant the motion for a mistrial.”
Gibson’s mother, Sharon McClendon, left the courtroom after the decision was announced.
Gibson has said he believed the Cases pursued him because he is Black. He said he was wearing a FedEx uniform when he dropped off a package at a house in Brookhaven on Jan. 24, 2022. He said he was not in a FedEx truck but in a Hertz van that FedEx had rented, with the rental company’s markings on the sides. As he was leaving, he said, a man in a white pickup truck began following him closely while honking his horn. Gibson said he drove past a couple of houses and encountered a man standing in the middle of the road with a gun pointed at him. The man was mouthing the word “stop,” Gibson said.
Source : nbcnews
