No plea for officer charged in Castile shooting
Updated: 6:20 p.m. | Posted: 2:04 p.m.
St. Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez made an initial court appearance Friday, two days after being charged with manslaughter in the July shooting death of Philando Castile.
Dressed in a gray suit, Yanez appeared before Judge Mark Ireland in St. Paul. He didn't enter a plea, but he did waive both a formal reading of the charges and a 28-day deadline for further proceedings.
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The hearing only lasted about five minutes, and Yanez said little. He is due back in court Dec. 19.
His attorneys asked to have Yanez released on his own recognizance, and prosecutors agreed to that request.
Yanez was charged Wednesday with second-degree manslaughter and two felony firearms charges in connection with Castile's death and the seven shots he fired into the car in which Castile's girlfriend and her 4-year-old daughter were also riding.
Even before Yanez's defense team starts its case, other attorneys say they see plenty of questions that could work in the officer's favor.
There's already speculation his attorneys may seek a change of venue — possibly outside of Ramsey County — where opinions, and potentially prejudgment of the case, have been visible on the street for months.
"On the defense side, you're going to argue, that's easy to second guess and armchair quarterback what happened here," said Twin Cities defense attorney Marsh Halberg. "But officers are always on edge when they walk up to the side of a car, especially in the last couple of years with all the shootings and crazy things happening out there."
Other lawyers wondered about the nature of the charges. Joe Friedberg, a long time Twin Cities defense attorney, said the manslaughter charges are more typical of cases like hunting or other accidental shootings, not seven rounds fired at close range. Yanez's case seems to indicate some kind of intention, Friedberg said, and presumably some kind of defense.
Kevin Short, a defense attorney who has also represented police in the past, said he thinks officers are operating in a very different cultural environment in the last two or three years that could make it difficult for a jury to weigh Yanez's case with an open mind.
But Short still thinks there's more to what happened than what the public has seen so far — evidence that could leave jurors with doubt.
"So what caused this police officer to go from saying, 'That's OK, just don't go near the gun.' What caused him to go from that to suddenly shooting," he said. "There has to be an explanation for that and I'm sure there will be by the defense."