Case against Detroit policeman who shot child ends in second mistrial

By Aaron Foley DETROIT (Reuters) - A judge declared a second mistrial on Friday in the case of a Detroit police officer who fatally shot a sleeping girl during a raid in 2010, after a jury was unable to reach a verdict. Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway declared a mistrial in the case of officer Joseph Weekley, who faced a charge of reckless discharge of a firearm in the death of Aiyana Stanley-Jones. A previous trial also ended in a mistrial. Wayne County Prosecutor spokeswoman Maria Miller said the office has not decided whether to try the case again. A hearing is scheduled for Nov. 21. Weekley's retrial came as the shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white officer in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Missouri, led to weeks of protests, some violent, and inflamed a national discussion over police use of force. Weekley also had been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the shooting, a charge that the judge tossed out before closing arguments. Detroit police had been searching for a suspect in a fatal shooting when they stormed a building where the girl was sleeping. The suspect was apprehended and later sentenced to life in prison. Aiyana's father, Charles Jones, was convicted of providing him the murder weapon. (Reporting by Aaron Foley in Detroit; Editing by Sandra Maler)