Trial of Cleveland officer accused of fatal shooting begins

By Kim Palmer CLEVELAND (Reuters) - A manslaughter trial began on Monday for a Cleveland police officer accused of shooting dead two unarmed suspects as he stood on the hood of their car and fired through the windshield after a high-speed chase. Michael Brelo, 31, fired 49 times at Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams in the November 2012 incident, prosecutors said. Police officers fired a total of 137 shots in the incident. "The key is that he didn't have to," Cuyahoga County Assistant Prosecutor Rick Bell said in an opening statement. "They were caught; they were contained; they were surrounded by the police cars." The case gained attention last year in a national uproar over police use of deadly force after a number of killings of unarmed black men. Brelo is white and Russell and Williams were African-American. Brelo, a former Marine who served in Iraq, was indicted on two counts of voluntary manslaughter and would face three to 11 years in prison if convicted. He waived his right to a jury trial. The bench trial before Judge John O'Donnell is expected to last six weeks. In his opening statement defense attorney Patrick D'Angelo said repeatedly that race was not an issue. Brelo and the other officers "did not respond because of the color of the occupants of that vehicle. They were trying to serve and protect," D'Angelo said. He told the judge there was no proof Brelo had fired the shots that killed the victims, and questioned why Brelo was being prosecuted after 12 other officers who fired dozens of shots were found legally justified to use deadly force. Williams and Russell were shot and killed after a 25-minute, 22-mile (35.4 km) chase that started in downtown Cleveland after reports of shots fired from Russell's car. Prosecutors said no weapon was found and the sounds officers thought were shots coming from the car were probably the three-decade old vehicle's engine backfiring. Bell said Russell and Williams had histories of drug, alcohol and mental health issues, but officers are trained to de-escalate confrontations with people who have those problems. Sixty-four officers were disciplined as a result of the chase. Five police supervisors who were indicted on misdemeanor dereliction of duty charges are scheduled to go on trial in July. Cleveland police have been under scrutiny for a number of incidents. A U.S. Justice Department investigation found systematic use of excessive force in the department. (Additional reporting by David Bailey in Minneapolis; Writing by Fiona Ortiz in Chicago; editing by Matthew Lewis)