Former Wilmington police officer who shot teen gets probation for lying to investigators

A former Wilmington Police officer was spared prison time for lying to authorities about the gun he used to shoot an unarmed teenager while on duty.

James MacColl was sentenced to a year of probation and 150 hours of community service for the felony false statement conviction, as well as a misdemeanor official misconduct guilty verdict at a hearing Friday in Wilmington.

Deputy Attorney General Mark Denney had sought 30 days in prison for the 14-year veteran of Wilmington's police force. MacColl's attorney, Eugene Maurer, argued the crime didn't warrant prison time.

Here's a rundown of how we got here and what was said at Friday's sentencing hearing.

The shooting

While responding to a call reporting an armed carjacking in Feburary 2019, MacColl shot then-18-year-old Yahim Harris twice as the teen fled across his field of view from the stolen car.

Delaware Department of Justice officials said the shooting did not constitute a criminal offense in Delaware because MacColl claimed he feared the fleeing and then-unarmed teen was turning to shoot at him.

Harris would survive the shooting and spend months in prison before prosecutors dropped a carjacking case against him.

DOJ clears shooting: Wilmington officer not criminal in shooting teen during carjacking, investigation finds

The crime

Shortly after the shooting, investigators knew something was amiss. Using microscopic comparisons of bullets found at the scene and the gun MacColl turned in to department superiors shortly after shooting Harris, ballistics experts determined that the bullets could not have traveled through the barrel of that gun.

In multiple interviews with Wilmington Police superiors, MacColl denied tampering with the gun after he shot Harris. A year after the shooting, MacColl would admit to installing an aftermarket barrel on the gun long before shooting Harris but continued to deny changing the barrel after he shot the teen.

There was never any indication or suggestion anyone else fired a weapon at that scene. Prosecutors said the circumstances meant MacColl changed the barrel of the gun between returning to Wilmington Police headquarters and when he turned it in that day and lied about it in statements to department superiors over the following year.

Indictment: Former Wilmington officer who shot unarmed teen indicted on lying, evidence tampering charges

The trial

At trial, prosecutors presented evidence arguing MacColl would have had the opportunity to change the barrel in the hours after shooting Harris and turning the gun in. They also presented the jury with audio and video of MacColl denying doing so when asked by department superiors.

He did not testify and his defense characterized the investigation into the shooting as sloppy and said even if he did lie, it didn't matter. After three days of trial testimony, he was convicted of lying, but acquitted of tampering with evidence, both felonies.

Read More: How prosecutors convinced a jury that a Wilmington police officer lied after teen shooting

How much does a police lie matter?

Center to the guilty felony verdict was the prosecutors' representation that MacColl's lies prevented the state from seeking the felony prosecution of the teenager the officer shot twice.

Denney, the prosecutor, asked for prison time by arguing MacColl's lies necessitated the release of an “armed carjacker." Prosecutors dropped the carjacking case against Harris after learning of MacColl's statements about his gun barrel, claiming in court documents that the officer would be a primary witness in Harris' trial but couldn't be trusted.

There remain legitimate questions over whether the car was stolen by force that morning or whether Harris and his teenage codefendant opportunistically stole a parked car.

Prosecutors also sought prison time for MacColl claiming his lies "fueled an opportunistic narrative" made by Harris' attorneys, saying that officers planted evidence, lied and withheld medical care.

In a lawsuit and public statements, Harris' attorneys also accused Wilmington Police of fabricating evidence to justify MacColl's shooting of Harris, but never backed those claims with any evidence before Harris settled his lawsuit against the city's police department.

To the jury, Maurer, MacColl's attorney, argued the state could have prosecuted Harris without MacColl's testimony. To the judge at sentencing, Maurer made the same point and said MacColl couldn't be "held responsible" for "baseless allegations" made by Harris' advocates.

Lawsuit Allegations: Prosecutors in shooting case questioned an officer's credibility. Now a lawsuit does, too

Police in Delaware rarely go to prison

It has been decades since a police officer received prison time from state officials for an action taken as part of that work. Federal authorities successfully prosecuted a former State Police officer accused of stealing from a shipping company last year. He received a six-month federal prison sentence.

Denney, who leads the state arm in charge of prosecuting corrupt public officials, told the judge that his office has tried sending lying officials to prison in recent years. He argued their request for MacColl to serve prison time is in line with recent history as prosecutors have sought to imprison:

• Former Newport Chief Mike Capriglione, who was caught lying about crashing into a police vehicle in the department's parking lot while on his way to teach a defensive driving course. 

• Former Wilmington Thomas Oliver, who received oral sex from a wanted woman while on duty in his police vehicle − and claimed at trial it was consensual. 

• Former State Auditor Kathy McGuiness, who is not a police officer, but was found guilty of breaching public trust as an official

Oliver and McGuiness beat felony charges at trial. Capriglione was allowed to plead to a misdemeanor and received probation before being elected to the town's council. Maurer noted other instances where lying public officials, sometimes police officials, were allowed to plead to misdemeanors and serve only probation. Those include:

• Edwin Ramirez, a former state police trooper, who falsified traffic warnings for departmental commendations, pleaded to misdemeanors and received a probation sentence.

• Carl Rone, a former state police ballistics expert who was running a side business while being paid for state work. He pleaded to a misdemeanor and received probation.

Maurer said MacColl was never offered a misdemeanor plea and that he's now "saddled" with a felony conviction, so probation would be an appropriate sentence.

But why?

MacColl's sentencing hearing was essentially a debate over who was harmed by the lie he told, as well as some speculation as to why he would change his gun barrel and not be honest about it. Changing one's gun barrel without approval would have been a departmental violation. His lies about that are what saw him charged with a felony.

Denney described MacColl as a "big gun guy" and noted the state seized 17 firearms from him. He speculated that maybe he just wanted the aftermarket barrel he had paid for back before the gun was seized by investigators.

MacColl answered the judge's questions about his residence and employment but declined to address the court more broadly or answer questions after the hearing.

"I don't even think this is a breach of trust," Maurer said. "I think it was a stupid act by him. I don't think he was thinking."

Regardless of motive, Denney said the lies dented the credibility of law enforcement and that deserved hard time. Maurer disagreed.

"Jimmy has been punished. He lost his pension. He lost his job. He is a convicted felon. He lost the respect of his peers," Maurer said.

Presiding Superior Court Judge Charles Butler noted MacColl never tried to hide the fact he shot Harris and drew a distinction between a lie that damages trust and one that does measurable harm to an innocent person. He said MacColl's lies were a "dagger" to trust in the criminal justice system worthy of a sanction, but not prison time.

He said had an officer lied about something pertaining to someone's innocence or guilt in court, he would doubtlessly sentence that officer to prison time.

"I don't think that is what motivated you," Butler said. "I don't know what you were thinking."

Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareonline.com. Follow @Ber_Xerxes on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Ex-Wilmington officer who shot teen gets probation for lying to police