Courtroom blunder: judge misreads verdict for a man found not guilty of police killing

It’s not every day you hear a judge announce a guilty verdict, only to immediately walk it back. But that’s exactly what happened in an Atlanta courtroom this week when Judge Henry M. Newkirk briefly turned a not guilty verdict into the opposite. Can you imagine being the defendent?

How did the judge get verdict wrong?

Defendant Alton Oliver was accused of shooting and killing an off-duty police officer in December 2022. After days of testimony, the jury handed over its decision. When Judge Newkirk began to read it, he declared: “We, the jury, find the defendant guilty of all six indictments.”

There was a pause, then members of the jury realised what he’d said and questioned it. The judge then caught up, corrected himself and confirmed that Oliver had, in fact, been found not guilty on all counts. What for yourself.

Oliver’s attorney told CNN that “shock and disbelief are the first two words that come to mind.” For a man who had been on trial for his life, the accidental announcement was no small slip.

Fortunately this serious situation doesn’t come down to what the judge said first, and the jury’s not guilty verdict stands.

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