Roy Oliver, former Texas police officer, found guilty of murder in Jordan Edwards shooting
The mother of Jordan Edwards thanked jurors Tuesday for convicting her son’s killer rather than letting him “walk away.”
“The police just walk away and don’t have to give account for anything,” Charmaine Edwards testified in the punishment phase of Roy Oliver’s trial. “I’m forever grateful that y’all seen it in your hearts to see that it was wrong.”
Earlier Tuesday, the Dallas County jury convicted the former Balch Springs police officer of murder for shooting the unarmed 15-year-old as he left a party with his brothers and two friends in April 2017.
Oliver, 38, was found not guilty, however, on two counts of aggravated assault for firing his rifle into the car full of teens.
“Oh, praise God!” someone exclaimed outside the courtroom as the Edwards family and friends quickly flooded the hallway, smiling and hugging one another.
Oliver’s wife, Ingrid, broke down in tears as she left the courtroom. She and Oliver have a 3-year-old son with autism.
The former officer, who was fired from the force not long after the shooting, was immediately taken into custody, and his bond was revoked.
He faces up to life in prison when testimony resumes Wednesday in the trial’s punishment phase.
In the hallway after the verdict was read, Jordan’s father, Odell Edwards, embraced supporters, rocking them from side to side as he wiped tears from his reddened eyes.
Jordan Edwards was shot in the head and died instantly in April 2017.
Odell Edwards said he wanted to jump up and down when he heard the word guilty.
“I just want to say I’m happy, very happy,” he told reporters after the verdict. “It’s been a long time, hard year. Just really happy.”
His attorney, Daryl Washington, said the verdict meant more than justice for Jordan.
“It’s about Tamir Rice. It’s about Walter Scott. It’s about Alton Sterling,” he said. “It’s about every African-American, unarmed African-American, who has been killed and who has not gotten justice.”
He said what happened to Jordan never should’ve happened.
“We’re just happy here in Dallas, Texas, that Roy Oliver is going to have to do his time for taking Jordan’s life,” Washington said.
