PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) – A jury took just 14 minutes Thursday before finding former Portsmouth police officer Vincent McClean not guilty of voluntary manslaughter.
The case was in connection to the shooting death of Willie Marable back in 2018.
It’s not likely the end of McClean’s legal issues, however, as he was indicted on a charge of voluntary manslaughter in the death of a pregnant woman who died in police custody.
In May of that year, police responded to a home invasion in Portsmouth.
After arriving, they saw two armed suspects, one of them being Willie Marable.
An officer shot Marable three times after he didn’t put his weapon down.
Although Vincent McClean wasn’t the one to pull the trigger, he was indicted on manslaughter charges because he didn’t perform CPR on Marable or render any medical treatment.
Thursday afternoon, two medical experts took the stand in court and said in that situation, CPR shouldn’t be used and wouldn’t have been helpful.
“Usually you’re excited after a successful verdict like that, but this has been very upsetting because their own expert in the discovery indicated that he could not say with medical certainty that even if there was CPR, Mr. Marable would’ve survived,” said McClean defense attorney Michael Massie.
Massie said the jury started deliberations at 1 p.m. and ended at 1:14 p.m.
“Twelve people saw it in 14 minutes,” Massie said, “and it tells you the type of evidence that was presented to them and the lack of evidence that was presented to them.”
McClean had one comment.
“I’m just glad it’s over,” McClean said.
One of Marable’s family friends, Earl Lewis, said the fight for justice still isn’t over.
“He has a daughter that’s growing up that was there at the house that night he got shot, and she reminds us everyday that she lost her daddy,” he said.