TX Appeals Ct Upholds the 15 Yr Jail Sentence of Liar White Cop who Murdered Jordan Edwards by Firing His Gun into a Car Packed w/Black Teens Even Though They Posed No Threat to Cops

White Dallas police officer Roy Oliver — who fired his rifle five times into a car and killed unarmed, Black 15-year-old Jordan Edwards — was properly convicted of murder, an appeals court in Texas ruled. Oliver, convicted in 2017, was sentenced to 15 years’ confinement. 

Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson described Oliver as a "killer in blue" who violated his oath to protect citizens. Prosecutors sought a sentence of at least 60 years while the defense argued for 20 years or less. The court recited the facts as follows:

“Appellant, then a patrol officer in the Balch Springs Police Department, received a call at approximately eleven o’clock p.m. on April 29, 2017, informing him of intoxicated teenagers at a loud party at a residence on Baron Drive in Balch Springs. Officer Tyler Gross, who patrolled the district adjoining appellant’s, was also dispatched to the Baron Drive address; the officers arrived in separate cars at the same time and parked in the street in front of the residence. Parked cars lined the street, and the officers soon learned that more than 100 young people were attending the party. Contrary to the report they had received, they saw no drinking or drug activity on the premises; the teenagers were visiting, listening to music, and dancing. Nevertheless, when they heard the sirens of approaching police cars, many of the young people fled the house and yard and ran to their cars. When the officers had been in the house a short time, they heard a number of gunshots in rapid succession. Appellant testified that the shots sounded like a semiautomatic weapon.

Among the teenagers attending the party were three brothers—Vidal Allen, Jordan Edwards, and Kevon Edwards—and two of the brothers’ friends, Maximus and Maxwell Everette. Allen drove the five to the party in his father’s black Chevrolet Impala. The teens met back at the car after they heard the police arrive;

Allen had parked on the side of Baron Drive. As the five were gathered around the car, they heard the same gunshots the officers heard, jumped into the Impala, and attempted to leave.

After hearing the gunshots, the officers immediately left the house. Officer Gross turned east and headed in the direction from which the sound had come. Appellant ran to his patrol car, retrieved his rifle, and followed Gross. As they moved eastward on Baron Drive, amid running and screaming young people, the officers headed toward the intersection with Shepherd Lane. On the opposite side of Shepherd was a nursing home; evidence would later establish that men unconnected with the party had fired the gunshots in the nursing home’s parking lot and then driven away. The parked police cars had blocked Baron Road headed west, so the young people leaving the party had to proceed east on Baron. Appellant heard Gross tell one of those cars to stop, and he saw the driver comply. Then he heard Gross tell a second car that was slowly backing down Baron Drive to stop, but that car continued moving slowly toward Shepherd Lane. Appellant heard Gross again call out for the car to stop, this time more loudly, and heard him radio the license plate of the car to their dispatcher; the car did not stop.

Vidal Allen was driving the second car, backing down Baron Drive, and—he testified—thinking only of getting his brothers and friends home. He testified he did not know a police officer was telling him to stop. As he reached the intersection, he stopped briefly, and then proceeded forward, driving south on Shepherd. He was blinded by a flashlight on the side of the road and maneuvered the car into the northbound lane to avoid whoever was holding it.

Officer Gross was holding the flashlight that was attached to his pistol, pointing it at the Impala. As the car passed Gross, he stepped toward it and hit the rear window with that pistol. When appellant saw the Impala stop and then accelerate forward, he shot five times into the passenger side of the car to try and stop it. As the car drove on, appellant asked Gross if he was alright and said, “He was trying to hit you.”

Jordan Edwards was sitting in the front passenger seat in the Impala. One of appellant’s shots hit him in the head. The wound was immediately fatal.

Appellant was indicted and charged with murder. A jury found him guilty and assessed his punishment at fifteen years’ confinement and a fine of $10,000.“ [MORE]