Jury selection to begin for San Bernardino County deputy in videotaped shooting of Unarmed Latino Man

The grainy amateur video seems to show a deputy shooting a U.S. airman three times as he struggles to obey an order to get up from the ground. But it's what the video doesn't show that could take center stage at the upcoming trial of former San Bernardino County sheriff's Deputy Ivory J. Webb Jr. After the shooting, Webb told investigators he thought 21-year-old Elio Carrion was reaching for a weapon -- something that's not clear on the 40-second video clip. Authorities later determined Carrion was unarmed. Still, experts say the deputy's contention could prevail in the case, based on acquittals in previous high-profile police brutality trials. (White) Jurors tend to believe accused cops who say they opened fire because they felt threatened, said Eugene O'Donnell, a former prosecutor who is now a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.  In addition, law enforcement officials are finding that videos seldom capture enough details to disprove those claims -- at least in the (lying) eyes of (white) jurors. Webb, 46, has pleaded not guilty to felony charges of attempted voluntary manslaughter and assault with a firearm in the Jan. 29, 2006, shooting that was filmed by a bystander and aired by TV stations nationwide. Jury selection is set to begin April 30. If convicted, Webb could face more than 18 years in prison.  [MORE]