A judge in Atlanta left a courtroom gasping after he mistakenly delivered a devastating “guilty” verdict for a man charged with murdering a police officer — when the defendant was found “not guilty” on all counts.
Judge Henry M. Newkirk on Friday botched the climax of the week-long murder trial of Alton Oliver, who was accused of fatally shooting off-duty Fulton County Deputy James Thomas in Dec. 2022.
After nine hours of deliberation, the jury found Oliver innocent — but Newkirk left out a critical word, Fox 5 reported.
“We, the jury, find the defendant guilty as to all six counts with the bill of indictment. Sheriff, will you please hand this to the state’s counsel and pass it over to–” Newkirk told the court before he was interrupted by several baffled jurors who had just decided the verdict.
The judge appeared shocked by the reaction, the video shows.
“Didn’t I say ‘not’?” he asked.
“No,” multiple people in the courtroom responded.
“Sorry,” Newkirk said. “We, the jury, find the defendant not guilty.”
Oliver, 26, was walking home from work around 4:30 a.m. when Thomas, who was not on duty, approached him three different times in his personal car and aggressively offered him a ride home and then demanded sex.
“Mr. Thomas come back a second time, he comes back with the headlights off,” Oliver told the court. “He blurts out, saying, ‘Get in, get in, let me give you a ride. Let me suck your d–k.’”
When Thomas pulled around a third time, Oliver “got spooked” and opened fire, he said, according to Fox 5 Atlanta.
The defense successfully argued that the shooting was self-defense.
Oliver, 26, was acquitted on six counts — including murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, first-degree criminal damage to property, and possession of a firearm while committing a crime.
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