But there were multiple witnesses, independant ones, who said that he clearly did not have a gun
and that what he was holding was a phone. It was the police who said that there was no doubt in their mind that he was holding a gun and the one who pulled the trigger said he could see the barrel projecting through the sock.

The jury said they were certain that Duggan didn't have a gun, but still said the killing was lawful, so presumably they took the view of "he might have had another one".
(Bazongaloid, Thu 9 Jan 2014, 16:41, 1 reply, 11 years ago)

There was only one "independent" witness.
The others were police or people in the car.

The one guy who was independent changed his story 3 times and was more than 100 yards away at the time, started off saying he was holding a gun, retracted and then said he was holding a phone.

With the jury/gun thing, that's not how it works at all. The jury are saying they are certain he had thrown the gun before he was shot. They AREN'T saying they believe the police knew he had thrown the gun. They've had days to look at the evidence. The police have to make a decision in an instant. To be a lawful killing there only had to be reason for the police to think he was going for a gun, and the jury's position was that he had chucked it but the police didn't know he had chucked it.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Thu 9 Jan 2014, 16:46, Reply)