The former St. Louis police officer who stood trial on first-degree murder and armed criminal action charges has been found not guilty for the 2011 killing of Anthony Lamar Smith.

Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson made the ruling in favor of the defense despite the prosecution’s argument that former Officer Jason Stockley carried out a premeditated plan to kill Smith. The defense argued that Stockley and Smith struggled before the shooting, leading to the cop firing in self-defense. Stockley waived his right to a jury trial.

Smith’s killing has become a part of the national conversation around race and policing. Smith was black, while Stockley, the officer, is white.

In his decision dated Friday, Wilson wrote that the state had not met the burden of proof. Wilson wrote that Stockley’s conduct was not consistent with the conduct of a person who intentionally killed another person unlawfully. Wilson wrote that he had “agonizingly … poured over the evidence again and again” and watched the videos “innumerable times.”

“The Court believes it is significant that defendant Stockley and Smith did not know each other prior to December 20, 2011, they had no prior history, there was no history between Stockley and members of Smith’s family, and there was no basis in the evidence to suggest any pre-existing animosity by Stockley towards Smith,” Wilson wrote. “There was also no evidence that Stockley even knew who was being pursed.”
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In video footage, Stockley can be heard saying that he’s “going to kill this motherf****r” before shooting Smith.

On Dec. 20, 2011, Stockley and his partner, Brian Bianchi, pursued Smith, 24, in a mile-long car chase after spotting him in what they suspected was a drug transaction. Stockley said over the police radio that Smith, fired a gun. In a video obtained by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Stockley can be heard saying that he’s “going to kill this motherf****r.”

The chase reached nearly 90 mph before Stockley told Bianchi to ram their SUV into Smith’s car, which deployed Smith’s air bags. Both officers got out, Stockley carrying a duty pistol and an AK-47 rifle, which he wasn’t permitted to carry by the department. He fired several pistol shots into the car and placed his rifle back in the SUV. Smith was hit five times.

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