MILFORD, Conn — The state and the defense wrapped up each of their cases Wednesday with closing arguments in the manslaughter trial against Connecticut state Trooper Brian North.
The six-person jury began deliberating after an eight-day trial.
North, 33, is facing a manslaughter charge in the shooting death of 19-year-old Mubarak Soulemane in West Haven on Jan. 15, 2020. He pleaded not guilty in June 2022.
The shooting took place after a high-speed chase, with police radio reports that Soulemane had earlier committed a carjacking and was armed with a knife.
State Inspector General Robert Devlin told the Milford court that officers had Soulemane surrounded in the car and North didn't need to shoot into the vehicle.
"You can't kill someone unless they are posing a lethal threat to someone else. And you can't do that, that's against the law. And that's what happened," Devlin said.
North's lead attorney, Frank Riccio II, asked the six jurors to acquit his client, arguing that North believed Soulemane was about to attack two other officers with a knife when he opened fire. Those other officers testified that they were worried Soulemane might harm them, he pointed out.
“If they felt as though they were in fear of death or serious physical injury, how is it not reasonable to think that Trooper North thought that way as well?” Riccio asked.
The jury did not reach a verdict by the end of the day. If convicted of first-degree manslaughter with a firearm, North could get from five to 40 years in prison. Deliberations were to resume Thursday morning.
On the day of the killing, North, Trooper Joshua Jackson and a West Haven police officer surrounded the stolen car after it crashed into another vehicle after exiting Interstate 95. The West Haven officer broke the passenger side window, and Jackson fired his Taser at Soulemane, which didn't work.
North fired his handgun seven times through the driver's window at close range when he said Soulemane pulled out a knife and turned toward the other officers. The shooting happened about 35 seconds after North got out of his cruiser following the crash.
North testified that he thought 19-year-old Soulemane was lunging at the other officers on the passenger side of the car, with a knife in his hand. He said he shot Soulemane to protect the other officers.
“It’s almost like an oh my God feeling. This is happening, while the West Haven officer I’m thinking is in the window (because) I can't see him," North testified in his first public comments about the shooting. "And I was afraid that he was going to be stabbed in the face or the neck, which obviously can be a fatal injury. …. I felt that I had to act in that moment or the West Haven officer, even potentially Trooper Jackson, could have been killed.”
Devlin, who investigates all uses of deadly force by police in Connecticut, and found that the shooting wasn't justified, told the jury that officers had the car surrounded and Soulemane could not go anywhere. He said Soulemane was sitting in the driver's seat with a knife, but was not an imminent threat to police.
“What caused it was Brian North’s extreme indifference to human life," Devlin said about Soulemane's death. "We’ve had too many excuses, too many rationalizations. This young man is dead and he shouldn't be dead. That’s the bottom line here.”
He added, “Why is he dead? Because he stuck a stupid knife up in front of his face and Brian North jumped the gun and shot him seven times. He was a scared kid doing a stupid thing and he should still be alive today.”
Riccio, though, said North believed Soulemane was about to attack the other officers and was defending them when he opened fire.
“We’re taking an event that happened in real time and we’re being asked, everyone’s being asked, to critique what should have happened, what could have happened, what maybe should have been the result,” Riccio said. “That’s not what this is about. This is about what happened and what did Trooper North know.
“He thinks about this every day,” he continued. “This is a terrible event. Someone lost their life. But the question is, is Trooper North criminally responsible for that? He is not.”
To find North guilty, the six-person jury must find beyond a reasonable doubt that he killed Soulemane in “extreme indifference to human life” and his conduct was “reckless,” according to state law. First-degree manslaughter with a firearm carries up to 40 years in prison, with a mandatory minimum of five years behind bars.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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