Manslaughter case against cop opens

The trial of police officer Sherwood Wade got underway today in the Supreme Court…and the prosecution is already having a rough time. Wade, it will be recalled, is charged with manslaughter and manslaughter by negligence in the death of Darnell McDonald. On the night of June fourteenth, 2003, McDonald was killed by a bullet to the head while riding in a van that was following a police vehicle. That vehicle was carrying Michael “Crazy” Arnold, who had just been detained following a disturbance at a club in Ladyville. The setback for the prosecution came this afternoon when Justice Michelle Arana ruled that the spent shells allegedly recovered by police investigators at the scene of the crime were inadmissible as evidence because the police officers failed to properly identify them with any distinctive mark. Wade is defended by attorney Simeon Sampson, while Cheryl-Lynn Branker-Taitt is appearing for the prosecution.