St. Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez was charged with felony manslaughter and two lesser charges for killing Castile during a traffic stop in July 2016.
Twitter users questioned the verdict with several people pointing out the jury - comprised of only two black members - made a decision to acquit officer Jeronimo Yanez despite there being a Facebook video of Castile's shooting in the St. Paul suburb of Falcon Heights.
"I have given Officer Yanez every benefit of the doubt on his use of deadly force, but I can not allow the death of a motorist who was lawfully carrying a firearm under these facts and circumstances to go unaccounted for", Choi told reporters.
"I'm mad as hell right now", Valerie Castile told reporters after the verdict.
"He got caught in three, four, five different lies", said Allysza Castille, Philando's sister.
"I am so very, very, very. disappointed in the system here in the state of Minnesota", Valerie Castile said.
Later Friday, thousands of people gathered on the steps of the state Capitol in St. Paul, holding signs and banners and chanting in response to the not guilty verdict.
The crowd Friday evening is mixed and includes many children, including some who are stenciling posters as the event continues.
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Following the verdict, people took to streets in St. Paul to protest the verdict. "My son loved this city and this city killed my son". And a murderer gets away.
After 27 hours of deliberation spanning five days, the jury of seven men and five women, including two people of color, reached its verdict shortly after 2 p.m. local time Friday. Prosecutors argued that Yanez had overreacted and that Castile, a school cafeteria worker, was not a threat. Yanez also claimed in court that he feared for his life and thought that Castile as reaching for a gun-even after Castile told the police officer that he had a permit for a weapon and had one in his possession, as is required by gun safety procedures. The officer's defense team also argued Castile was high on marijuana, which affected his actions. That left a jury to decide whether they believed Officer Jeronimo Yanez on the witness stand, and they opted Friday to acquit the officer. In Minnesota, defense attorneys and prosecutors can each strike one assigned judge from a case without giving a reason.
"We were confident in our client", said attorney Tom Kelly. "In the wake of today's verdict, we are assessing whether any additional federal review is justified".
I dont doubt that Officer Yanez is a decent person, but he made a frightful mistake from our perspective, and thats what this case was about.
Castiles shooting was among a string of killings of blacks by police around the USA, including two other cases on trial this week in OH and Wisconsin.
The immediate aftermath of Castile's shooting was captured on video recorded by Castile's girlfriend and broadcast on Facebook Live. The public outcry included protests in Minnesota that shut down highways and surrounded the governor's mansion. Paulsen questioned Kauser at length about police procedure, what he saw during the stop, and how the shooting took him by surprise.
The statement says the city plans to offer Yanez a "voluntary separation" so he can find another job. Dayton says he doesn't think the shooting would have happened if Castile had been white.
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