After the mistrial Thursday, the
Sanchez was holding his young son in his arms at a
French was nonverbal and had recently been taken off unspecified medication due to other health issues, the family’s lawyer has said, adding that the change may have affected his behavior that night. French's family believes he suffered from schizophrenia.
While Sanchez told investigators he believed French had a gun and that his life was in danger, authorities said French was not armed and was moving away from Sanchez when the officer began shooting.
The state attorney general filed charges of voluntary manslaughter and two counts of assault with a firearm against Sanchez in 2021 after a
During the trial last month, prosecutors told the jury that Sanchez had panicked in the
Sanchez’s attorney,
“I just think it’s the kind of case where it was a tragedy but it wasn’t a crime, and at this point, they put it in front of a grand jury and there was no indictment, and they put it in front of a jury and there was no conviction, and at this point, all parties should be allowed to move on,” Schwartz said.
Sanchez was a seven-year veteran of the
A federal jury awarded
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