Closing arguments to begin in trial of officer who fatally shot Ramarley Graham

Monday, January 23, 2017
NEW YORK (WABC) -- Closing arguments will begin Monday in the trial of the officer charged with fatally shooting 18-year-old Ramarley Graham in 2012.

The officer, Richard Haste, took the witness stand in his own defense Friday as the last of six officers to testify in the departmental trial.
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After closing arguments, Rosemarie Maldonado, the deputy commissioner of trials, who acts as the judge, will write a report with recommendations to Police Commissioner James O'Neill.

Both sides will have a chance to respond before O'Neill makes a final decision.

On Friday, Haste for the first time publicly described the events five years ago that took place in a house when he fired one shot, killing Graham.
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"The absolute last thing I ever wanted to do," he testified, "was pull that trigger, other than at a paper target."

Officer Haste, department prosecutors claim, should have set up an outside perimeter and called for emergency service officers.
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