Chicago Cop Not Guilty in Off-Duty Shooting of 22-year-old Rekia Boyd

A Chicago police detective charged in the 2012 death of 22-year-old Rekia Boyd was found not guilty Monday.

In a courtroom fraught with emotion, Judge Dennis Porter warned against outbursts before announcing the verdict in the case of Dante Servin.

”I know this case has generated a lot of emotion ... but this is a court of law, not a court of emotion,” Porter said, as reported by DNAInfo.

Porter said that while it was clear that Servin shot Boyd, the prosecutor did not prove that he acted recklessly, resulting in a verdict of not guilty on all counts. Boyd’s family members erupted in disbelief, with several having to be escorted from the room.

Servin, now 46, was off-duty March 21, 2012, when he reportedly fired five shots from his car into a small group that had walked away from a large crowd of people in Douglas Park. Servin’s bullets struck Antonio Cross in the arm and Boyd in the head, and Boyd later died from her wound. Servin said he saw Cross pull a gun, but police did not find a weapon. Prosecutors argued Cross was holding a cell phone. Servin’s attorney argued he began firing only after Cross raised the cell phone toward him as if it were a gun.

Servin was found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter, reckless discharge of a firearm and reckless conduct.

Martinez Sutton, Boyd’s brother, took to the street after the verdict.

“I was promised by Anita Alvarez that they were going to take this officer down,” Sutton said.

The charges against him were the first time since 1995 that a city cop was charged in a high-profile shooting death.

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