The jury in the trial of an Aurora police officer charged in the death of Elijah McClain reached a not guilty verdict on Monday afternoon. Nathan Woodyard was found not guilty of manslaughter and not guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the 2019 death of the 23-year-old Black man who was walking home at night when an encounter with first responders led to his death.
Woodyard is among three Aurora police officers and two paramedics charged in McClain’s 2019 death. The trial against the two other officers resulted in a split verdict last month with one convicted of homicide and one acquitted. The paramedics’ trial is scheduled to begin later this month. Woodyard’s trial has stretched across several weeks.
Prosecutors argued throughout the trial that Woodyard grabbed McClain within 8 seconds of getting out of his patrol car without introducing himself or explaining why he wanted to talk to him. An emergency call had come in about McClain, with someone reporting that he looked suspicious wearing a mask. McClain is seen on body camera video that was shown in the trial seemingly caught off guard and trying to keep walking when Woodyard approached.
They say Woodyard chose to escalate the situation and didn’t listen to what McClain was saying and ignored the police department’s policy on de-escalation.
Woodyard put McClain in a neck hold that rendered him temporarily unconscious after he said he believed McClain had reached for one of the officers’ guns — a claim prosecutors disputed.
McClain was later injected with a fatal overdose of ketamine by paramedics.
Woodyard’s lawyers stressed through the trial that the officer walked away during part of the confrontation after initially being called away by his supervisor. They said he was not with McClain as his condition worsened and other officers continued to restrain him. Defense attorneys Woodyard entrusted McClain’s care to his fellow officer and the paramedics who used the ketamine.
The coroner’s office’s autopsy report, updated in 2021, found McClain died of an overdose of ketamine that was given after he was forcibly restrained by police. While it found no evidence the police actions contributed to McClain’s death, prosecutors presented their own medical expert who said there was a direct link. Dr. Roger Mitchell of Howard University, the former Washington, D.C. coroner, said the police restraint caused a series of cascading health problems, including difficulty breathing and a buildup of acid in McClain’s body.
Prosecutors argued in the first trial that the police encouraged paramedics to give McClain ketamine by saying he had symptoms, like having increased strength, that indicate a controversial condition known as excited delirium. In Woodyard’s case, they said that after he returned to the scene, he failed to pull McClain off his stomach, which made it harder for him to breathe, and did not object to keeping him pinned down as he was given ketamine. Prosecutors have suggested Woodyard was more worried about a possible investigation and getting in trouble than how McClain was doing.
Unlike the other officers, Woodyard took the stand, testifying last week that he put McClain in the carotid control hold because he feared for his life after he heard McClain say, “I intend to take my power back” and another officer says, “he just grabbed your gun, dude.”
Prosecutors contended McClain never tried to grab an officer’s weapon, and it can’t be seen in the body camera footage, which is shaky and dark before all the cameras fall off during the ensuing struggle.
The defense argued Woodyard had to react to what he heard in the moment.
He testified that he was overwhelmed and scared and began to cry while talking to his supervisor. He said she suggested he take a break. He said he went to his car and cried some more before returning to the scene.
The Aurora Police Department tweeted this response after the verdict, “As previously stated, I know many have been waiting a long time for the involved party to have his day in court. As a nation, we must be committed to the rule of law. As such, we hold the American judicial process in high regard. We respect the verdict handed down by the jury, and thank the members of the jury for their thoughtful deliberation and service. Due to the additional pending trial, the Aurora Police Department is precluded from further comment at this time.”
Jury questionnaires will be handed out on Nov. 17 for the two former paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec charged in McClain’s death. Jury selection in the courtroom is expected on Nov. 27. That trial is expected to last several weeks.
