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Two white St. Louis Police Department officers have been found not guilty, and a third white officer obtained a mistrial, in a federal trial for their involvement in the assault and beating of Black undercover Officer Luther Hall.
Officer Hall was beaten up during a police protest, after police were found not guilty in the case of the fatal 2011 police shooting of Anthony Lamar Smith.
Five white officers have been identified as allegedly having some part in the assault of Officer Hall: Dustin Boone, Randy Hays, Christopher Myers, Steven Korte and Bailey Colletta.
Officer Luther Hall went undercover, in 2017, during a protest against police violence against Black people. During the protest, Hall was brutally beaten and sustained numerous injuries including suffering a concussion, a torn rotator cuff and herniated discs.
Officer Steven Korte, has been accused—along with Boone and Myers as being the ones who threw Hall to the ground and beat him. In 2018, Dustin Boone, Randy Hays, Christopher Myers and Bailey Colletta were all indicted for the assault on Hall.
On Monday, the jury returned a not guilty verdict for Myers and Korte on a charge of deprivation of rights under color of law. Korte was also found not guilty of lying to the FBI.
Corletta had previously plead guilty of lying to a grand jury. Hays had also plead guilty to deprivation of constitutional rights.
The Ethical Society of Police released the following statement after the decision:
“The Ethical Society of Police respects the decision of the jury, but we strongly disagree with the verdict. There was clear evidence to convict former St. Louis City Police Officers Christopher Myers, Dustin Boone, and Steven Korte. The injuries Detective Luther Hall sustained were consistent with being beaten by multiple subjects.
“Police officers continue to escape the consequences of their actions. The criminal justice system continues to show African-American victims of police violence we do not receive the same level of justice when white police officers are accused of excessive force toward African-Americans.”
