After six days of listening to evidence in the trial of the Cincinnati police officer who killed her son, Angela Leisure says she is no closer to understanding why he is dead.

        “I feel like the defense has been a lot of smoke and mirrors. I still don't know the truth,” the Golf Manor woman said Monday after closing arguments in the trial of Officer Stephen Roach.

Leisure

        “I still have no satisfaction. ... I want to know what gave Officer Roach the right to take my son from me,” Mrs. Leisure said in her first public comments since the trial began.

        Hamilton County Municipal Judge Ralph E. “Ted” Winkler will issue a verdict Wednesday at 11 a.m.

        Officer Roach, who fatally shot 19-year-old Timothy Thomas, is charged with two misdemeanors: negligent homicide and obstructing official business. The charges combined carry a punishment of up to nine months in jail.

        On Monday, Special Prosecutor Stephen McIntosh said Officer Roach showed a “substantial lack of due care” when he drew his gun and ran with his finger on the trigger in a dark Over-the-Rhine alley April 7.

        According to testimony, Officer Roach pulled his weapon at the same time that he ordered Mr. Thomas to show him his hands. The Evanston man, who was unarmed, was wanted on 14 misdemeanor charges — mostly traffic-related — and had led police on a brief foot chase.

        Officer Roach initially told investigators that he thought Mr. Thomas had a gun. But later, he said a quick movement from Mr. Thomas frightened him and he squeezed the trigger.

        “A standard must be followed, not only by members of the public, but by members of the police department as well,” said Mr. McIntosh, chief prosecutor for the city of Columbus. “You can't just shoot somebody because you perceive danger. Yes, (Officer Roach) had a job to do. And, yes we expect him to do that job. But he should have exercised good judgment.

        “If Officer Roach had not taken the actions that he did, Timothy Thomas would still be alive,” he added.

        Defense attorney Merlyn Shiverdecker attacked the lead detective on the case, Cincinnati Police Spc. Charlie Beaver, saying that he used “faulty and flawed logic” in his investigation and manipulated Officer Roach into making a second statement that differed from his original account.

        This led to the obstructing official business charge.

        Spc. Beaver “didn't use fair and neutral fact-finding statements to find out what happened,” Mr. Shiverdecker said. “He asked questions designed to ... get Steve to spew back the response (he) wanted.”

        Mr. Shiverdecker added that a videotape of the incident, captured by a camera mounted in a police cruiser near the alley at 13th and Republic streets, did little to clarify what happened.

        “That video is no more definitive in solving this case than the smoke and mirrors logic that has been applied to this case up to this point,” Mr. Shiverdecker told the judge.

        He added that Officer Roach perceived a threat and followed his training. He shot Mr. Thomas, he said, because he thought his own life was in danger.

        The fatal shooting touched off days of rioting and unrest in the city.

        Mrs. Leisure said Monday that she finds it difficult to see exactly how Officer Roach followed policy when he shot her son.

        She said she went to the library and read a copy of the Cincinnati Police Division's policy and procedures, specifically on use of deadly force.

        “I'm no law student, but he didn't have a reason to shoot my son. He did not follow procedures,” she said, adding that she found it hard to listen to the defense attack Spc. Beaver.

        “He has been a detective for God knows how long ... but now that he's investigating something the police did wrong, now they're attacking him,” she said, adding that the stress of the entire incident is “killing” her family.

        “All we seek is the truth,” she said. “But justice is not for everybody. ... This is not a black and white issue. If it involves a police officer it's not justice — it's just us.”

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