EX-DETECTIVE ACQUITTED IN SHOOTING

Louisville Officer Killed Teenage Drug Suspect

LOUISVILLE - A jury acquitted a former Louisville police detective
yesterday in the fatal shooting of a 19-year-old drug suspect whose death
became a symbol of simmering racial tensions between police and the
African-American community.

The former detective, McKenzie Mattingly, 31, showed no emotion as the
verdicts were read in Jefferson Circuit Court. The jurors -- 10 white and
two black -- returned the partial verdict after more than eight hours of
deliberations.

The judge declared a mistrial on a separate charge of wanton endangerment
after the jury was unable to reach agreement on that count. Prosecutors
said last night they have not decided whether to pursue that charge.

Mattingly was charged with shooting Michael Newby, 19, three times in the
back Jan. 3 during an undercover drug buy.

Newby was the seventh black man killed by Louisville police since 1998.
Mattingly is white.

"The message is clear. The police can act with impunity," said Philip
Bailey, a university student and a friend of Newby's, in reaction to the
verdicts.

Outside the courthouse, as he got into his vehicle, Newby's stepfather,
Jerry Bouggess, said: "There are murderers out here." A family spokesman,
Christopher 2X, said Newby's mother, Angela Bouggess, is "hurt pretty bad."

Mattingly walked out with lawyers and others and didn't say a word to
reporters.

"If it were going to be a jury of McKenzie's peers, you'd have had 12
police officers up there. Instead, 12 jurors found him not guilty," said
Lukas Dwelly, a friend of Mattingly's. "That's justice."

Prosecutors told jurors during closing arguments yesterday that they should
not find Mattingly guilty of murder, but convict him of a lesser charge.

"I do not think that is what he is guilty of," said Scott Davis, an
assistant prosecutor.

Commonwealth's Attorney David Stengel called the case "whoppingly difficult.

"I'm one who does not like the verdict, but I accept the verdict," said
Stengel, who called Newby's death the result of "a bad shooting" as
Mattingly was indicted for murder in March.

Stengel said some possible witnesses in the case, who were in a car at the
liquor store's-drive-through, didn't respond to subpoenas.

Mattingly, who testified Tuesday, told investigators he thought Newby was
trying to kill him, even though he never saw a weapon. Mattingly's
attorney, Steve Schroering, said Mattingly's instincts were correct.

"He believed in his heart (Newby) had a gun. And you know what? He was
right," Schroering said.

Newby was carrying a .45-caliber pistol in his waistband the night of the
shooting, police said.

Newby's shooting sparked weeks of protests in Louisville, many led by the
Rev. Louis Coleman, a civil rights activist.

"It's business as usual," Coleman said last night in response to the verdicts.

Louisville's police chief, Robert White, said last night that he stood by
his decision to fire Mattingly for violating the department's use-of-force
policy.

"From my perspective, he violated our policies," White said. White said he
didn't expect any rioting after the verdict, but police were prepared for it.