POLICE SHOOTING MURDER TRIAL
				Background March 9 Update (Opening Statements) March 10 Update March 11 Update March 12 Update March 13 (The Verdict) April 16 (The Sentencing)

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Court TV) — Police were trying to stop 17-year-old Rodie Gossett and his passenger, Reginald Miller, for a traffic violation, but instead Gossett led the officers on a car chase in the early morning of July 7, 1997.

Gossett was driving a car that did not belong to him. It was not a high-speed pursuit and Millington police and Shelby County sheriff's deputies reportedly cornered the 1986 blue Oldsmobile Gossett was driving at a Memphis gas station.

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Millington, Tenn. police, including defendant Nichelson, chased Rodie Gossett after he collided with two squad cars.

But Gossett did not surrender just yet. He rammed two squad cars, drove the wrong way through a car wash and then sped off, restarting the chase. Peter Nichelson was among the Millington police who caught up with Gossett again at another gas station at the intersection of New Allen and Ridgemont. But what was supposed to be a peaceful arrest ended with Gossett being shot to death at close range behind his right ear.

There was almost immediate outrage and suspicion when news spread of Gossett's shooting death. Nichelson is a white police officer and Gossett, a young African-American male, and some may have suspected the shooting was racially-motivated. A sheriff's department spokesman

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Delores Jones,the victim's mother, has sued Nichelson and the Millington Police Department in the wake of the shooting.

initially reported that a scuffle preceded the shooting. Nichelson never denied shooting Gossett, but his defense claimed it was accidental. He said the gun discharged when it accidentally hit Gossett's shoulder as he was trying to restrain him.

But Dr. O.C. Smith, the assistant medical examiner, said Tennessee Bureau of Investigation tests show the bullet that killed Gossett was fired from approximate 7 to 10 inches away, and that the only way Nichelson's gun, a.40-caliber Glock, could have gone off is if his finger was on the trigger. This, prosecutors say, discount the defense theory that the shooting was accidental.

In addition, Dr. Smith says an abrasion on Gossett's right shoulder (which Nichelson's defense maintains caused the accidental discharge) is not in line with the gunshot wound to the head.

Prosecutors also say several witnesses claim that Gossett and his passenger had their hands up and were when Nichelson fired. Smith's autopsy of Gossett showed that he had several contusions on his face, perhaps an indication of police brutality.

Nichelson now faces trial for second-degree murder. Since his arrest, he has been suspended without pay. If convicted, he could face 15 to 25 years in prison and would have to serve 85 percent of his sentence before being eligible for parole. Gossett's family have sued Nichelson, the city of Millington, the Millington Police Department, the mayor and the chief of police for $15 million for allegedly violating the teen-ager's civil rights.

— Bryan Robinson