That never made sense either. If Forcillo was murderous with his last volley of shots but not his first a few seconds earlier, what circumstance caused him to so radically and suddenly change his frame of mind? It's absurd to me to treat his actions in each instance in isolation as if they had no bearing on each other.
There was reasonable doubt that he genuinely feared for his life and therefore the original volley was justified. It was beyond reasonable doubt that no threat was present prior to firing the second volley into his back.
IIRC he was charged for both, but the prosecution didn't win both. Also, the charge for the second volley was apparently attempted murder because the prosecution couldn't prove that Yatim was alive prior to the second round of shots and/or that the second round of shots actually killed Yatim. If they tried to get a murder charge for that volley, there would have been reasonable doubt and Forcillo would probably have walked (and remained on the force carrying a gun).
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