A former Kansas undersheriff has been found not guilty in a fatal beanbag shooting in 2017,
Virgil Brewer was charged with involuntary manslaughter after he shot Steven Myers using his personal shotgun. It happened on Oct. 6, 2017, in Sun City, about 300 miles from Kansas City, Kansas.
Brewer and two other officers responded to a call about an armed man on a street following an altercation at a local bar. Myers, who was drunk and had been told to leave the bar, and was gone by the time officers arrived.
Myers was found in a shed behind a home. When he failed to respond to verbal orders and approached the officers Brewer shot him at close range with a beanbag, which split open and emptied pellets into his chest, causing fatal injuries.
The Medical Examiner ruled Myers’ death a homicide.
During closing arguments Wednesday, assistant attorney general Melissa Johnson said the trial came down to whether Brewer acted recklessly when he shot Myers.
Defense attorney David Harger countered that prosecutors didn’t meet their burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Brewer’s actions were reckless when he made a split-second decision in a tense and evolving confrontation.
A Wyandotte County jury deliberated for four hours after the weeklong trial before returning the not-guilty verdict.
It's unclear if Brewer, who has been on unpaid leave from the Barber County Sheriff’s department since his 2018 arrest, would return to his former job.