On Friday, a black mother was shot to death by a former white Nashville police officer in the United States. She begged the judge not to accept the plea agreement she said secretly reached without her knowledge. She sobbed, screamed and knocked down the court. The podium, a chaotic scene, temporarily postponed the hearing.

As part of the agreement with prosecutors, former police officer Andrew Delke pleaded guilty to manslaughter and will die in 2018, 25-year-old Daniel Hambrick, and will serve three sentences. year.

As part of the agreement, Delk agreed not to seek parole or appeal. However, Delk’s defense team stated that he may serve a year and a half in prison with standard credits.

Prosecuting the police in the United States is difficult because the courts and juries tend to be on the side of the police. This may be changing. After the death of George Floyd in 2020, the US Congress is debating, fueled by the widespread “black life is also fate” protests Police Reform Proposals.

The hearing became unstable because Hambrick’s mother Vicki made a lengthy statement to the applause of her family and others. Other supporters knocked on the door in the hallway outside the stadium to express their support. Delk’s family and security are sitting on the other side of the courtroom.

“I hate you,” Vickie Hambrick screamed over and over, while yelling swear words, pointing some people at Delk and the prosecutor.

In the chaos, her mother overturned the podium and computer monitor, and her family rushed to her side. Judges Delk and Mont Watkins were briefly taken out of the courtroom.

The 27-year-old Delk is about to face trial on first-degree murder charges, but his lawyer announced that he has pleaded guilty to reduced charges of intentional homicide.

“I hope that this case will be able to address the much-needed How the police are trained And the way we, as a community, want the police to interact with citizens,” Delk said shortly after pleading guilty.

Delk sometimes choked and apologized to him, saying that he “deeply apologized for the harm caused by my behavior.”

A group of about two dozen protesters gathered outside the courtroom, chanting “no racist police” to show that they opposed Delk’s plea agreement.Others wore shirts and pointed out the police and White people receive a lighter punishment Committing the same crimes as blacks and browns.

Hambrick’s family said they had not been contacted or consulted until after the plea agreement was completed.

“I despise this system. I despise such requests. I despise [Fraternal Order of Police]. I especially despise Andrew Delk. May you all rot in hell,” said attorney Joy Kimbrough.

District Attorney Glenn Fink told reporters afterwards that he notified Hambrick’s family lawyer of the deal on Wednesday and spoke with Vicky Hambrick on Thursday. He said he had been in contact with them for three years and knew that Vickie Hambrick wanted Delke to be convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Vickie Hambrick appears in court and Andrew Delke pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the murder of her son Daniel Hambrick in Nashville, Tennessee [Josie Norris/The Tennessean via AP]

When accepting the plea agreement, Fink said he made this decision in the best interest of Tennessee. Fink said there is a “large percentage” of the possibility that the case will end with an unresolved jury, which he said means that the emotions seen in court on Friday “will be staged a hundred times.”

Fink called this a “significant development” and “tonight will be the first night in Nashville in jail for shooting a black man on duty.”

The prosecutor focused on capturing surveillance footage of the shooting, in which Delk stopped chasing and shot the escaped man.

The Nashville Metro Commission has approved a $2.25 million settlement agreement to resolve Civil litigation Hambrick’s family.

For Vickie Hambrick, who is legally blind, losing her only child will always haunt her.

“My son is my eyes,” Kimbrough said, reading Vickie Hambrick’s statement. “Since he left, things have changed, and they will never be the same again.”