jury-trial。请看如下纽约时报的报道片段：
The reckless manslaughter conviction of Police Officer Peter Liang in the shooting death of Akai Gurley raises more questions than answers about the state of the criminal justice system in New York. More often than not, officers accused of criminal conduct in the killing of unarmed civilians are not charged criminally ,or if they are, they are often acquitted by judges in non-jury trials. Why was this case different?
The jurors had the opportunity to put themselves in Liang’s shoes when they were allowed to pull the trigger on Liang's gun for themselves. They could see that a quick flinch when surprised would be insufficient to fire the weapon. It had to have been a conscious decision, even if there was no intent to strike a person. This is the important part of the jury instruction and the charge of reckless manslaughter...
The 28-year-old, unarmed Akai Gurley was visiting his girlfriend and getting his hair braided before Thanksgiving. He entered the stairwell about a flight below Officers Shaun Landau and Peter Liang, who were patrolling the pitch-dark stairwell with no lights. According to the prosecutors, Officer Liang, who is left-handed, pulled out his flashlight with his right hand and unholstered his 9mm Glock with his left. He then shoved open the stairwell door with his right shoulder, turned left to face the seventh-floor landing, where Gurley had just entered. It appeared neither side knew the other was there and no words were exchanged, according to authorities. After being startled, Liang's gun accidentally discharged as he opened the door and the bullet ricocheted off the wall and struck Gurley once in the chest; he later died at the hospital. It is reported that Gurley actually ran after hearing the gunshot, and didn’t realize that he was bleeding until collapsing on the fifth floor.
Similarity to the shooting of Timothy Stansbury Jr.
The death of Akai Gurley is notably similar to the shooting death of Timothy Stansbury Jr. that occurred in January 2004, when Officer Richard S. Neri killed Timothy Stansbury Jr., 19, on a roof at the Louis Armstrong Houses in Brooklyn at about 1 a.m. when Officer Neri, with his gun drawn, approached a rooftop door to check the stairway inside. A grand jury declined to indict Officer Neri on charges of criminally negligent homicide, declaring the event an accident, after he gave testimony that he had unintentionally fired; he was startled, he said, when Mr. Stansbury pushed open a rooftop door in a place where drug dealing was rampant.
所以除了决定是否指控 （有罪或其它），还有审判方式 （有无陪审团）很关键。以前所有的警察枪声平民案要么未起诉，要么是无陪审团的审判 （由法官判定是否有罪，类似中国的判案方式）。如果以前的警察枪声平民案都有jury的话，相信不少会被判有罪。
这次梁应该是被美拿来开刀，成为美国内政治需要的牺牲品，用来缓和紧张的警民关系。美国的种族问题向来存在，华裔政治势力单薄，梁警官难免成为牺牲品。由此案看来美国的司法存在诸多猫腻，受种族关系政治势力的左右。
