The Delaware Supreme Court has upheld the guilty verdicts of a former Wilmington police officer convicted of lying about a gun he used to shoot a teenager.
James MacColl had argued to the state’s highest court that secrecy baked into Delaware’s police disciplinary laws should have concealed the lies at the center of his trial from prosecutors. He also argued that constitutional protections against self-incrimination were disregarded by the judge overseeing his criminal trial.
The Supreme Court order issued Thursday rejected those arguments and simply endorsed the ruling of the trial judge that MacColl had argued flawed his jury proceeding.
Last year, a jury convicted MacColl of providing a false statement to law enforcement, a felony, as well as misdemeanor official misconduct. He was acquitted of felony evidence tampering and later sentenced to probation.
His case was prompted by his shooting of an unarmed teenager fleeing from a stolen car in 2019. The teen survived.
Prosecutors said the shooting itself was not illegal because MacColl told them he felt the unarmed teen was turning to point a gun at him as he fled. But evidence also showed that MacColl lied about tampering with his service weapon after the shooting, leading to the charges and conviction.