The former Fairfax County police sergeant who fatally shot Timothy McCree Johnson outside Tysons Corner Center last year has been acquitted of manslaughter following a nearly two-week trial.
However, the Fairfax County Circuit Court jury found Wesley Shifflett, 36, guilty of recklessly discharging a firearm when he fired the shot that killed 37-year-old Johnson on Feb. 22, 2023.
According to the Fairfax County Police Department, Shifflett and another officer, James Sadler, fired their guns while chasing Johnson, who allegedly stole two pairs of sunglasses from the mall’s Nordstrom store. Johnson was hit once in the chest and later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Indicted by a grand jury in October, Shifflett argued that he had acted in self-defense, claiming that he saw Johnson reach toward his waistband for what he feared was a gun. Police later confirmed that Johnson was unarmed.
“Sergeant Shifflett did not put himself in this position,” defense attorney Caleb Kershner said during his closing argument yesterday (Thursday), arguing that his client reacted as any reasonable police officer would have. “He was doing his job.”
Prosecutors argued that Shifflett had acted recklessly throughout the incident, with Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Jenna Sands saying that Shifflett “was not doing his job the way the law expected him to.”
After the jury released its verdict, Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano thanked Johnson’s family for putting their trust in his office but acknowledged that the legal system “provides a level of deference to police officers that is not provided to other individuals.”
For instance, Virginia lets officers, but not prosecutors, present evidence to a regular grand jury, which Descano says gives the police more power during “a critical stage of prosecution.” A regular grand jury declined to indict Shifflett in April 2023, but a judge later allowed a special grand jury that could hear testimony with prosecutors in the room.
“I hope it gives the Johnson family some closure to know that they are not alone in seeing that Mr. Shifflett did not act in accordance with the law that evening,” Descano said in a statement. “But the outcome of a single case doesn’t mean that we can overlook the inequities that persist in our justice system. Unfortunately, we have a two-tiered system of justice where some people’s lives and liberty are worth more than others’.”
According to the Associated Press, Shifflett’s trial faced multiple delays after it began on Sept. 17, including a change in the lead prosecutor after the initial attorney “suffered a severe medical issue.” Jury selection was also delayed by a day when Shifflett’s attorneys sought to dismiss the indictment.
The possibility of a mistrial arose on Wednesday (Oct. 2) when prosecutors accidentally played a part of a body camera video that hadn’t been admitted as evidence, though the defense ultimately opted not to pursue that option.
Shifflett could serve up to five years in prison for his conviction on the felony gun charge. A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for Feb. 28, 2025.
Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis announced in March 2023 that Shifflett would be fired, a decision that the former sergeant appealed. An administrative review was put on hold pending the outcome of the criminal case.
