Fatal shooting by officer: 'Tragic accident' or 'reckless'?

The attorney for a Deptford police officer accused of fatally shooting a friend in 2013 said during closing statements Tuesday that James Stuart had no motive and that Stuart did not know his service weapon was loaded when a shot went off.

"This is a horrible, tragic accident with the worst kind of consequence that there could be," said John Eastlack Jr., Stuart's attorney. But, he said, "this is not a case of purposeful, knowing murder."

Gloucester County Assistant Prosecutor Dana Anton said Stuart, through his training as a police officer, should have known better than to take out a gun while drinking - and around someone such as David Compton, who had no experience with weapons.

Stuart's blood alcohol content, measured four hours after the shooting, was 0.14, Anton said.

"He's very drunk," she said, adding that it was a factor in the shooting but not an excuse.

Anton called Stuart's actions a "chain of reckless events" that ended with Compton dead.

"Just because he calls it an accident, it doesn't mean it's an accident," she said.

Stuart, 31, was off duty when, authorities say, he shot Compton in the face early on Jan. 5, 2013. The men, who had known each other since high school, had been at a Sewell bar that night before returning to Stuart's Deptford home, where the shooting occurred.

Stuart was charged with murder and aggravated manslaughter. He is suspended without pay from the department, where he had worked for five years at the time of the shooting.

Compton, 27, died on Jan. 11, six days after the shooting, after being taken off life support. He lived in South Philadelphia and was a mechanical engineer.

Prosecutors have said Stuart moved the gun after the shooting. In a call he made to his department that night, he said Compton was "playing with one of my weapons" but did not say who fired the shot.

The gun Stuart used was his off-duty service weapon, separate from the one he carries while on duty.

Jurors deliberated for a couple of hours before leaving for the day. They are expected to resume deliberations Wednesday.

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