PORTSMOUTH, Va. — On the same day a former Portsmouth police officer was acquitted of a voluntary manslaughter charge related to a May 2018 officer-involved shooting, the same officer was indicted again with the same charge in another case.
Vincent McClean had been charged after an officer-involved shooting that killed Willie Marable in 2018 on Navajo Trail.
McClean was indicted in March.
Police said they responded to a report of a home invasion. When officers arrived they encountered two suspects, a man and a woman who were armed. Police say they gave them commands, but Marable didn't listen.
That's when police shot and killed Marable.
During a court hearing in March, prosecutors said that McClean was among the first officers to arrive on the scene after Marable was shot. Prosecutors also said Marable had a chance of surviving his injuries, but that McClean had failed to render aid and had shown "deliberate indifference."
McClean did not fire the shots that killed Marable.
“So the allegation was that he did not perform CPR. And their allegation was that if he performed CPR, then Marable would have lived, but the evidence did not point in that direction,” Michael Massie, McClean's attorney said.
The trial began Wednesday. A not-guilty verdict was returned Thursday after a 14-minute deliberation, Massie said.
On the same day as the acquittal, a grand jury handed down a direct indictment against McClean in the death of a woman who died in police custody in Dec. 2018.
Carmeita Jane VanGilder, 28, was taken into custody and taken to police headquarters where she experienced a medical emergency. Medics tried to revive VanGilder, but she did not survive.
McClean is now charged with voluntary manslaughter in that case.
Court documents said VanGilder was arrested on an outstanding warrant in December of 2018.
Court records say VanGilder told officers that she was sick. She threw up in their patrol car and in the holding cell and repeatedly asked for water and help. Records say police didn’t immediately call for help.
The City of Portsmouth awarded her parents $550,000 in a wrongful death settlement.
“I learned about that. This morning, while the grand jury was meeting, I got a copy of the indictment. And we'll be helping Mr. McClean again,” Massie said.
This is a developing story. Stay with News 3 as we learn more about what happened in court.
