The trial of former South Whitehall Township police officer Jonathan Roselle for the July 28, 2018, shooting of 44-year-old Joseph Santos along Hamilton Boulevard near Dorney Park began March 12 before Judge Kelly L. Banach in the Lehigh County Courthouse.

Roselle, 34, faces one charge of voluntary manslaughter based on unreasonable belief, known as “imperfect self-defense,” as explained by Banach. He has pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The Morning Session

Despite concerns about the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the benches were filled with supporters for both parties.

Court personnel mandated extra spacing be kept between audience members and hand sanitizer and tissues were liberally distributed in the courtroom.

The Prosecution

In the prosecution’s opening statement, Assistant District Attorney Jeffrey Dimmig said Roselle, “acting as a trained police officer did something that was unnecessary to someone who posed no deadly threat,” when he shot Santos, a man who “was at all times unarmed, and was in crisis.”

Dimmig noted at the “critical time” before the shooting, Roselle already had his pistol out inside his SUV and was pointing it at Santos, who was “gassed” and “draped on the passenger side of the police vehicle” before rolling off and walking away.

He emphasized Santos’ hands were always visible, and he never possessed a weapon.

Dimmig added Santos was about 15 feet away, walking toward Roselle with a hand raised, saying, “don’t do it,” when the officer opened fire.

“Were there less lethal options, was he a deadly threat when he was killed?” Dimmig asked, noting how Roselle could have used his baton, OC spray, Taser or hand-to-hand techniques before resorting to his pistol.

Additionally, Dimmig displayed three slides listing statements Roselle made to officers in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.

“Dude, I think I f---ed up. I don’t even know, he just kept coming at me, I didn’t know what to do,” Roselle told South Whitehall Police Sgt. Kevin Smith while performing CPR on Santos after Smith asked him, “Where’s the gun?”

“I don’t know why I defaulted to the gun,” he said to his supervisor, Sgt. Kevin Edelheiser, after being removed from the scene.

“He didn’t even touch me. It’s that he got close,” Roselle told a third officer, a state trooper.

Dimmig asked the jury to observe Santos’ movements in the videos, saying they were characteristic of a man in a mental crisis, and said officers are trained to identify and handle individuals with special needs.

He also noted Roselle was aware of the situation, having called in a possible mental health issue before arriving on scene.

In closing, Dimmig emphasized while officers must make difficult quick choices, Roselle’s actions were unjustifiable as Santos posed no immediate risk of death or severe bodily harm.

“You must know the other person is trying to kill you; it’s the greatest decision,” Dimmig said. “It must be thought through, it must be necessary and when you pull that trigger, at the other end of that muzzle must be a deadly threat.”

The Defense

Defense Attorney Gavin Holihan said Roselle’s decision to shoot Santos was justified because Santos’ actions - attacking, striking and hanging onto motorists’ vehicles, breaking a car window and threatening behavior posed a danger to Roselle and public safety.

He noted Santos’ refusal to follow any of Roselle’s orders and his attempted opening of the cruiser’s door, even in the presence of a weapon pointed in his direction.

Holihan also stated Santos was physically larger than Roselle, had numerous drugs in his system and seemed to possess “unnatural strength” and be “impervious to pain” which led Roselle to consider Santos a risk to his own life and those of others.

“Jonathan Roselle shot Joseph Santos because Jonathan thought it was necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury,” Holihan said.

He noted Roselle was carrying out the duties of a police officer, drawing Santos’ attention away from innocent bystanders when he recognized the situation had changed.

“That’s what cops do,” Holihan said.

Additionally, Holihan asked the jury to consider what may have happened had Santos overpowered Roselle.

He said Santos would have had access to Roselle’s 9 mm handgun as well as a pump-action shotgun and AR-15 patrol rifle stowed in Roselle’s police cruiser.

“The attempt to disarm a police officer is an attempt to arm yourself,” Holihan said.

Holihan said it would have been inappropriate to attempt a Taser deployment in this situation, stating that where a suspect is behaving erratically and on controlled substances, Tasers lose their effectiveness.

He said using the Taser may have been appropriate if Roselle had “lethal cover”- an officer with deadly force at the ready - but pointed out that Roselle was alone with backup still minutes away.

Holihan added when Santos was shot about 15 feet from Roselle, he was exceeding the limits of the “21 Foot Rule,” a defense strategy stating an assailant can cover 21 feet of ground faster than an officer can draw his sidearm and fire.

Given the proximity, Holihan concluded, Roselle would have been unable to use his pistol had the Taser failed, putting him at risk of being overpowered.

Witness Testimony

After opening statements were completed, the prosecution called Smith, the first responding officer, as their first witness and reviewed his body and dashcam footage.

Smith was patrolling a neighboring zone when he heard Roselle’s call for backup with a mental health situation and said he “self-dispatched” after hearing “stress” in Roselle’s voice.

Smith said he was about 30-45 seconds away when he heard Roselle call out “shots fired.”

Video from Smith’s dashcam show him racing from his initial location to Roselle’s position. As Smith pulls up, Roselle is seen standing by his vehicle while Santos lies near the left rear wheel.

Smith runs toward Roselle, asking, “Where’s the gun? Where is it?”

Roselle responds, “He wouldn’t stop, man.”

Smith orders a rattled Roselle to put on gloves, grab the automated defibrillator and call for EMS while Smith begins CPR. As Santos is turned over, Roselle is heard saying, “He’s done.”

The events and exchanges were corroborated on a clip from Roselle’s body camera also shown to the jury.

During the cross-examination, Holihan asked Smith about the shotgun and rifle stored in the cruiser, and the time it would take for a person to retrieve and make the guns ready to fire.

Smith said the weapons were kept “cruiser safe” - loaded, but with the safety on with no round in the chamber - and locked in place, adding that a nondescript button needed to be pressed while the engine was running to open the locks.

He said if an assailant knew the location of the button and was familiar with firearms, it could take less than 15 seconds to put them into action, which Holihan noted was shorter than Smith’s response time.

Holihan also asked about the number of mental health calls South Whitehall police respond to in a given period and how officers determine the best course of action.

Smith said such calls were fairly common, usually two or three per week. He said cadet training and department guidelines teach officers to identify signs of mental distress, “to get a feel for a situation, de-escalate and get the person the help they need.”

Smith said Holihan’s characterization of Roselle as “stressed, worked up or panicked” after the shooting was accurate.

“It was a stressful situation,” he said.