On February 25, 2000, four white New York City police officers were acquitted of murder and manslaughter charges, a year after they shot and killed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo in front of his home.  The officers fired forty-one shots at the unarmed Diallo, claiming they mistook his wallet for a gun.

Penalties for the charges of murder, manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment could have ranged from probation to life in prison.  Instead, the jury chose to let the four officers go free.  The group was made up of four black women, one white woman and seven white men.  They deliberated for more than twenty hours after a month-long trial.