A jury convicted a white former police officer of voluntary manslaughter Thursday in the shooting death of an unarmed black man accused of shoplifting.
Rankin, 36, shot William Chapman in the face and chest outside a Wal-Mart store last year after a security guard accused the 18-year-old of shoplifting.
Rankin had already killed another unarmed suspect, four years earlier, and many in Portsmouth saw his trial as a chance for accountability amid continuing reports about police-involved shootings around the nation.
