A former Georgia police officer who fatally shot an unarmed, fleeing black man was sentenced to one year in prison Friday, nearly two weeks after a jury acquitted him of manslaughter charges but found him guilty of violating his oath of office.
Superior Court Judge Stephen Scarlett in Camden County near the Georgia-Florida state line also gave Zechariah Presley four years of probation. Though spared from a manslaughter conviction, the former Kingsland police officer, who is white, still had faced up to five years in prison for his actions in the June 2018 killing of Tony Green, 33.
Before sentencing, Green’s relatives told the judge the shooting and verdict had divided their community along racial lines. They called for the maximum five-year sentence.
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