St. Petersburg man acquitted as jurors reject police narrative of fatal shooting

The intrigue: The charges were heavily dependent on the word of Pinellas County sheriff's deputy Richard Curry, which differed from Ford's account of events that night in January 2020.

Why it matters: By finding Ford not guilty, jurors rejected Curry and his agency's account of events in a rare rebuke of the law enforcement narrative of a fatal police shooting.

• Fatal police shootings often rely solely on the word of law enforcement because the only other witness is dead. But Ford survived.

What they're saying: "I'm so happy. I'm so thankful. I'm so grateful," Ford's mother, Latonya Ford, told Axios on Wednesday.

• Over the last four years that Ford was in the Pinellas County jail awaiting trial, he missed the birth of his third daughter and lost his mobile car detailing business.

The other side: Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri told Axios that he stands by his deputy and his agency's investigation into the shooting, adding that the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office also investigated the incident back then and found Curry was justified in his actions.

• "This wasn't about him [Curry]," Gualtieri said. "It was about ... whether the state was able to establish the elements of the case against Delvin Ford."
• The State Attorney's Office didn't return Axios' request for comment Wednesday.

Between the lines: While the Sheriff's Office investigated itself in this case, six months later, in the wake of local protests against the police murder of George Floyd, Gualtieri announced that Pinellas agencies would begin investigating each others' shootings to ensure "we have the public's trust."

Catch up fast: On the night of Jan. 23, 2020, Curry parked in the alley behind a St. Petersburg home linked to a car that had sped away from multiple traffic stops, authorities said. Ford and Golden were hanging out in a music studio behind the house, which belongs to Ford's grandmother.

What Ford said: Ford told jurors he spotted the unfamiliar car, grabbed a gun and went outside to see who it was. He knocked on the driver's side window, and the person inside cracked it open and told him to get away from the car, he said.

• Ford said he didn't respond and backed away toward the studio then saw that Golden had come outside and was holding a rifle pointed down. Golden tried to wave the car off with his other hand. Then, the person in the car got out and started shooting at them.

What Curry said: Curry told jurors that the man who approached his car used a slang term that identified him as a cop. The man walked away then came back with a gun and another man who was armed with a rifle.

• One of the men pointed the rifle at Curry, said the deputy, who got out of his cruiser and started shooting, striking and killing Golden. Ford ran away, shooting his .40-caliber handgun toward the car five times.

Of note: Under Florida law, prosecutors can charge someone with murder if they take part in certain crimes that result in someone's death.

Zoom in: During closing arguments Tuesday, prosecutors for the first time addressed a detail that befuddled the community from the start: Why would Ford and Golden arm themselves and ambush a man they knew to be a cop?

• The state has no obligation to answer that question, assistant state attorney Courtney Sullivan said. Prosecutors didn't present evidence of a motive.
• Instead, Sullivan presented hypotheticals: Maybe Ford doesn't like cops, or maybe he was mad about his previous felony charges.

The other side: Pinellas-Pasco assistant public defender Jessica Manuele offered a different explanation: Ford didn't know Curry was a cop and never meant to get into a gunfight that night.

What's next: Latonya Ford told Axios she's planning to sue the Sheriff's Office over the ordeal. She's also looking for a place to live outside Pinellas County to give her son a fresh start.

• "I just want to start over," she said.