A rare scene in the American justice system unfolded in a Chicago courthouse: A white officer stood before a mostly white jury and was convicted of killing a black teenager. Jason Van Dyke was convicted Friday of second-degree murder and multiple counts of aggravated battery for shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times. The conviction in the 2014 shooting came two months after a Texas officer was convicted in the killing of a 15-year-old unarmed black boy. The pair of guilty verdicts could signal a shift in momentum after years of delayed arrests, non-indictments and acquittals. Activists and advocates say their efforts, along with the ubiquity of cellphone camera evidence, could be changing the power balance between police and black communities.
