Police manslaughter trial to begin tomorrow

The manslaughter trial of Thomas Sanders III, 39, a police officer in the Northeast District, is scheduled to begin 2:00PM tomorrow before Judge Wanda K. Heard. The Baltimore City Grand Jury returned a two-count indictment charging Sanders with voluntary and involuntary manslaughter on July 15, 2008, alleging Sanders shot Edward Lamont Hunt, 27, right, on January 30, 2008 at the Hamilton Park Shopping Center at 2300 E. Northern Parkway. Sanders told detectives that he feared for his life, Hunt was unarmed and witnesses claim he was shot in the back while walking away. Sanders was one of the last officers involved in a shooting to be publicly named before the BPD changed its public-information policy; the shooting evoked a FBI investigation.
Hunt's family has retained attorney A. Dwight Pettit, who the Examiner reported won the largest single police excessive-force lawsuit in Maryland history in 2004.
Sanders was represented at his arraignment by police-union attorney Henry L. Belsky.