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Inquest Jury Rules McCord Shooting Justified

Posted: 5:07 pm PDT May 10, 2004Updated: 5:25 pm PDT May 10, 2004

A jury in the inquest into the police shooting of an escaped Pierce County Jail inmate has ruled the shooting was justified.

Officers fatally shot Harold McCord last June in a raid of a Monroe apartment. McCord had escaped the day before from the Pierce County Courthouse in Tacoma using a fake gun.

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The six-member inquest jury heard testimony in Seattle about circumstances surrounding McCord's death.

The panel unanimously agreed on most of the questions it was asked to answer in the case, KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reported.

One of the key issues in the case has been whether McCord was armed when police from Monroe and Bothell entered the apartment.

The jury's decision is not binding and will not determine whether officers in the raid will face criminal charges. A decision on charges is up to Snohomish County prosecutors.

McCord was facing life in prison after being convicted under the state's three-strikes law for violent criminals.

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