A former Phoenix police officer has been convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, but a jury could not agree on charge of second-degree murder. Richard Chrisman was on trial for killing a man in 2010. Chrisman was charged with putting a gun to a suspect's head when the man questioned him about entering his Phoenix house without a warrant. That led to the assault conviction, but Chrisman’s former partner also said Chrisman later shot and killed the same man and his dog without justification, and the jury could not reach a verdict on the charges of murder or animal cruelty after four days of deliberation.
Chrisman’s conviction carries a five- to 15-year sentence, with a presumptive term of seven and a half years in state prison. Prosecutors have not decided whether to retry Chrisman on the second-degree murder charges.