“O que aconteceu se a viatura é para proteger?” : um estudo de caso sobre o assassinato de um jovem negro e processos de absolvição dos possíveis responsáveis no Rio Grande do Norte

Abstract

This work presents a field research conducted during a Jury Court held in the state of Rio Grande do Norte in July 2024. Its analysis aims to understand the reasons why military police officers are systematically absolved when taken to a Popular Jury. In the trial in question, four police officers were accused of being responsible for the murder of Giovani Gabriel, a young black man from the periphery, who was killed at the age of eighteen in 2020 while on his way to meet his girlfriend. Despite the strong evidence presented by prosecutors from the Public Prosecutor's Office and assistant prosecution lawyers, the police officers were absolved due to hierarchical social values attributed to them based on the performativity configured in the Jury Court.