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Judge: Jury Must Decide If Handcuffed Man Killed Himself

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A federal judge in Louisiana has ruled a jury must decide whether the shooting death of a handcuffed man in the rear of a patrol car was a suicide, accident or "at the hand of a sheriff's deputy."

 
U.S. Magistrate Judge Patrick Hanna refused in a ruling filed Monday to throw out a lawsuit against Iberia Parish Sheriff Louis Ackal and a deputy over the March 2014 death of 22-year-old Victor White III.

 
The Justice Department and state prosecutors ruled out criminal charges in White's death, but Hanna said it hasn't been "conclusively established" whether White's death was a suicide, accident or a homicide.

 
The judge also said there are "factual discrepancies" that raise questions about the "trustworthiness" of the Louisiana State Police's investigation of White's death.