The manslaughter trial of State Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement Agent Michael Walker for the February, 2004 killing of Rudy Cardenas was a sensation in San Jose. After a high-speed chase through downtown, Walker shot Cardenas, a father of five, in the back, in what many thought was a clear case of criminal police violence. Walker thought at the time that Cardenas was another man who was wanted for a parole violation. Law enforcement that day made a series of critically flawed decisions. The Deputy District Attorney who prosecuted Walker, Lane Liroff, became kind of a hero to activists and community members who attended the trial, but he was unable to win a conviction. The day of the verdict Rudy's daughter Regina Cardenas said she was "Completely appalled. We didn’t think [acquittal] was a possibility at all." Indybay writer-photographer Peter Maiden covered the trial after reporting on police issues in San Jose for over a year. You can read his story: Justice Denied: A History of the Walker Trial | Photos of Vigil for Rudy after the Verdict | Indybay's Previous Coverage of the trial | Past Indybay Coverage of the Cardenas Case | Coverage by Pacific News Service | Coverage from the November Coalition