A jury of six white men took just two hours last week to acquit the former cop who shot and killed 23-year-old Black U.S. Airman Roger Fortson while he sat at home, minding his own business.
The gut-wrenching verdict caused Fortson’s mother, Meka Fortson, to collapse on the courtroom floor after the four-day trial in a Fort Walton Beach courthouse.
“I lost control of my body, and I hit the floor,” Meka Fortson said in an exclusive interview with Atlanta Black Star, adding that she didn’t remember anything after that until relatives were placing her inside the car outside the courthouse.
Meka Fortson believes her son’s race played the ultimate role in the acquittal of former Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Deputy Eddie Duran, who shot and killed her son in May 2024 after responding to a non-emergency call of domestic violence.
Bodycam video shows Duran pounding on Roger Fortson’s apartment door, then stepping to the side, making it impossible for the airman to see who was at his door through the peephole.
Roger Fortson, who was alone in his apartment, answered the door with his legally owned firearm by his side, pointing towards the ground.
Duran responded by firing multiple times, killing the Black man who had committed no crime.
“He was not given the proper accountability because of his color and not his character,” she said.
“I just knew it should have been some black juror in there,” she continued.
“It took the judge almost three weeks to go through all the evidence,” she said. “It took the jurors two hours to deliberate.”
“Ain’t no way in hell they looked at all the evidence.”
The main piece of evidence was the bodycam video that showed Duran killed Roger Fortson within seconds of opening his front door.
She said the court initially chose eight jurors—seven white men and one white woman—but later dismissed the woman and one of the men as alternates, leaving six white men on the jury.
She describes the white woman reacting with shock after watching the video, indicating she may have voted to convict Duran.
“I remember her looking at the video, and her mouth just dropped,” Meka Fortson said, adding that she believes the verdict could have been different if the white woman had served on the jury.
“The prosecutor and the judge went by the book,” she said. “I felt like the judge did right as far as the law; I feel like the prosecutor gave his all.”
“But once the eight white jurors walked in, you just feel something in your insides like this ain’t gonna go. And that’s exactly what happened,” Meka Fortson added.
Black people make up 12 percent of Okaloosa County, so it is unclear why the jury did not include a single Black juror. Multiple studies, however, have found that a jury’s racial makeup can directly affect outcomes in cases involving Black people, particularly Black defendants.
Multiple studies have also shown that white people tend to have a significantly higher view of police legitimacy compared to Black people, which is why all-white juries are more likely to acquit officers for killing Black people without thoroughly examining the evidence.
“Diverse juries were also more thorough in their evaluation of the evidence,” according to one study.
“On average, diverse juries deliberated 11 minutes longer, discussed more facts about the case, and made fewer factual errors than all-white juries.”
The studies support Meka Fortson’s belief that the all-white male jury did not examine the evidence thoroughly, focusing on her son’s color rather than his character, which she says was exemplary.
“Roger was a young Black man that broke generational curses,” she said. “He was highly intelligent, well loved, a giver.”
“He was the best son I could ever ask for,” she continued.
Studies also show that implicit bias among white people leads them to perceive Black people who are legal gun owners as more dangerous than white gun owners.
One study found that the Second Amendment does not apply to Black gun owners in the same way it applies to white gun owners.
“Lawfully armed Black people are often viewed as a threat and met with police violence… Black gun owners describe being stereotyped and misperceived by law enforcement.”
And people have revealed that bias in online comments claiming Roger Fortson deserved to die because he answered the door with a gun in his hand, even though he had a legal right to have it.
“I want them to stop saying that Roger deserved to be dead because he came to the door with his legal firearm,” she said.
“His hand was not on the trigger. He did not have it in a position where he was going to fire.”
“He only went to the door with his gun because the area that he lives in is drug-infested and violent,” she continued. “That’s why he took precautions.”
Now, Meka Fortson’s only hope for justice is the civil lawsuit that remains pending.
“Maybe that’ll be the only win that he’ll get,” she said. “So, I hope he can get some type of win in the middle of this mess.”
Meka Fortson also said her son’s death and the acquittal reflected a broader tendency to view Black people as threatening rather than vulnerable.
“It’s not okay to keep looking at Black people as angry, as aggressive, as scary,” she said. “They put stereotypes on us before they put value on our lives.”
“We need to change this narrative because it’s not okay to keep looking at Black people as angry and aggressive. We are more victims than we are the aggressor.”
“We’re so vulnerable because we don’t have nobody to protect us,” she continued.
“We can’t walk outside and up the street thinking we’re going to make it home safe.”
“We can’t go in a restaurant and disagree because when the owner or server gets mad at us and disrespects us, if we disrespect them back, they accuse of not wanting to pay.”
She also stressed that not all white people share those racist beliefs, but because so many do, it creates tension with her white friends who do not share those beliefs.
“I hate that they have to try to put themselves in a position where they feel they gotta prove they’re not them. They didn’t kill Roger. Duran killed Roger.”
“And those six jurors found him not guilty because of their beliefs.”
Watch the bodycam video below.
