While deadly shootings of African Americans by white police officers have become the target of protests across the nation, it’s rare for a cop to be charged with a crime. Rarer still is for an officer to be found guilty.

That could soon change in Chicago, a city that hasn’t convicted a police officer of murder in half a century.

On Thursday, jurors began deliberating on a case that has gripped the region since 2014, when Jason Van Dyke, a white officer, shot and killed a black teenager named Laquan McDonald. The case has become a symbol of the growing unrest over policing in the city, where a majority of police shootings over the years have been of black residents. Controversy over the teen’s death has led to resignations of top city and county officials, a federal investigation of the Police Department and reforms in policing.

“This is an incredibly historic trial that has fundamentally changed Chicago and the national conversation over police,” said Craig Futterman, a professor of law at the University of Chicago. “Everyone is watching.”

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