(Image source from: Chicago Tribune)

In the high-profile murder trial of Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke charged with murder in the shooting of black teenager Laquan McDonald, defense attorneys and prosecutors have rested their cases.

Officer Jason Van Dyke's attorneys rested first Wednesday without calling witnesses any longer. Prosecutors then called one counterstatement witness and rested a short time later.

In order to give their concluding arguments, attorneys will return to court on Thursday.

The quiet ending of the trial came a day after explosive testimony from Van Dyke in which the officer maintained that squad car video did not show his view. He asserted that he saw the teen raise a knife at him. The video does not show that.

Van Dyke also said McDonald tried to get up after he fell to the ground when he was shot. The video does not support that.

The Concluding arguments could come as soon as Thursday.

Van Dyke, who is white, shot the black teenager 16 times.

Outrage over McDonald’s death led to sustained street protests in late 2015 after a Cook County judge forced the city to release footage of the shooting, which showed Van Dyke attacking 16 times at McDonald, who was carrying a knife and declining police orders to halt as he seemed to be walking away.

After the return of the verdict, authorities are gearing up for protests over again downtown and along Michigan Avenue. Organizers have been meeting all summer to talk about strategy for what they are hoping will be peaceful gatherings centering on an economic closure of the city.

But the proceeding of Van Dyke has tapped into decades of mistreatment by police in some of the city's communities of color, leaving open the possibleness that latent hostility could emerge.

Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson told the Tribune last week that officers who respond will be wearing regular uniforms and will be following protest events, allowing peaceful demonstrations to unfold.

By Sowmya Sangam