Judge affirms case against Mesa officer will move ahead

[FINALLY a trigger happy COP WILL PAY]

Mesa police shooting body-cam video | 1:21

Philip "Mitch" Brailsford, a Mesa police officer, was wearing a
body camera when he shot and killed Daniel Shaver in January
2016. Brailsford was later charged with Shaver's murder. Mesa
Police Department

A Maricopa County Superior Court judge determined there was
probable cause for a case to move forward against Philip “Mitch”
Brailsford, the former Mesa officer charged with killing 26-year-
old Texas man Daniel Shaver.

The ruling followed a preliminary hearing on the matter Monday
in Maricopa County Superior Court.

Superior Court Judge Sam Myers did allow a rebuttal witness to
be called from the defense, however, continuing the hearing
until Tuesday. After that witness' testimony concluded Tuesday
morning, Myers reaffirmed his decision that the case against
Brailsford would move ahead. A case scheduling hearing was set
for June 30.

Shaver died after being shot Jan. 18 in a hallway outside his
room at a Mesa La Quinta Inn & Suites. Brailsford, 25, who was
one of several officers who responded to a call of a man waving
a weapon outside his hotel window, is charged with second-degree
murder. Brailsford has since been fired from the department.

Both attorneys’ lines of questioning centered on a key point:
whether Brailsford had reason to feel threatened by Shaver.
Although defense attorneys painted the scene as a dangerous
situation, prosecutors framed Brailsford’s actions as
irrational, noting how none of the other officers present
deployed a weapon.

The case could hinge on this topic should it reach a trial.
Although there’s no question whether Brailsford fired the fatal
rounds, officers are legally permitted to use deadly force if
they believe their lives or the lives of others are in danger.

Shaver's widow, Laney Sweet, sat in the front row of the
courtroom gallery and cried as she left for a break.

Brailsford, dressed in a dark-gray suit and thick-rimmed
glasses, was not called as a witness and spoke only to respond
to procedural questions from the judge.

Man's last moments

In Monday’s hearing, several of Maricopa County prosecutor Susie
Charbel’s questions focused on the moments just before
Brailsford fired his weapon.
She asked Mesa police Detective Paul Sipe — the Mesa officer in
charge of investigating the case — if Shaver was cursing at
officers or saying threatening things to them. Sipe said Shaver
was not.

“Nothing like, ‘I’m going to kill you'?’’ Charbel asked. Again,
Sipe said no.

“At some point did he start crying?” she pressed. “… Did he say,
'Please don’t shoot me'?”

“Yes, he did,” Sipe said.

Charbel prompted Sipe to note how none of the other officers on
scene at the time used force other than Brailsford.

In his cross-examination, defense attorney Craig Mehrens asked
Sipe if, prior to police contact, witnesses in the hotel had
felt threatened by Shaver reportedly pointing a rifle out the
window of his hotel room.

Sipe said that a hotel employee had called in the report. “I
never had anyone state that it was actually pointed at a guest,”
he said.

Mehrens later turned his attention to the other officers at the
scene, many of whom had reported that they had perceived Shaver
as a threat.

Both Brailsford and other officers said they witnessed Shaver
reaching for the back of his waistband shortly before he was
shot. But Mesa police officials later said that Shaver likely
was confused about the commands and was reaching down to pull up
his shorts.

'I just thought "gun, gun" '

After Myers initially ruled that the case had probable cause to
move forward, he allowed Mehrens to call one witness as a
rebuttal.

That witness, Sgt. Charles Langley, was present at the scene. On
the stand Monday, Langley said he, too, had thought Shaver was
reaching for a weapon.

“I looked at him and I just thought ‘gun, gun,’ " Langley
testified. “I remember at that point I thought we were going to
get shot.”

Langley said the only reason he didn’t shoot at Shaver was
because Brailsford was in his line of fire.

Monday was the first time the evidence had been argued in court.
Brailsford’s case was filed via a direct complaint from
prosecutors rather than a determination of probable cause by a
grand jury.

A preliminary hearing asks a judge to weigh whether there is
probable cause to go forward with the case.

Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery said body-camera
footage obtained from Brailsford was used in his office’s review
of the case. The fatal shooting was the result of unjustified
deadly force, Montgomery said.

Footage of the incident has not been released to the public. A
transcript of the video, however, shows Shaver begging for his
life moments before he was killed.

The transcript was released earlier this year as part of a
public-records request for the police report and all
supplemental information.

Sweet, Shaver’s widow, as well as The Arizona Republic and other
media outlets, unsuccessfully petitioned a judge to order the
video be released to the public.

Both prosecutors and defense attorneys argued that the footage
should remain sealed for the time being.

Myers said in his ruling that the decision could be revisited
after Brailsford's preliminary hearing.

Includes information from Republic reporter Garrett Mitchell.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/mesa/2016/05/16/hearin
g-underway-former-mesa-officer-charged-murder/84446426/
 

[Rudy Canoza]

In theory, the same standard applies to civilians. In practice, it
doesn't. If you shoot someone and you're not a cop, there had better be
visual evidence - eyewitnesses, but preferably video - that one or more
assailants were on you with lethal weapons visible, or that you're a
smaller older person and the assailants were younger and much larger,
and that the visual evidence is beyond doubt that they were going to
injure or kill you. If you shoot someone and you can't meet that
standard, you're going to be prosecuted. The cops are given the benefit
of any doubt; you won't be, ever.