XPost: alt.politics.guns, alt.politics.republican, alt.law-enfor   
   ement.lethal-force   
   XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   From: murdering.bastards@napo.org   
      
   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/   
        
      
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