Video of fatal police shooting shouldn’t be shown during opening statements, defense lawyer argues

By Brian Seay

Mesa police Officer Philip “Mitch” Brailsford, left, in a photo taken the day he shot and killed Daniel Shaver in a hotel hallway. (Photo: Mesa Police Department/Laney Sweet)
An attorney for a former officer in Arizona who shot and killed an unarmed man at a hotel early last year doesn’t want a jury to see body camera footage of the killing during the trial’s opening statements this week.
Philip “Mitch” Brailsford, 26, faces a second degree murder charge for shooting Daniel Shaver five times with an AR-15 in January 2016. Attorney Michael Piccarreta wants to prevent prosecutors from showing an 18-minute video of the killing to the jury right off the bat, according to the Arizona Republic.
In a memo filed in Maricopa County Superior Court, Piccarreta said it would be “extremely unfair to the defense” if the video was shown that early in the trial, because defense attorneys wouldn’t be able to immediately cross examine anyone about the video.
“This critical piece of evidence needs to be presented in the traditional way that evidence is presented so that both sides have the opportunity to question the witness about the video before it is played to the jury,” Piccarreta wrote in the memo.
He said

Source: Guns.com