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Trial in murder case against psychopath killer ex-Mesa Officer Philip 'Mitch' Brailsford could be delayed

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The murder trial for a former Mesa police officer is expected to 
be pushed back months from its originally scheduled February 
date, based on a hearing Friday at Maricopa County Superior 
Court.

Philip "Mitch" Brailsford, 26, is charged in the shooting death 
of Daniel Shaver, 26, a Texas man killed Jan. 18 at a Mesa La 
Quinta Inn & Suites.

Friday's conference drew all sides to Judge George Foster's 
courtroom, where a previous motion by the defense for a new 
probable-cause hearing was argued in October. That motion, 
seeking to overturn a decision by Maricopa County Superior Court 
Judge Sam Myers to send the case to trial, was denied by Foster 
in late November.

Present for Friday's hearing were Brailsford; his attorney, Mike 
Piccarreta; and prosecutor Susie Charbel. In the gallery, 
Shaver's widow, Laney Sweet, was joined by her mother and her 
attorneys, William Richards and Mark Geragos, in addition to 
Sven Budge, the attorney for Shaver's parents.

Sweet's two young daughters sat in the hallway with an attendant 
and colored with crayons on index cards.

A February trial became unrealistic after the defense's 
challenge on probable cause to send the case to trial, and after 
appeals rose to the Arizona Supreme Court over the release of 
controversially redacted footage that Brailsford's body camera 
captured of Shaver's death.

Foster, in a nine-page ruling, stated Myers used his discretion 
in the amount of evidence presented and that additional witness 
testimony would have been redundant. “The state produced 
evidence of a shooting and a resulting death caused by the 
defendant. The state produced evidence suggesting that under the 
circumstances the shooting was not justified,” the ruling stated.

Sweet's attorneys filed a petition with the Arizona Supreme 
Court to release the long-contested footage of the fatal 
shooting. A previous, similar request to the Arizona Court of 
Appeals asking for "unobstructed and unconditional access" to 
the video was denied in September.

It is anticipated that a new three-week trial window will be set 
for several months later at the next scheduled pretrial 
conference, now set for Feb. 10.

Almost a year ago, police were called to the La Quinta on a 
report about a man waving a weapon from his hotel window, and 
officers soon approached Shaver's room on the fifth floor.

Police reports state an unarmed Shaver was on his knees, begging 
police, "Please don't shoot me," seconds before Brailsford 
opened fire, striking Shaver five times after he made a movement 
with his hands near his waistband.

Brailsford was charged with second-degree murder and was soon 
fired from the police department.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/mesa/2016/12/02/trial-
murder-case-former-mesa-officer-philip-mitch-brailsford/94831522/
   

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Trial in murder case against psychopath killer ex-Mesa Officer Philip 'Mitch' Brailsford could be delayed "Cop Nuttery" <cop.nuttery@thanks.obama.com> - 2017-07-22 08:15 +0200

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