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New October trial date set in Daniel Shaver murder case

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The murder trial of a former Mesa police officer who killed a 
Texas man in an on-duty shooting last year has been set for Oct. 
23.

Police say Philip "Mitch" Brailsford, 26, shot Daniel Shaver 
five times with an AR-15 as Shaver was on his knees outside his 
hotel room and begging police, “Please don’t shoot me.” 
According to a Mesa police report, Shaver had made a movement 
with his hands near his waistband.

Police had gone to a Mesa La Quinta Inn & Suites on Jan. 18, 
2016, after receiving a call about a man waving a weapon outside 
a hotel window. Brailsford was charged with second-degree murder 
and subsequently fired from the Police Department.

Judge George Foster rescheduled the trial, which had originally 
been slated for this month, during a hearing Friday in Maricopa 
County Superior Court.

A February trial became unrealistic after the defense's 
unsuccessful motion challenging the state's 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.

Both the prosecution and defense have interviewed 34 witnesses, 
but key witness Monique Portillo has not cooperated with 
requests, according to a joint-management report filed this 
month. Prosecutor Susie Charbel reiterated Portillo's refusal to 
be deposed in Friday's hearing.

Portillo, who told police that Shaver had invited her and a co-
worker to his hotel room for drinks, exited the hotel room with 
Shaver when commanded by police to enter the hallway. She 
complied with police commands and was placed into custody 
without incident as Brailsford fired the five shots at Shaver.

"Ms. Portillo is a percipient witness to events that occurred 
before, during, and after the shooting of Mr. Shaver. Ms. 
Portillo is obviously a very important witness and her refusal 
to submit to a personal interview has inhibited the ability of 
the parties to fully investigate the circumstances of the 
incident," a motion by Mike Piccareta, Brailsford's attorney, 
stated.

Body-camera footage in the wake of the shooting shows Portillo 
being escorted from the hotel where she talks to a police 
officer about what occurred.

“I’m just shocked. This is my first time away from home, ever,” 
an emotional Portillo said in the video.

“(Police) told me to crawl on my knees with my hands up towards 
them. Then they shot him … I don’t know why. I was just trying 
to pay attention to what I had to do. I didn’t want to get shot.”

During some discussion between the attorneys and Foster, they 
decided to move forward with obtaining a subpoena to compel 
Portillo to cooperate.

Also Friday, an outburst from Shaver's widow, Laney Sweet, 
prompted her attorney to apologize to the court.

Sweet yelled out from the gallery that Brailsford was an "ex-
officer" when one of the attorney's referred to him as "Officer 
Brailsford."

"I think it's important that he knows that he is a former police 
officer," Sweet said later. "When you're an officer, you're 
entitled to privilege and he lost that privilege when he 
murdered my husband."

Brailsford's next court appearance is set for April 14.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/mesa/2017/02/10/new-
trial-date-set-daniel-shaver-murder-case-philp-mitch-
brailsford/92427438/
  

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New October trial date set in Daniel Shaver murder case "Cop Nuttery" <cop.nuttery@thanks.obama.com> - 2017-07-22 12:28 +0200

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