By: Wayne D. Ayers II
The Maricopa County jury on Thursday found Mesa police Officer Philip Brailsford not guilty of second-degree murder charges in the 2016 shooting of an unarmed Texas man who was on his knees begging for his life.
Jurors deliberated for less than six hours over two days, finishing Thursday afternoon. The eight-member jury also found Brailsford not guilty of the lesser charge of reckless manslaughter.
The courtroom in Maricopa County Superior Court was stunned after one of Judge George Foster’s clerks read the verdict.
Brailsford was one of two officers in Arizona since 2005 who had been charged with murder in connection with an on-duty shooting
The case ends during a time when on-duty police shootings have received heightened scrutiny. Some shootings, particularly those recorded on video, have prompted protests throughout the U.S.
Brailsford’s acquittal came after impassioned closing arguments that offered contrasting narratives of why Brailsford shot and killed 26-year-old Daniel Shaver in a hotel hallway two years ago.
Shaver was kneeling, crying and begging not to be shot after he was confronted by six Mesa police officers in a La Quinta Inn & Suites hallway Jan. 18, 2016. Brailsford, who was fired two months after the shooting, testified that he fired his AR-15 rifle five times because it appeared Shaver was reaching for a gun.
“If this situation happened exactly as it did that time, I would have done the same thing,” Brailsford said in his testimony.
Laney Sweet, Shaver’s widow, said she had no comment to make about the verdict as, crying, she exited an elevator with family.
Mark Geragos, Sweet’s lawyer, called the shooting an “execution.”
“The justice system miserably failed Daniel (Shaver) and his family,” Geragos said.
Brailsford’s lawyer, Michael Piccarreta, said he had expected the jury would come back with a positive outcome for his client.
“We had confidence that the jury would recognize this as a tragedy, not a murder, and that Phillip Brailsford acted in a split-second as he was trained,” he said.
After the verdict, Brailsford and his family were escorted by a Maricopa County sheriff’s deputy out of the courtroom through a back door.
The footage of the shooting is down below.
Do y’all believe Brailsford should be guilty of second degree murder?
brianaforte
Bryenne Scott
caravolkenfur
Andre Ellington
Blair Thompson
mahoganyw
sirquincythomas
taliamala
waynedayersii
whereisthebuzzmedia
Your writing is fine and gives food for thought. I hope that I’ll have more time to read your articles . Regards. I wish you that you frequently publish new texts and invite you to greet me
Great ˇV I should certainly pronounce, impressed with your site. I had no trouble navigating through all tabs as well as related info ended up being truly easy to do to access. I recently found what I hoped for before you know it at all. Quite unusual. Is likely to appreciate it for those who add forums or anything, website theme . a tones way for your client to communicate. Excellent task..
This is the fitting blog for anybody who desires to find out about this topic. You notice a lot its nearly onerous to argue with you (not that I truly would want…HaHa). You undoubtedly put a brand new spin on a subject thats been written about for years. Nice stuff, simply great!
Keep up the fantastic piece of work, I read few blog posts on this web site and I believe that your site is real interesting and has lots of great information.
Hello! I’ve been following your blog for a while now and finally got the courage to go ahead and give you a shout out from Kingwood Texas! Just wanted to mention keep up the good work!
Hey, you?re the goto expert. Thanks for haingng out here.
I thought it was heading to become some dull previous publish, however it truly compensated for my time. I’ll publish a hyperlink to this web page on my blog. I am positive my visitors will uncover that extremely helpful.
This is something I actually have to try and do a lot of analysis into, thanks for the post