Illegal camping as a capital crime
by digby
I have written about this case before. The good news is that it will at least see the inside of courtroom:
The two New Mexico police officers who fatally shot a 36-year-old homeless man in 2014 as he appeared to surrender after an hours-long standoff will face trial for second-degree murder, a judge ruled on Tuesday.
Pro Tem Judge Neil Candelaria found probable cause for Albuquerque police Officer Dominique Perez and former police Det. Keith Sandy to stand trial for second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter after the local district attorney asked the court to consider charges earlier this year, KRQE reported.
Prosecutors had brought an “open murder” charge against the two officers, allowing the court to consider whether enough evidence existed to support a trial on a variety of charges.
If convicted of second-degree murder, the two men face up to 15 years in prison.The shooting took place March 2014 in the foothills outside Albuquerque. Boyd, a 38-year-old homeless man with schizophrenia, was camping when police found him with a knife. A standoff was captured on police helmet cameras, and the video appeared to show officers fatally shooting Boyd as he surrendered.
You can see the video here. It’s horrific. But what I wanted to draw attention to is the defense:
“As a police officer, Keith [Sandy] not only had the right, but the duty, to defend his fellow officer from a mentally unstable, violent man wielding two knives,” Sandy’s lawyer, Sam Bregman, said .
Except he was surrendering and there was no danger. But they say they “felt” there was.
And what was the heinous crime he was suspected of committing that required them to deploy paramilitary tactics you say? He was camping illegally.
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