A six-member jury was seated Monday for the start of the first trial of a police officer in Palm Beach County for an on-duty fatal shooting in 25 years, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports. In a preview of the issues expected in testimony and arguments, jury selection took a deep dive into people’s views of black people, law enforcement, guns, self-defense and the justice system in the United States.
Fired Balm Beach Gardens officer Nouman Raja faces charges of manslaughter by culpable negligence while armed, as well as attempted first-degree murder with a firearm, in the 2015 shooting of stranded motorist Corey Jones, a 31-year-old African American man. Raja, dressed in plain clothes, claims he identified himself as a police officer and fired shots only in response to the sight of Jones’ gun. The tipping point for prosecutors in their decision to charge Raja was the discovery of a recording of Jones’ call to roadside assistance, the Sun Sentinel reported in a trial preview. The audio contains both the confrontation and the gunshots, evidence they say belies Raja’s self-defense claims and makes it clear Jones thought he was being robbed. Raja was unsuccessful last year in convincing the trial and appellate courts that he deserved immunity from prosecution under the state’s “stand your ground” law. But he can still raise the same defense at the trial.