Attorneys in James Boyd case reference John Hyde shootings

Weimerskirch testified during a preliminary hearing for Perez and Sandy, who are facing murder charges in the death of the 38-year-old Boyd.

That’s when shots fired by Officer Dominique Perez and former Detective Keith ring out, and Boyd hits the ground.

Six days of testimony spread out over more than two weeks came to its theatrical end Monday when attorneys questioned the K-9 officer from atop a 4-foot-tall platform and held pretend knives to demonstrate how Boyd would have appeared to Weimerskirch, who was about 9 feet from Boyd and below him on a steep slope.

She has argued that police can’t claim self-defense because they escalated the tension during the standoff by surrounding Boyd with 19 officers, including 10 in tactical gear, and they created the danger by charging Boyd during the failed arrest attempt.

A former and a current New Mexico police officer charged with murder sat motionless after a judge announced they would have to face a jury trial for the on-duty shooting of a homeless man.

The killing which took place in March of 2014 was captured on disturbing dashcam footage, and so were the comments made by Officer Keith Sandy about his plan to shoot the homeless man in the penis hours before actually shooting him. He died at a hospital after his arm was amputated. “That shows that he was not a threat when they shot him”.

Roman said the two defendants acted to protect other officers after police confronted James Boyd about illegally camping in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains.

A formal date for their arraignments has not yet been set.

Since then, she said Albuquerque police officers have become too aggressive in their response to people with a mental illness.

Under cross-examination, McGinn asked Fox if he would have shot Boyd had he been surrendering in a pose requested by officers.

At the time of the shooting, the Albuquerque Police Department was being investigated by the U.S. Justice Department over use of force after police were involved in more than 40 shootings since 2010. Jim Fox praised Perez for being “very calm under fire [!]” and said that, “he made great decisions”.

The city and the Justice Department later reached an agreement to overhaul policies involving use of force and to appoint a federal monitor to oversee reforms.