Judge Finds that Testi-lying Florida Cop Probably Used Deadly Force to Commit Murder, Not Stand His Ground: Black Man Shot to Death Waiting for Tow Truck on Side of the Road

From [HERE] and [MORE] A Florida judge on Friday denied a request from a police officer who fatally shot a Black driver to have criminal charges against him thrown out under the state’s so-called Stand Your Ground law, calling his testimony “unreliable and not credible.”

The defendant, Nouman K. Raja, was on duty in plain clothes early on Oct. 18, 2015, when he approached a vehicle that he said he thought was abandoned on the side of an interstate. His brief exchange with the man he found inside the vehicle, Corey Jones, was recorded on a phone call Mr. Jones had placed seeking roadside assistance.

At the time of the deadly encounter, Mr. Jones, a 31-year-old musician and housing inspector, had a legally purchased handgun with him. Mr. Raja has claimed that Mr. Jones, who was black, pointed it at him, but prosecutors say Mr. Raja fired shots even as Mr. Jones fled. Within moments of making his approach, Mr. Raja had fired six shots and struck Mr. Jones three times, killing him.

Less than a month later, Mr. Raja was fired from the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department. He was charged in June 2016 with manslaughter by culpable negligence and attempted first-degree murder with a firearm.

In a 27-page ruling on Friday denying a motion by the defense to dismiss the case against Mr. Raja, the judge, Samantha Schosberg Feuer of Florida’s 15th Judicial Circuit Court, cited numerous inconsistencies between Mr. Raja’s testimony and the physical evidence.

Pointing to audio captured on Mr. Jones’s roadside assistance call, Judge Feuer indicated skepticism that Mr. Raja had clearly identified himself as a police officer — or that he had identified himself at all.

Her ruling noted that a 911 call Mr. Raja said he had placed while pursuing Mr. Jones — and before firing a second volley — was in fact placed some 33 seconds after he had fired the second volley. She also wrote that the position of shell casings found at the scene was at odds with Mr. Raja’s description of each volley of shots.

One of the judge’s observations appeared to hold particular relevance for a defendant claiming defense under the Stand Your Ground law, which removes the obligation to retreat if a person feels threatened and frees the person to use deadly force “if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary” to prevent “imminent death or great bodily harm.”

“Although the witnesses were unable to determine when each of the shots were fired or the order in which Jones received the wounds,” Judge Feuer wrote, “two of the three wounds entered through the back side of Jones, consistent with someone who is running away from the shooter.”

Although she denied Mr. Raja’s motion to dismiss the case on the basis of Stand Your Ground, the judge said he “remains free to use the defense at trial.”