NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A Tennessee judge on Thursday again declined to move the first-degree murder trial of a Nashville police officer charged in the 2018 fatal shooting of an armed Black man from behind during a foot chase.
Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Monte Watkins ruled against drawing the jury from another county and physically moving the location of the trial against Officer Andrew Delke in the shooting of 25-year-old Daniel Hambrick. Watkins wrote that he believes jurors can be fair and impartial when they are picked. The trial is slated for July after being rescheduled multiple times due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Delke’s defense team had renewed a failed request to move the trial, saying prospective jurors had seen more negative pretrial publicity amid nationwide racial unrest over the death of George Floyd and other Black people at the hands of police, including a night of destructive protests in Nashville in May. His lead attorney, David Raybin, said the trial’s presence in Nashville could spark further civil unrest and also asked for the trial to take place out of town.
The judge denied the motion, but also said that if “circumstances arise” that would lead to Delke not getting a fair trial, he is “more than willing to do whatever is necessary” to ensure the officer does receive one.
“Counsel also argues that if the trial is held in Davidson County, protesters will disrupt the proceedings, thus preventing a fair trial,” Watkins wrote. “If the trial is moved, there is nothing that would prevent potential protesters from travelling to the site of the trial and disrupt the proceedings at that location. Again, the Court believes that such a circumstance is unlikely to happen.”
Watkins wrote that it’s “highly unlikely” that adjacent counties where the trial would be moved would be unaware of the case, since those communities are in the Nashville news market. Additionally, he wrote that he thinks that the jury selection process can produce jurors “who have no knowledge of the case or who can be fair and impartial.”
Raybin, Delke’s attorney, said Thursday his team is reviewing the order and had no further comment.
Delke, 27, has pleaded not guilty in the July 2018 shooting.
Raybin has said the officer acted in line with his training and Tennessee law in response to “an armed suspect who ignored repeated orders to drop his gun.” District Attorney Glenn Funk has argued Delke had other alternatives, adding the officer could have stopped, sought cover and called for help.
Funk opposed Delke’s push to change the trial venue.
The defense’s previous motion, which would have pulled the jury from outside Nashville but kept the trial in town, failed in November 2019 and wasn’t granted on appeal.
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