Monday, June 10, 2013

Aiyana Jones' Grandmother Says Detroit Cops 'Came to Kill'

June 10, 2013 at 9:30 pm

Aiyana's grandmother says cops 'came to kill'

George Hunter
The Detroit News

Detroit — In emotional testimony lasting more than two hours Monday, the grandmother of 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones accused police of having the intent to “murder” when they raided her family’s home in pursuit of a murder suspect.

“That’s what I figured all of them was there to do — to murder. They came to kill, and they killed a 7-year-old,” said Mertilla Jones, a key witness to the May 16, 2010, raid of the two-story home on Lillibridge Street that ended in the fatal shooting of Aiyana.

Jones’ testimony marked the fifth day of the involuntary manslaughter trial for Detroit Police Officer Joseph Weekley, 37.

Breaking down sobbing, Jones described the police raid, saying “their gun was pointed at Aiyana’s head. They pulled the trigger. Blood started coming out of her mouth. She was dead.”

Jones was unable to continue testifying, so the jury was excused for about 15 minutes.

Weekley — a member of the elite Special Response Team — was the first officer in the Lillibridge home following a planned explosion of a stun grenade. The early morning raid was to find Chauncey Owens, a suspect in a murder case.

Police sought Owens in the slaying of Jer’ean Blake Nobles, 17, two days earlier at a party store.

At issue in the trial are the events between that explosion and the firing of Weekley’s weapon, which killed the girl, who had been asleep on a couch in the home.

Aiyana was one of four children inside and police had initially said that Weekley’s gun accidentally discharged after he was confronted by or collided with Aiyana’s grandmother.

On Monday, defense attorney Steve Fishman reminded Jones that during her interview with police in the hours after the shooting, and in later interviews, she had said shots came through the front window. According to Fishman, those interviews contradicted her testimony Monday that police walked in and then shot the little girl.

Jones’ testimony Monday also rebutted earlier claims by attorney Geoffrey Feiger, who filed two civil suits against the Detroit Police Department days after the shooting. Feiger claimed he had video proof that the fatal shot was fired from outside the house.

But the only video shown in the trial, which was taken by a camera crew from the cable television reality show “First 48,” was shot from the sidewalk, and did not show officers firing into the home.

After the shooting, Jones was taken into custody, fingerprinted, questioned and given DNA tests, Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Robert Moran said Monday, to determine if she’d touched Weekley’s weapon.

Prosecutors say Weekley failed to use “ordinary care” when he stormed into the house. Fishman has argued that he was a good cop going into a difficult situation that many officers face and called the shooting an “accident.”

Jones also testified Monday that she didn’t think anyone in the home, including her sons and nephews, had any guns.

Jones was then shown Facebook photos of her sons and nephews brandishing handguns and an assault rifle.

“What does that look like to you?” Fishman asked Jones after showing her the photos. She replied the weapons looked like BB guns and toy guns.

During redirect questioning, Moran asked Jones whether she took the pictures, or knew when they’d been taken. She answered “no” to both questions.

Also Monday, three members of the Special Response Team who raided the house testified, including Officer Larry Davis, who said Weekley told him, “someone grabbed his weapon and it went off.”

ghunter@detroitnews.com
(313) 222-2134

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130610/METRO01/306100053#ixzz2VsE0ZcFy

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