PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Former Palm Beach Gardens police officer Nouman Raja appeared in court Friday for the 2015 shooting death of Corey Jones on Interstate 95.
Prosecutors said Raja shot and killed Jones after the musician's car broke downand he was waiting for a tow truck.
Raja is charged with manslaughter by culpable negligence while armed, as well as attempted first-degree murder with a firearm.
Friday's hearing started with Judge Joseph Marx denying a defense motion to modify the conditions of Raja's house arrest.
Raja's defense team told Judge Marx it intends to file a motion next week requesting a change of venue out of Palm Beach County. The issue ofpre-trial publicity has been a main topic of late,with concerns over how much potential jurors know about the case.
Raja's attorneys also presented a motion to exclude the testimony of W. D. Libby, a police procedures expert who testified during a Stand Your Ground hearing last May that Raja failed to follow accepted police practices during the incident with Jones.
A judge approved that motion, under the condition that the defense doesn't call its own police procedures expert during trial.
Judge Marx also said Friday he's making specific accommodations for the Raja and Jones families in his courtroom.He's planning to allow each family to have an equal number of people present at trial.
The Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office said Raja, who was a police officer at the time of the shooting, approached Jones’s vehicle in an unmarked van on Oct. 18, 2015. Raja was dressed in plainclothes, but never identified himself as an officer.
Raja told FBI investigators Jones pulled a gun on him, and that's why he opened fire. The FBI said Jones had a legally owned gun with him that night, but it was never fired.
Last June, a judge denied Raja's attempt to use the Stand Your Ground defense.
Jury selection is expected to begin on Feb. 22.
The state expects the trial to last three weeks, including jury selection. The defense believes it will run four weeks.
