Attorneys for former Palm Beach Gardens police officer Nouman Raja have requested a judge set a reasonable bond so he can be released pending an appeal.
Raja is now in the custody of the Florida Department of Corrections.
A judge sentenced him last week to 25 years in prison for the shooting death of Corey Jones.
A jury had convicted him of manslaughter by culpable negligence and first-degree attempted murder.
Jones was shot after his vehicle had broken down on an Interstate 95 ramp in October 2015. A housing inspector and part-time drummer, Jones had been returning home from a nightclub performance when his vehicle stalled.
Raja, who was an on-duty police officer at the time and working a burglary detail, approached Jones’ vehicle in an unmarked van. He was dressed in plainclothes, but never identified himself as an officer.
Jones had a gun with him, but it was never fired. The defense argued during the trial that Jones pointed his gun at Raja.
Prosecutors argued Raja never identified himself and acted so aggressively that Jones must have thought he was about to be carjacked or killed. That caused Jones, a concealed weapons permit holder, to grab his gun and run as Raja repeatedly opened fire, they said during the trial.
Earlier this week Raja's attorneys filed an intent to appeal his sentence. They are expected to argue several issues including failure to instruct the jury on justifiable use of deadly force by a law enforcement officer, insufficient evidence of attempted first-degree murder and lack of proof of an essential element of manslaughter by culpable negligence.
A hearing on the bail request has not yet been scheduled.
Raja's release date is Feb. 27, 2044.
READ THE MOTION HERE:
Raja MotionforPostTrialReleasePendingAppeal 502016CF005507AXXXMB 836 by Contact 5 on Scribd
