Trial for accused in officer’s shooting set for 2018
Daniel Webster was shot in October 2015
Davon Lymon is set to go to trial in the spring of 2018 on charges that he fatally shot Albuquerque police officer Daniel Webster, a judge announced Monday.
Lymon’s defense attorney, Jeff Rein, said he expects trial and jury selection to take about a month. He said prosecutors have provided him a list of 264 witnesses who could be called to testify.
State District Judge Briana Zamora said Lymon’s trial would likely happen between March 5 and April 9, 2018, though it could begin a bit earlier.
Police allege that Lymon opened fire on Webster during a traffic stop in October 2015. A federal court judge found him guilty last fall of possessing the .40 caliber Taurus handgun that police allege was used to shoot Webster.
Lymon has yet to appear in person in state District Court. He attended Monday’s hearing over the phone and earlier this month waived his arraignment. Rein said after the hearing that he’s concerned that his client’s appearance in court could further influence potential jurors in an already high-profile case.
“This is sort of our way to help the court prevent contamination,” Rein said.
The case has attracted significant media attention, and Rein said a change of venue motion could eventually come up, although he noted that the murder trial for Albuquerque Police Department officers Keith Sandy and Dominique Perez — which garnered national attention — was held in Bernalillo County. The court may choose to send supplemental questionnaires to potential jurors in order to gauge their knowledge of the case, he said.