Trial delayed to April for ex-cop in fatal shooting

The much-anticipated trial of the former police officer who shot to death stranded motorist Corey Jones is being pushed back to next year.

Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Samantha Schosberg Feuer on Tuesday set jury selection for Nouman Raja’s trial to begin April 2, after the lawyers in the case said they wouldn’t be ready to go Oct. 30 as previously planned.

The prosecutors and defense team say they’ve conducted interviews with 40 witnesses, but still need to get sworn statements from about 30 other people connected with the case. The witnesses include investigators, weapons and DNA experts, medical examiners, and more across the country.

“It’s just being patient and waiting on the court system to give us justice,” Clinton Jones Sr., the shooting victim’s father, said after a hearing also attended by about two dozen relatives and supporters. “It’s difficult.”

And, in a soft voice, he added: “We already know he’s guilty.”

Raja last month pleaded not guilty to the charges: manslaughter by culpable negligence while armed, and attempted first-degree murder with a firearm.

Raja, 39, did not appear in court Tuesday. He remains on house arrest with a GPS ankle monitor, permitted to work and run a few errands, as a condition of his $250,000 bond.

The former Palm Beach Gardens cop shot Jones, 31, at 3:15 a.m. Oct. 18, 2015, along an Interstate 95 offramp, according to prosecutors and court records.

Jones, a Delray Beach housing inspector and a church drummer from west of Lake Worth, was on the way home from a gig with his reggae band when his SUV broke down and he became stranded.

Raja was arrested June 1, 2016, after a grand jury’s finding that his “use of force” was unjustified. A major piece of evidence — which the defense is expected to challenge — is the recording of a phone call between Jones and a roadside assistance operator that captured sounds of the shooting.

Richard Lubin, who is representing Raja along with attorneys Scott Richardson and Rick King, said the magnitude of the case made it impossible to hold the two- to three-week trial this year.

“Both sides agree it’s a complicated case with a lot of witnesses and a lot of science,” Lubin said.