Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Prosecutors: Ex-cop acted as ‘reckless killer’
Defense says Raja acted in self-defense during shooting of stranded motorist
Former cop Nouman Raja acted as a “reckless killer” and “angel of death” on the night he shot and killed a stranded motorist beside a road, prosecutors argued Tuesday on day one of his trial.
“Instead of being Corey Jones’ saving grace, he was his angel of death,” Assistant State Attorney Brian Fernandes told the Palm Beach County jury. “He made a decision to shoot first and ask questions later … disgracing the badge that men and women wear.”
But the defense said dangerous police work shouldn’t be “secondguessed” in a situation where Raja clearly acted in self-defense during a stressful encounter at 3:15 a.m. Oct. 18, 2015, at the southbound Interstate 95 off-ramp in Palm Beach Gardens.
“Mr. Raja was lawfully and justifiably defending himself after Mr. Jones pointed a loaded handgun,” attorney Scott Richardson said. “He had every right to defend himself.”
Raja, 41, is charged with manslaughter by culpable negligence and attempted first-degree murder in the encounter with Jones, a 31-year-old housing inspector who also played drums for a reggae band. Raja was working a plainclothes car burglary operation, and Jones was at a gig in Jupiter in the hours before their
paths tragically collided.
Roadside assistance call
The trial almost immediately turned to one of the key pieces of evidence and controversies in the case: An audio recording of Jones’ call to roadside assistance service that captured sounds of the confrontation between Raja and Jones and all six shots from the officer’s personal gun. The six jurors and four alternates listened to Jones’ last words, as did more than a dozen members of his large family in the courtroom.
The tape is a major reason why prosecutors charged Raja on June 1, 2016, after a grand jury found the officer’s use of force was unjustified. It’s the first trial for an officer in an on-duty fatal shooting in Palm Beach County in the last 25 years. Raja was fired by the city of Palm Beach Gardens less than a month after the shooting.
Prosecutor Fernandes said the audio is proof that Raja “at no time acted like a law enforcement officer.” Fernandes condemned the way Raja “aggressively approached” Jones wearing a street clothes, never indicated he was a cop, and treated Jones “like nothing but a mere criminal.”
Jones had the gun to protect his expensive drum kit, and it was “reasonable” for Jones to take it out when he was approached in the dark by a stranger exiting an unmarked white van, Fernandes said, adding Jones had “zero indication [Raja was] a law enforcement officer.”
The defense, however, insisted Raja identified himself as a cop, although those exact words are not on the recording, and suddenly was facing a “life-and-death situation.”
“Mr. Raja saw the handgun that Mr. Jones pointed at him,” Richardson said, noting Raja’s statement to investigators that he saw a red laser from Jones’ gun.
It was actually the reflection of Jones’ gun from a red traffic light, the attorney explained. He showed the jury a photo taken later by investigators who re-enacted what Raja might have seen that night.
One of the rare instances where the prosecution and defense agree is on a request for the jury to view the shooting scene, to gain a clearer understanding than looking at pictures or videos. But Circuit Judge Joseph Marx said he’s inclined not to allow such an extremely rare trip, citing the safety of the panel and the logistics. And Marx said there is zero chance he’ll take the jury to the off-ramp at 3 in the morning.
”The jury gains no real benefit from being out at the scene,” Marx said, with the jury out of the room. Yet he agreed to “keep an open mind” about it, after the prosecutors said there are “unique aspects” of the highway ramp that need to be viewed in person.
The first group of witnesses on Monday included:
— Bandmate Matthew Huntsberger, who tried to help Jones restart his Hyundai Santa Fe.
— Jones’ brother, former pro football player Clinton Jones Jr., who took a call from Corey Jones minutes before the shooting.
— AT&T call-center operator Maddie Tolliver, who was speaking with Jones about getting him a tow truck when Raja showed up.
“I heard yelling and gunshots and then more yelling and gunshots,” Tolliver said, explaining that she didn’t know at that point the city or state where Jones’ call originated from.
“I had no way of sending someone out to help him,” she said, noting how she tried three times to call back Jones but got no answer.
During Tolliver’s testimony, prosecutors played the audio that begins with loud chimes from Jones' open car door. After Jones said, "Huh?" Raja, asked, "you good?"
"I’m good," Jones replied. "Really?" Raja responded. "Yeah, I'm good," Jones said. "Really?" Raja replied. "Yeah," Jones said.
At that point, Raja begins screaming, “Get your f------ hands up! Get your f------ hands up!”
“Hold on! Hold on!” Jones insists — his final words.
“Get your f------ hands up! Drop!” Raja said.
Within the next two seconds, three gunshots are heard on the recording. They came from Raja’s personal .40-caliber Glock pistol; Jones never fired his licensed .380-caliber handgun.
After about 10 seconds, Raja fired three more shots at one shot every second. It is unclear from the audio what happened during those 10 seconds in between the two volleys of gunshots, but Fernandes said Jones was “running for his life in the cover of darkness.”
Explaining the charges
The prosecutor told the jury that the manslaughter charge is a result of Raja being “grossly negligent” and “just flat-out reckless.” It’s how Raja drove the wrongway up the off-ramp, and left his badge and tactical vest in the van when he confronted Jones with an “overly aggressive and immediately hostile attitude,” Fernandes said.
Raja’s poor decisions led to Jones’ death from a shot that entered the right side of his chest and destroyed his heart, the prosecutor said. One bullet hit and shattered Jones’ left forearm, and another shot hit the back of his right upper arm, but those wounds would not have been fatal.
The attempted murder charge is based on the fact that at least two of the final three shots, which did not hit Jones, were a deliberate attempt to “hunt” down Jones and kill him, Fernandes said.
One of the larger disputes in the case is whether Jones ran up to 125 feet after the fatal shot. The evidence shows Jones’ body was located that distance from where his gun was found in the grass, which prosecutors say proves that Raja shot at an unarmed Jones.
But the defense plans to call a medical expert who will testify that Jones was certainly capable of running that distance over 10 seconds before collapsing from the shot to his heart. This proves that Jones “had the gun in his hand the entire time” that Raja fired at him in self-defense, said Richardson, joined by attorneys Richard Lubin and Rick King.
Later, to counter the argument that Jones was armed, prosecutors called upon retired Palm Beach Gardens road patrol Sgt. Andrew Spragg, who was the first commanding officer to respond to the shooting.
He testified that Raja told him he saw Jones throw a handgun in the grass near the rear of Jones’ SUV. Jones’ body was found 192 feet from his Hyundai.
The defense said such a discrepancy isn’t unusual because “time and space get distorted” for officers after they’ve been involved in shootings and feeling stress.
Raja’s 911 call
Yet another focus of the trial Monday was the playback of the 911 call that Raja placed from his personal cell, which prosecutors say happened at least 30 seconds after the sixth and final shot.
Prosecutors Fernandes, Adrienne Ellis and Alexcia Cox pointed out that Raja — trying to use a cover story — still began the call as if he was threatened by a gunman, screaming “Drop that f------ gun right now!”
Raja also said in the call that he was threatened at gunpoint by Jones: “I came out, I saw him come out with a handgun. I gave him commands. I identified myself and he turned, pointed the gun at me and started running. I shot him."
Fernandes said the roadside assistance call totally contradicts Raja’s statements.
“He didn’t know there was another recording,” the prosecutor advised the jury.
For all of the attention on the audio recordings, there is no video of the shooting and no witnesses besides Raja. It’s what sets it apart from some other highly-publicized shootings of young black men across the country, from Ferguson, Mo., to Baltimore.
As part of the Raja shooting investigation, detectives seeking possible witnesses interviewed hundreds of guests of the Doubletree hotel next to the off-ramp.
One of those quests, Kellie Sheridan, testified that she heard the shots, looked out her hotel room window, and saw a man walking backward holding a gun. Another guest, James Ogle, said he was attending a fire chaplains conference at the Doubletree and also was awoken by the gunshots.
But the man from rural Oklahoma said he went back to sleep rather than contact authorities. “I’m from the country,” he explained. “It’s not unusual to hear gunshots, even at night.”
The trial continues Wednesday with more prosecution witnesses.