Former officer asks judges to watch gun-test video

Former police officer Nouman Raja’s appeal of charges in the killing of stranded motorist Corey Jones now leans on a video of a shooting reenactment by investigators.

Raja is challenging a judge’s June 1 ruling that he doesn’t have a valid claim under Florida’s “stand your ground” self-defense law.

Raja, 40, has always insisted that he saw a “red laser” from the muzzle of Jones’ handgun, prompting the cop to fire multiple shots in fear for his life. But the 31-year-old Jones’ licensed .380-caliber handgun wasn’t equipped with a laser.

So on Oct. 30, 2015 — 12 days after the nighttime shooting along an Interstate 95 offramp in Palm Beach Gardens — detectives took the gun to the scene to conduct a simulation that was recorded on video.

In this so-called “light reflectivity test,” the investigators concluded that Raja could have seen a red traffic signal reflecting off Jones’ firearm — to explain Raja’s statement about a laser.

But Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Samantha Schosberg Feuer refused to dismiss the manslaughter and attempted murder charges over it, as well as Raja’s other main claim that he identified himself as a police officer when he approached Jones’ disabled

vehicle.

“The Court finds the ‘light reflectivity test’ is not conclusive proof Jones had his gun drawn as Defendant approached,” she wrote. “Defendant’s unreliable testimony is all that supports that proposition.”

Now, Raja’s legal team is hoping a panel of three judges from the Fourth District Court of Appeal sees it differently.

Last week, attorney Richard Lubin asked for permission to provide a copy of the video to support an amended version of Raja’s appeal. That request was granted.

“The video evidence is extremely important as it demonstrates that [Raja] could have mistaken the red light reflecting off of the barrel of Mr. Jones’ gun for a laser,” Lubin wrote to the appeals court.

In his statement to investigators about four hours after the shooting, Raja said he was startled when Jones exited his Hyundai Santa Fe.

“I said, ‘Hey, man, police, can I help you?’ ” Raja said. “And the second I said police, he jumped back and I clearly remember him drawing … a gun at me. I saw that silver muzzle, and … I saw that red light, with that Laser Max flashing at me.”

In Raja’s appeal, Lubin argued, “The light reflectivity evidence powerfully corroborates Officer Raja’s walk-through testimony that Mr. Jones’ gun was pointed at him, as well as demonstrates he was doing his best to give a truthful account to the investigators about what happened that morning.”

But prosecutors have argued Raja acted recklessly in the Jones’ shooting and then lied about it, based on an audio recording of a phone call Jones made for roadside assistance that happened to capture sounds of the encounter and the six shots fired from Raja’s personal handgun.

In her ruling, Judge Schosberg Feuer wrote there is no place in the call where Raja can “be heard identifying himself as a police officer nor is there any evidence whatsoever that he ever did.”

“The manner in which Defendant approached Jones — in the middle of the night, driving the wrong way up the ramp, in a white unmarked van, parking head-on diagonal to Jones' vehicle just feet away, jumping out of his vehicle, in plainclothes, with his firearm drawn with no indication he was a police officer — would not afford an ordinary citizen Stand Your Ground immunity,” the judge wrote.

The “stand your ground law,” first enacted in 2005, says someone does not have to retreat and can legally use deadly force if the person reasonably believes doing so is necessary “to prevent imminent death.” Police officers can make these claims just like anyone else, but the Florida Supreme Court is reviewing the law.

Raja’s appeal forced the postponement of a trial that was scheduled to begin this month.

Attorneys for the state have not yet filed a response to the appeal, and a decision by the judges is likely to be months away.