FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ Former Palm Beach Gardens Police Officer Nouman Raja will have to stand trial in the fatal shooting of Corey Jones, as a judge Friday refused to let him avoid the charges under Florida's "stand your ground" self-defense law.
Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Samantha Schosberg Feuer's ruling will be appealed, almost certainly forcing a delay of a scheduled July trial on manslaughter and attempted murder counts.
Friday's decision comes more than three weeks after a mini-trial without a jury, where Raja's lawyers argued the Oct. 18, 2015, shooting was justified because of a claim that Jones, 31, threatened the plainclothes officer at gunpoint.
But prosecutors said Raja was negligent in his approach to Jones, a stranded motorist beside an Interstate 95 off-ramp in Palm Beach Gardens. They said Raja, 40, never identified himself as a cop or showed a badge, and fired shots when Jones was running away and no longer armed.
The judge ruled that Raja is not entitled to have the charges dismissed.
"Regardless of the Defendant's failure to follow police practices, Defendant Raja acted unreasonably and not as a prudent person under the circumstances and the law and therefore, his Motion for "Stand Your Ground" immunity is therefore denied," Schosberg Feuer wrote.
Raja, who is on house arrest under a $250,000 bond, is free to use the defense at trial.
