Prosecutor: Officer who shot man was a ‘bully with a badge’
Posted Nov 19, 2019 12:23 pm.
OZARK, Ala. — Lawyers have given opening statements in the murder trial of an Alabama police officer charged with killing an unarmed man.
Montgomery Officer Aaron Cody Smith is charged in the 2016 shooting death of 58-year-old Gregory Gunn.
The Montgomery Advertiser reports prosecutor Ben McGough on Tuesday told jurors Smith was a “bully with a badge.”
The shooting happened after Smith randomly stopped Gunn as he was walking and Gunn fled a pat-down.
McGough said Gunn never threatened Smith despite being beaten and tased. McGough said Gunn had done nothing wrong when he was stopped and “you can’t kill a man because he ran.”
Defence lawyer Mickey McDermott said Smith had to make a “decision in micro-seconds.” McDermott said Smith fired because Gunn picked up a painter’s pole from a porch.
The Associated Press
