Judge refuses to move officer’s murder trial, step aside

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – A judge has denied a request for a new judge, prosecution team and trial location in the case of a white police officer facing murder charges for shooting an unarmed black man.

Montgomery Circuit Judge Greg Griffin on Tuesday denied the motions from attorneys for Montgomery police officer Aaron Cody Smith.

Smith is scheduled to go to trial this month for the 2016 shooting of 58-year-old Greg Gunn.

Smith’s attorneys had argued that the judge “tainted” the jury pool when, at the conclusion of an immunity hearing last week, Griffin said he did not find Smith’s testimony about the shooting to be “credible.”

Smith’s attorneys last year called for Griffin’s removal because of a Facebook post Griffin had written about being stopped by police because he is black. The Alabama Supreme Court denied the request.