No Need to Knock & Announce: White TV Producer & Detroit officer to stand trial in Murder of 7 Year Old Black Girl

From [HERE] and [HERE] A Detroit police officer, accused in the fatal shooting of a child during a 2010 raid that was being filmed for a reality cable TV show, will go to trial in May after a judge denied a motion Friday to drop the charges. White police officer Joseph Weekley (in photo) is charged with felony involuntary manslaughter and careless discharge of a firearm causing death in the shooting of 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones, who was Black.

Wayne Circuit Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway on Friday denied a motion filed by Weekley's attorney seeking to dismiss the charges. Weekley's trial is set to begin May 29.

Also indicted in 2011 was Allison Howard (in photo), an A&E producer for "The First 48" TV crew following police during the raid. She was indicted on charges of perjury during an investigative subpoena and obstruction of justice. She is also white. Howard will go on trial in June.

The night Aiyana Jones died, Detroit police were searching for murder suspect, Chauncey Owens, who was engaged to Aiyana's aunt, in connection with the May 14, 2010, murder of 18-year-old Jerean Blake. After obtaining a search warrant, police kicked in the front door of the home on Lillibridge, where Owens was thought to be hiding. They threw a flashbang grenade into the downstairs flat of a multi-family home on Lillibridge about 12:40 a.m. and Weekley is accused of firing the bullet that struck and killed the girl, who was sleeping on the couch in the front room of the home. The "flash-bang" light-emitting grenade was meant to distract suspects. 

Aiyana's family, defended by Geoffrey Feiger, claims police attempted to cover up the fatal mistake from the very beginning.

Police arrested Aiyana's grandmother and initially said the gun fired when Weekley engaged in a physical altercation with the woman inside the apartment.

"I said, 'You F'ed up. Gone and killed my grandbaby,' " Mertilla Jones, Aiyana's grandmother told the Detroit News days after the shooting. "One of them yelled, 'Oh s---!' They took her up in their arms and ran out the house with her."

The entire incident, according to Feiger, who said he witnessed the footage possessed by an unnamed source, was captured on film by A&E's "48 Hours," a series that follows homicide investigators during the first two days after a homicide. Feiger has since filed a civil lawsuit in Aiyana's death and said he had concerns the footage might be destroyed by the police department to protect the officer.

A second police officer, Allison Howard, is charged with perjury related to the investigation that followed for "withholding video footage crucial to the investigation," according to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office.

The case set off a national firestorm, in part because the raid was being filmed for a reality cable television show, "First 48." Critics questioned whether officers used the flash grenade because it made for better television.

Outside of the courthouse, following the hearing, Aiyana's family members and supporters chanted in protest, "Justice for Aiyana! Justice for Aiyana!" They questioned why the case has taken so long to prosecute.

"It shouldn't have taken this long," said Ron Scott, of the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, questioning why more officers haven't been prosecuted. "Why don't they try everybody that stormed that house that night?

"It should not have taken three years for this little girl to receive justice."

Supporters of the little girl say the case was racially charged and were critical of the manner in which Weekley was indicted in 2011 on a manslaughter charge by Wayne County Circuit Court Chief Judge Timothy Kenny, who acted as a one-person grand jury.

Grand jury evidence is not subject to public access, Scott said. He and others worry evidence presented to the grand jury may not ever be made public.

Grand juries are typically used in federal court to compel witnesses to testify. If a witness fails to answer grand jury questions, the witness faces contempt charges.