ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Jury selection is expected to begin next week in the murder trial for two former police officers charged in the on-duty shooting death of a homeless man who authorities say struggled with mental illness.
The March 2014 shooting followed a standoff between 38-year-old James Boyd and police.
Video from the helmet camera of Officer Dominique Perez, one of the officers charged in the case, shows Boyd on a hillside with knives in hand. A flash of bean bag rounds goes off before Boyd, who appeared to be turning away from police, is shot and falls to the ground.
Outcry over the shooting set off protests two years ago in Albuquerque over police use-of-force — a topic that has since become a hot-button issue nationwide.
Jurors must decide whether Boyd posed a life-threatening danger to police.
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