Lawyer Bids to Move Police Shooting Trial Out of Montgomery

A lawyer for a white Montgomery police officer charged with murdering a black man will ask a judge to move the officer’s trial out of the city.

Officer Aaron Cody Smith’s lawyer will try to persuade a Montgomery County judge on Thursday that the officer won’t get a fair trial because the case drew protests and intense media coverage.

Attorney Mickey McDermott says that Smith has received death threats after the fatal 2016 shooting of 58-year-old Greg Gunn. He filed a motion in December to change the location of the proceedings.

Prosecutors have opposed moving the trial out of Montgomery.

Authorities say the officer fatally shot Gunn as he walked home last February late at night.

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