Judge Denies Request to Move Aaron Smith’s Murder Trial

A judge has refused to move the trial of a Montgomery police officer charged with murder over a man’s shooting last year.

Montgomery Circuit Judge Greg Griffin on Tuesday denied a change-of-venue request made by lawyers for Aaron Smith, who is charged in the 2016 shooting death of 58-year-old Greg Gunn.

Authorities say the confrontation began when Smith stopped Gunn as Gunn was walking home from a neighborhood card game.

Smith’s lawyers had tried to move the trial from Montgomery County, arguing the community is “infested with racial prejudice and hatred” toward Smith because news coverage emphasized that Smith is white and Gunn was black. The county’s population is 57 percent black.

Prosecutors argued there’s no evidence that media coverage harmed Smith. The trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 23.

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