• Ex-Mesa Officer Philip Brailsford on trial for murder in Daniel Shaver's death

    Ex-Mesa Officer Philip Brailsford on trial for murder in Daniel Shaver’s death

  • Widow of Daniel Shaver on how their children are faring

    Widow of Daniel Shaver on how their children are faring

  • Witness account from woman in hotel where Daniel Shaver was killed

    Witness account from woman in hotel where Daniel Shaver was killed

  • Mesa police shooting body-cam video

    Mesa police shooting body-cam video

  • Mesa Police Association President makes statement on Brailsford case

    Mesa Police Association President makes statement on Brailsford case

  • Laney Sweet, attorney Mark Geragos react to May 17 Brailsford hearing

    Laney Sweet, attorney Mark Geragos react to May 17 Brailsford hearing

  • Attorney demands justice for Daniel Shaver and his family

    Attorney demands justice for Daniel Shaver and his family

  • 911 call released from Mesa PD shooting

    911 call released from Mesa PD shooting

  • Attorney, widow react to perceived leniency for Mesa officer

    Attorney, widow react to perceived leniency for Mesa officer

  • Mesa police shooting victim Daniel Shaver's wife: 'Still waiting for answers

    Mesa police shooting victim Daniel Shaver’s wife: ‘Still waiting for answers

  • Defense attorney Michael Piccarreta and Philip "Mitch" Brailsford

    Defense attorney Michael Piccarreta and Philip “Mitch” Brailsford

Attorneys in the murder case involving former Mesa police Officer Philip “Mitch” Brailsford added to their closing arguments Wednesday after the judge approved additional jury instructions.

The new instructions directed jurors to weigh whether Brailsford — charged in the 2016 shooting of an unarmed Texas man — acted how a reasonable officer would act, versus a regular person with no police training.

The eight-member jury began deliberating Brailsford’s fate late Wednesday afternoon. Jurors have the option to convict Brailsford of manslaughter if they believe the shooting was unjustified, but not murder.  

Attorneys in the trial had begun their impassioned closing arguments Tuesday, offering contrasting narratives of why Brailsford shot and killed an unarmed 26-year-old in a hotel hallway on Jan. 18, 2016. Daniel Shaver was on his knees crying and begging not to be shot before Brailsford fired his AR-15 rifle five times.

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Brailsford’s lawyer, Michael Piccarreta, said Brailsford followed the tactics of a well-trained officer. If jurors believe the training is wrong, he said, that’s not something Brailsford should be accountable for.

Piccarreta said Brailsford shot Shaver because he was protecting himself, five other officers and a woman police had taken into custody. Brailsford testified that Shaver raised his right hand near his waist, which the former officer said he interpreted as a sign Shaver was reaching for a gun.

“The last thing in the world that Mitch Brailsford wanted to do that night was shoot. His goal wasn’t to kill Daniel Shaver,” Piccarreta told the jury. “Shaver is not a bad person, but his actions are what brought the police that night.”

Deputy District Attorney Susie Charbel said no reasonable, trained officer would shoot a person who was on his or her knees and crying. She said Brailsford, 26, “became a killer that night.”

“(Brailsford) doesn’t get a pass because he was wearing a police uniform that night,” Charbel said.

The trial, which began in October, comes as on-duty police shootings receive heightened scrutiny. The shootings, particularly those with video, have prompted protests throughout the U.S.

Unlike other high-profile police shootings, the video in the Brailsford case has not been released to the public. Presiding Judge George Foster prohibited the distribution of the on-body camera footage depicting the shooting until after Brailsford’s acquittal or sentencing.

The shooting occurred after police were called to a Mesa La Quinta Inn and Suites on a report of a person pointing a gun out a fifth-floor window. A couple in a hotel hot tub told staff they saw a silhouette with a gun pointed toward a nearby highway.

Police found that Shaver was unarmed after he was shot. They did find a pellet gun in his hotel room, which Shaver used for his job as a pest-control worker. Shaver was in Mesa that night on a work-related trip from Granbury, Texas.

Video footage of the shooting from two police officers’ on-body cameras, including Brailsford’s, show that Shaver was confused by some of Sgt. Charles Langley’s commands when he exited his hotel room.

SEE ALSO: Former Mesa officer’s murder trial: What we know

At one point, while Shaver was on his knees, he put his hands behind his back and was ordered to put his hands back up in the air. Langley, one of six officers in the hallway who has since retired from the force and moved to the Philippines, warned that Shaver would get shot if he put his hands down again, the video shows.

Shaver began to cry and said, “Please don’t shoot me.”

The video was shown to the jury throughout the trial.

Trying to follow Langley’s commands, Shaver began to crawl on his hands and knees toward the six officers, the video shows. But Shaver stopped crawling and raised his right hand near his waistband, prompting Brailsford to fire.

“He didn’t even get to see the face of the man who shot him,” Charbel said during her closing statements.

READ MORE:

Ex-officer testifies he was ‘sad’ after shooting

Detective: ‘Vital’ facts not in shooting reports

Ex-sergeant backs officer’s decision in shooting

Mesa officer says fatally shot man was no threat

Witness recalls night he met man killed by police

Witness: Man shot by officer cried for his life

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