The Detroit police officer accused in death of 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones will stand trial for the second time on Dec. 4.The date for Officer Joseph Weekley’s trial was set during a hearing Wednesday before Wayne County Circuit Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway.
Weekley, whose gun went off killing Aiyana during a raid targeting a murder suspect in May 2010, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, a felony, and careless discharge of a firearm causing death, a misdemeanor.A mistrial was declared in June when the jury told a judge they were hung after nearly three days of deliberations.
Prosecutors argued that Weekley’s failure to use ordinary care caused Aiyana’s death, but the defense has said the girl died in a tragic accident and Weekley was not grossly negligent when he entered the flat.
A television station’s cameras may not be allowed in Hathaway’s courtroom for the second trial after two jurors were inadvertently shown in video shot by WJBK-TV, also referred to as Fox 2, during the first trial.
Hathaway said unless the station pays a $10,000 sanction she previously handed down, their cameras are prohibited from filming any proceedings in her courtroom.
The station’s attorney, James Stewart, addressed the court and apologized on behalf of the station Wednesday.
“It was a mistake. It was a very regrettable mistake,” he said.
Stewart said the photographer didn’t realize his shot included jurors because they weren’t in the view he saw on his video camera.
“We’ve got a violation of the law,” Hathaway said. “There may be an excuse, but it’s not justified. … It’s not accepted.”
She said the violation disrespected all the people involved who tried to put a fair and just trial together.
The station’s news director, along with the photographer who was shooting the day the jurors were shown, were both in the courtroom for the hearing.