A judge has scheduled a hearing for a request to move a police officer’s murder trial out of Montgomery and to another city.
Montgomery Circuit Judge Greg Griffin scheduled the hearing for Tuesday, June 13. Montgomery police officer Aaron Smith faces a murder charge for the shooting death of 58-year-old Greg Gunn. That shooting occurred in February 2016 when Smith stopped Gunn as he was walking home late at night from a neighborhood card game.
Smith’s lawyers cited ongoing news coverage noting that Smith is white and Gunn was black. They argue the community in Montgomery is now “infested with racial prejudice and hatred” toward him.
Prosecutors say there’s no evidence that media coverage either saturated the community or harmed Officer Smith.
The population of Montgomery County is 57 percent black.
