HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — There is a new defense motion questioning key evidence in the case of a man charged with killing a Huntsville police officer in March 2023.
Juan Laws could face the death penalty if convicted of capital murder in the shootingdeath of Huntsville Police Officer Garrett Crumby at the Governors House Apartments.
In a court filing Friday morning, the defense argued there are questions about police body cam footage prosecutors are expected to use at trial, and the defense asked the court to provide money to hire a video production expert. That expert would be asked to figure out whether the video had been altered.
The defense said in the filing that the footage of the incident is “markedly different” than the defendant’s recollection of the events that led to his indictment on murder charges.
“The body cam videos purport to show that the Defendant opened fire on the police contemporaneously with their arrival on scene and the Defendant recalls there being considerable conversation and escalation of the incident by the police prior to the exchange of gunfire,” Laws’ lawyers argue in the filing.
“The Defendant asserts that the body camera videos have been edited in such a manner as to make it appear the Defendant’s reactions to the police were unprovoked. He believes that these tapes will be presented to the jury in an altered – and highly inflammatory – version,” Laws’ lawyers said.
The court filing asks the court to approve up to $5,000 for a Birmingham-based video editor, Vyacheslav “Steven” Antelevich, to review the footage and determine if it has been altered.
Prosecutors contend that Laws ambushed Crumby and Officer Albert Morin as they responded to a domestic violence report that Laws had a woman. Investigators said the body cam footage shows Laws shot Crumby multiple times. Morin was also shot during the encounter, and investigators said his body camera fell off but still captured some of the shooting scene.
Laws declined to speak to investigators after his arrest.
Laws got new lawyers in early April, after requesting for months that his court-appointed lawyers, Bruce Gardner and Larry Marsili, be replaced. Laws is now represented by Huntsville lawyers Richard Jensen and Dustin Paseur.
Madison County Circuit Judge Alison Austin Friday morning granted the defenserequest for money to pay for the video expert.
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