County attorney discusses plea deal for officer charged with murder

PHOENIX (KSAZ) - The Maricopa County Attorney confirmed that a plea deal may be in the works for a former Mesa Police Officer charged with second-degree murder. Attorneys for the victim's wife say the deal make include no jail time for the officer who shot the unarmed victim 5 times.

Bill Montgomery did not talk about details of the deal, or whether it includes any jail time, but he did criticize attorneys for what he called factual inaccuracies regarding the case. He denied the officer was getting any kind of special treatment.

"We communicated to the defense a potential resolution short of trial," said Bill Montgomery.

That has apparently angered the victim's wife, her new attorney claims any deal was made without her consent or consultation, but the county attorney disputes that.

"There was a 2 1/2 hour meeting the afternoon before anything was ever mentioned to the defense, so for the victim or the victim's representative to assert that they didn't have the opportunity to review anything, or to ask questions is completely false," said Montgomery.

Daniel Shaver was staying at a hotel in Mesa when officers responded to a call of a man pointing a rifle out of a window. In the hallway at the La Quinta Inn, Shaver was shot as he crawled unarmed towards the officer. The officer claims Shaver reached for his hip and that is when he opened fire.

Officer Philip Brailsford has been fired from the Mesa Police Department, he also allegedly had a inappropriate etching on his rifle.

The attorney for Shaver's wife says the deal would include no jail time for the officer.

"I will not fault the victim for what they feel, but from a factual standpoint there is nothing objective to support any kind of an assertion that just because of this defendant's status as a police officer that we are handling the case any differently. For heavens sakes we filed a charged of 2nd degree murder," said Montgomery.

"This is a human system and perfect justice would be returning and restoring their lost loved one, we can't do that, we are going to fall short," he said.

Mark Geragos is representing Shaver's wife and responded with this statement Wednesday afternoon.
"Since we have the evidence of what actually took place at the meeting with Ms. Sweet, it would behoove the Maricopa County Attorney to issue a retraction before doing irreparable damage to the credibility of his office and to this so called investigation. The Maricopa County Attorney should admit that the purpose of the brief meeting was to tell Ms. Sweet that she could not watch the body camera video of her husband's execution if she was going to discuss it in the media. When Ms. Sweet agreed, she was still denied. The meeting was hardly about the rights of the Victim. We demand the video be released. Let the public decide who is telling the truth and who is ignorant."