A former Mesquite police officer is back in court Monday. Derick Wiley is accused of aggravated assault by a public servant after a 2017 shooting of an unarmed man he mistook for a burglar.
Last fall, a jury was dead-locked and the judge declared a mistrial. Monday, prosecutors take the case to trial for a second time.
In the first trial, jurors watched body camera footage of the November 2017 shooting. It shows Lyndo Jones begging Wiley, who was a Mesquite police officer at the time, not to shoot him.
Wiley was responding to a call about a possible vehicle burglary. It turned out Jones was the owner of the vehicle.
Wiley's defense team has argued Jones was not following the officer's commands and Wiley believed Jones had a gun.
Wiley shot Jones twice in the back. Jones survived.
Jones took the stand in the first trial and admitted he was doing drugs in his vehicle when Wiley approached.
Jones' civil attorney, Lee Merritt, says Jones should not be the one on trial as a second jury hears the case this week.
"He's the first to testify tomorrow. He knows that's going to happen again," Merritt said of Jones experience on the stand last fall. "It was unnerving for him the first time. Hopefully, he is more confident that this trial is not about me, he doesn't have to be the perfect person in order to get justice."
In the first trial last fall, the jury deliberated ten hours before telling the judge they were not going to be able to come to a unanimous decision. After the judge declared a mistrial, Wiley's attorney told NBC 5 the jury was deadlocked 8-4, in favor of a not guilty verdict.
"It was very disappointing and deflating for him," said Merritt.
