MIAMI (WSVN) - Prosecutors are expected to add charges against the North Miami officer who shot a behavioral therapist who was lying on his back with his arms up.
North Miami officer Jonathan Aledda will be in court, Friday afternoon, where he is reportedly going to receive an additional felony and misdemeanor count. The 30-year-old officer is expected to plead not guilty, the Miami Herald reports.
“My client will enter into a plea of not guilty,” said Aledda’s attorney, Douglas Hartman. “He says he’s innocent, and he will get a trial.”
“This case is important to our civil case,” said attorney Hilton Napoleon.
Aledda will have a total of four charges, including attempted manslaughter, a third-degree felony, as well as culpable negligence, after Friday’s hearing.
On July 18, 2016, a witness recorded cellphone video of the scene where Aledda fired three shots in the direction of Charles Kinsey, a behavioral therapist who was in the street with 27-year-old Arnaldo Soto, a resident who left his care facility with a silver toy truck in hand.
Kinsey was seen in the video on his back and with his hands in the air.
According to the State Attorney’s Office, Aledda was not in the position to correctly assess the situation from 150 feet away or to fire his weapon accurately.
Aledda’s arrest marked the first time prosecutors under Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle have charged an officer for an on-duty shooting.
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