NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Judge Monte Watkins has issued a ruling on what evidence will be allowed at trial in the case against decommissioned Metro police officer Andrew Delke, however the decision has been sealed.
The judge's ruling will not immediately be made public, and his decision may not be known until the trial starts next month. Delke's trial is set to start on July 12 after it was pushed back because of the pandemic. Jury selection is expected to begin in mid-July.
This month, Judge Watkins heard three days of motions in hearings in the case to determine what evidence will be allowed at trial, including if the jury will see surveillance video leading to the shooting. Delke is charged with first-degree murder in the 2018 killing of Daniel Hambrick.
Of the 84 cameras in the John Henry Hale community in Nashville, at least 17 cameras were not working at the time of the shooting. The surveillance video, which only plays back frame-by-frame, shows Delke chasing Hambrick, but we lose them behind a blind corner before Hambrick was later shot.
Defense attorney David Raybin said with an incomplete picture of the shooting, the video shouldn't be shown to a jury. However, the state argued that what's missing is a matter of a few feet and a couple of seconds, which shouldn’t make a difference.
Another motion Judge Watkins considered is in on a late witness by the state. State attorneys consulted a use-of-force expert who also testified in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of killing George Floyd.
Prosecutors said there will be no mention of George Floyd if the witness takes the stand at all. They claim the witness serves only as a use-of-force expert, but the defense called it a stunt to connect the two cases.
