ALBUQUERQUE (CN) - Two Albuquerque police officers will be charged with killing a homeless man, the district attorney said, 10 months after the shooting caused renewed furor against the city's beleaguered police force.
James Boyd was camping in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains above Albuquerque when he was killed on March 16, 2014.
The killing was recorded on an officer's helmet camera, and the video was widely distributed.
Protests in Albuquerque were further fueled by a Department of Justice report released a month later that described a pattern of excessive use of force in the Albuquerque Police Department, including 23 deaths in four years.
On Monday, Bernalillo County District Attorney Kari Brandenburg said Officers Dominique Perez and Keith Sandy would be charged with open murder, allowing prosecutors to pursue charges of either manslaughter, first-degree or second-degree murder.
The trial, if it happens, is expected to draw wide interest because of the footage from the officer's helmet.
Defense attorneys are expected to ask for change of venue because of the controversy surrounding the killing and the Albuquerque police in general.
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