Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Father's videotape of son's unintentional shooting death key evidence in upcoming trial

As jury selection is set to begin in the trial of Edward Flery, charged with manslaughter in the unintentional shooting death of 8-year-old Christopher Bizilj, prosecutors and defense attorneys are fighting over a horrific piece of evidence: a videotape of the shooting taken by the boy's father.
Dr. Charles Bizilj took his two sons to a machine gun shoot at the Westfield Sportsman's Club in October of 2008. 8-year-old Christopher was firing a 9mm micro-Uzi submachine gun, in fully automatic mode, when he lost control of the gun. The gun recoiled and Christopher was shot in the head.
Flery's lawyers have asked the judge to keep the videotape out of the trial saying the video is graphic and gruesome and is likely to elicit an emotional reaction from jurors and preduice them against their client.
The prosecution want the videotape shown because it depicts the gun in operation and could help the jury make a determination as to whether or not allowing such a young boy to fire an Uzi was a reckless thing to do.
Ohh shoot.

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