Granbury Widow Outraged Killer Offered Plea Bargain
Follow CBSDFW.COM: Facebook | Twitter
GRANBURY (CBSDFW.COM) - The widow of a man gunned down by an Arizona police officer is worried authorities are letting him off the hook, despite charges.
Laney Sweet had to tell her two kids that they would never see their dad again after his business trip in January to a Mesa, Arizona hotel.
"That was the hardest moment for me because nothing is harder than telling your child their dad passed away," said Sweet.
Her husband, Daniel Shaver, was in his room when Officer Mitch Brailsford and other cops were called to investigate a report of a man seen holding a gun through a fifth floor window of a La Quinta Hotel in Mesa.
But it was a pellet gun the 26-year-old exterminator used in his pet control business. Shaver left the gun in the room when he was ordered by police into a hall along with a couple he had met.
"He puts his hands above his head so he goes to crawl towards them," said Sweet. "And the officer shot him 5 times while on the ground."
The officer was charged with second degree murder. But Sweet said he was offered a plea bargain with a reduced charge during his first court appearance yesterday.
"He could walk away with just probation or at maximum for taking my husband's life while crawling on the ground... shot five times after saying 'please don't shoot me'... he could serve up to 3.7 years," said Sweet.
The 24-year-old widow wants Mesa Police to release body-cam video of the shooting that showed the last moments of her high school sweetheart alive.
She's also enraged that the arrested officer had a vulgar message inscribed on the gun that killed her husband.
"The officer's gun that he used was his personal weapon and it said you're (expletive) inscribed on it," said Sweet."
Sweet said she's struggling to find the money for trips to and from Arizona.
"I'm not going to stop fighting for justice."
(©2016 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)