SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – A former San Diego County sheriff’s deputy accused of fatally shooting an unarmed, fleeing detainee outside the downtown San Diego jail was ordered Wednesday to stand trial on a second-degree murder charge.
Aaron Russell, 24, is charged in the May 1, 2020, death of Nicholas Bils, who was shot multiple times as he was running away from officers, leading to the rare decision to prosecute a law enforcement officer in an officer- involved shooting.
Aaron Russell
Following two days of testimony, which included accounts from several people who witnessed Bils’ flight and the shooting, San Diego Superior Court Judge Theodore Weathers ruled there was enough evidence to proceed to trial, denying a defense request to dismiss the murder count or reduce it to voluntary manslaughter.
and the shooting.
While what prompted Russell to open fire remains unclear, his attorney, Richard Pinckard, asked one witness, San Diego Police Department Sgt.
Andrew Tafoya, whether the video footage shows Bils running toward an occupied car as he fled.
Tafoya testified that he thought Bils was running next to the vehicle, rather than toward it.
Though Bils wasn t carrying any weapons, Pinckard noted he had only managed to slip the cuffs off of one of his wrists. He asked Tafoya whether Bils may have been holding onto the dangling cuff in his hand as he ran from
the scene, but Tafoya answered that he couldn t come to a conclusion one way or another.