Man charged with shooting and injuring Massachusetts police officers requests bench trial
Updated 7:30 AM;
The suspect charged with shooting and injuring two Massachusetts police officers in 2018 has asked for a jury-waived trial.
Malik Koval, 23, of Falmouth, who is facing multiple counts of assault and battery as well as several other charges, was expected plead guilty Tuesday during a hearing in Barnstable Superior Court, and get up to 12 years in prison under terms of a plea deal reached with prosecutors last month.
But Koval’s attorney, Brian Kelley, instead said his client wants to schedule a jury-waived trial, also known as a bench trial, at which a judge would adjudicate the case, The Cape Cod Times reported.
BARNSTABLE The East Falmouth man charged with shooting two Falmouth police officers in 2018 is seeking a jury-waived trial in front of a judge.
Malik Koval, 23, who is facing multiple counts of assault and battery as well as several other charges, was expected to enter a plea Tuesday during his hearing in Barnstable Superior Court, which was conducted via Zoom.
A Barnstable County grand jury indicted Koval in November 2018 on two counts each of armed assault to murder, assault and battery with a firearm and assault and battery on a police officer, as well as one count each of possession of a firearm without a firearms identification card, carrying a loaded firearm without a license, possession of ammunition without a firearms identification card, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, threat to commit crime and disturbing the peace.
Man charged with shooting officers requests bench trial
April 7, 2021
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BARNSTABLE, Mass. (AP) The suspect charged with shooting and injuring two Massachusetts police officers in 2018 has asked for a jury-waived trial.
Malik Koval, 23, of Falmouth, who is facing multiple counts of assault and battery as well as several other charges, was expected plead guilty Tuesday during a hearing in Barnstable Superior Court, and get up to 12 years in prison under terms of a plea deal reached with prosecutors last month.
But Koval’s attorney, Brian Kelley, instead said his client wants to schedule a jury-waived trial, also known as a bench trial, at which a judge would adjudicate the case, The Cape Cod Times reported.
A defense attorney argued last week that race and mental health played a role in the case of a Massachusetts man charged with the shooting of two Falmouth police officers in July 2018.
The attorney representing Malik Koval requested that his client receive a sentence between 5 and 7 1/2 years and requested a change of venue to take the case out of Barnstable County. Two Falmouth police officers were wounded in 2018 when responding to a report of a man yelling and throwing trash in the street outside Koval’s mother’s home.