A Florida District of Appeal voted unanimously last week to uphold the conviction of a former Palm Beach police officer who fatally shot a Black driver who was pulled over after his car stalled on the interstate. Nouman Raja’s attorneys argued that his 2019 convictions for manslaughter and attempted first-degree murder for the 2015 killing of Corey Jones should be rejected because a person can’t be convicted of both murder and manslaughter for killing one person.

Raja’s attorney, Steven Malone said on Feb. 24 the convictions violated the merger doctrine, which dictates a defendant will only be charged with the greater offense if the person commits a single act that simultaneously fulfills the definition of two separate offenses. A three-judge panel of the court agreed with prosecutors and voted not to overturn the conviction. Raga, 43, of South Asian descent was sentenced in prison by Circuit Judge Joseph Marx for killing the housing inspector. According to the judges, Raja’s convictions are for two distinct crimes he committed on the day of the shooting and aren’t in violation of the state’s double-jeopardy clause.

Jones was on his way home from church when he was spotted by Raja, who was in plainclothes as part of an burglary on Oct. 18, 2015.

Jones’s car had stalled on an Interstate 95 off-ramp, and he was talking to AT&T roadside assistance on a recorded line, a call that would help seal Raja’s conviction. During the call, the ex-officer drove his unmarked van the wrong way on an off-ramp. Then he approached the SUV Jones was in.

According to prosecutors, Raja didn’t identify himself and approached Jones aggressively that he thought he would be carjacked or killed. The recording from the tow truck dispatcher, Jones said, “Huh?” as his door opened. Raja yelled, “You good?”

“Yeah I’m good,” Jones said.

“Really?” Raja asked twice.

“Yeah,” Jones said.

Raja suddenly shouted, “Get your f-ckin hands up! Get your f-ckin hands up! … Drop!”

Several shots were fired while the dispatcher said, “Oh my gosh!” Ten seconds of silence passed before more shots were fired.

In a 911 call made after the shots were fired by Raja told the dispatcher that Jones was holding a silver handgun. Jones body was found 200 feet from his SUV.

Prosecutors claim Jones pulled his gun and attempted to flee, before Raja fired three shots. Jones continued down an embankment and threw his gun as 10 seconds passed before Raja fired again. Jones was struck in the heart and in both arms.

Before he found out there was an audio recording of the encounter, Raja told investigators he approached the vehicle and said, “Police, can I help you?” and alleged Jones had drawn his gun and pointed it at him multiple times.

Raja claimed that Jones was “giving commands … yelling and screaming. I’m like, ‘Drop the gun, drop the gun, drop the gun.’ And as he’s running, he gets about like right — just a little past where the guardrail starts, and he’s, he does this number, and I see his whole body spin, and I saw like a flash, a silver flash, it was like a metallic flash come at me.”

Prosecutors said Jones never fired his weapon and tossed it before the second shots were fired. Judge Melanie May, one of the three judges, said that the transcript of the phone call “reflected a very different version of what happened.”

Raja was the first Florida police officer in three decades to be convicted in an on-duty shooting.

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