Lawyers are scheduled to make opening statements Wednesday at the trial of a former Mesa police officer charged with murder in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man at a hotel.
Philip Brailsford maintains the shooting was justified because he believed Daniel Shaver was reaching for a gun during the encounter.
RELATED: Mesa officer describes moments before shooting
In the end, no gun was found on Shaver's body.
Brailsford and other officers went to the hotel in January on a call that someone was pointing a rifle out a window.
The shooting occurred after Shaver exited his hotel room and was ordered to lay face-down in a hallway.
Prosecutors say the shooting wasn't justified.
Authorities say Shaver wasn't voicing threats and begged police not to shoot him.
Brailsford was later fired for policy violations.
