The lawyer for a former Mesa police officer who fatally shot an unarmed Texas man in 2016 says it will be unfair for prosecutors to show a video recording that depicts the killing during the trial's opening statements, according to a court filing.

Philip "Mitch" Brailsford is accused of unjustifiably shooting Daniel Shaver five times with a department-approved AR-15 as Shaver was on his knees outside his hotel room and begging police, “Please don’t shoot me,” prosecutors have argued.

Shaver had made a movement with his hands near his waistband, indicating he may have been armed, police have said.

Brailsford, 26, is scheduled to stand trial starting Oct. 23 on a charge of second-degree murder. The trial is expected to last 16 days.

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In a memorandum filed in Maricopa County Superior Court on Monday, attorney Michael Piccarreta says prosecutor Susie Charbel plans to show an 18-minute police body- camera recording during her opening statement, scheduled for Oct. 25.

Whether the video is shown during an opening statement or during the course of the trial, it will be the first the time an unedited version of it will be shown publicly.

The video had been at the center of legal wrangling last year. An edited version of it was eventually released but did not show the actual shooting.

Piccarreta says in the memo "that it is extremely unfair to the defense" to show the video during the opening statement because that wouldn't allow the defense lawyer to immediately cross-examine any witnesses about the footage. Piccarreta says he doesn't object to the video — which was recorded on Brailsford's body-worn camera —being shown later in the trial.

"This critical piece of evidence needs to be presented in the traditional way that evidence is presented so that both sides have the opportunity to question the witness about the video before it is played to the jury," Piccarreta wrote in the memo.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the prosecution hadn't filed a response in court.

Amanda Jacinto, a spokeswoman for the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, said she couldn't comment on the memo, citing the State Bar of Arizona's rules of professional conduct.

Maricopa County Superior Judge George Foster could bring up the issue at a pretrial hearing on Wednesday.

A final joint pretrial statement, filed last week, says the prosecution at one point offered a plea agreement to Brailsford to plead guilty to a lesser charge of negligent homicide, but the former officer refused the deal.

Piccarreta on Tuesday declined to comment on why his client refused the prosecution's plea agreement.

The fatal shooting happened Jan. 18, 2016, when someone reported to Mesa police that a man was waving a gun out of a window at a Mesa La Quinta Inn, where Shaver, 26, was staying for work.

Shaver, who was in his hotel room drinking, had showed two visitors a pellet gun he used for work, the police report says.

After police called him out of the room, Shaver was shot in the fifth-floor hallway.

He was on his hands and knees, saying, "Please don't shoot me," according to Mesa police documents. Shaver then made a movement with his hands near his waistband, indicating he may have been armed, police say. Brailsford then fatally shot him.

Brailsford was fired from the Mesa Police Department in March 2016, shortly after prosecutors charged him.

In January, Shaver's widow and parents filed separate wrongful-death lawsuits against Mesa for his death, seeking combined damages of more than $100 million.

Those cases are pending in U.S. District Court in Phoenix.

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