PHOENIX (AP) - A jury has convicted a man in the fatal shooting of a tribal police officer 17 months ago during a traffic stop on the outskirts of Phoenix.
Elijah Loren Arthur was found guilty Wednesday afternoon of first-degree murder in the May 2014 killing of Salt River police Officer Jair Cabrera during a late-night traffic stop at a gas station.
The 37-year-old officer was killed as he was pulling over a car in drunken-driving patrols on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community during the Memorial Day weekend.
The verdict marks the second conviction in Cabrera’s death.
Authorities said Arthur fired the shots that killed the officer, while another man, Joey Michael Thomas, has acknowledged driving the vehicle and providing the rifle used in the attack. Thomas had previously pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
Prosecutors said Arthur and another member of the East Side Bloods gang who was a passenger in the car when it was pulled over had a conversation earlier that night about a gang associate who was killed during an encounter with a tribal officer. They said Arthur made a profane comment about officers during that conversation.
Defense attorneys acknowledged that his client killed the officer but didn’t do so with cold calculation, as alleged by prosecutors.
They also said Arthur’s ability to act reasonably and control his emotions was diminished on the night of the shooting because he was under the influence of alcohol and methamphetamine.
Jurors were shown a dashboard video in which a gunman fired on Cabrera before the officer could get out of his truck.
Authorities said Arthur later acknowledged firing two shots but claimed he was aiming at gas pumps and didn’t intend to shoot the officer.
Sentencing is scheduled for Arthur on Nov. 30 and Thomas on Nov. 6.
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