Phoenix judge to consider request to unseal document in Serial Street Shooter case
May 17, 2017, 10:01 AM
(AP Photo)
(AP Photo)
PHOENIX — A judge in Phoenix will be considering Wednesday whether the media can have access to a document related to the Serial Street Shooter case.
News organizations requested the document be unsealed, arguing they have a right to see that court record, which should include probable cause that led to murder charges against Aaron Juan Saucedo.
Such documents generally have been available to the public after an arrest.
The 23-year-old suspect has been accused of fatally gunning down nine people between 2015 and 2016 in a west Phoenix neighborhood. He faces multiple charges of first-degree murder and aggravated assault.
In his initial court appearance in Maricopa County Superior Court on May 8, Saucedo told the judge that he was innocent.
A judge sealed the documents at the request of prosecutors because the case was considered an ongoing investigation.
Police said Saucedo was a person of interest in the shootings back in April.
He had been arrested that month during an investigation into a deadly shooting in August 2015.
During the street shooting spree, police said the victims were attacked as they stood outside their homes or sat in vehicles after sundown.
The Valley endured another string of random shootings during the summer of 2015. Authorities investigated nearly a dozen shootings on freeways, mostly on Interstate 10. A Glendale landscaper, Leslie Merritt Jr., was arrested and charged with four of the 11 shootings.
Charges were dropped last April and Merritt filed a lawsuit against the state and Maricopa County officials, asking for $10 million in damages.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
