Retrial for ex-NAU student charged in fatal shooting set for March
Jun 13, 2018, 3:26 PM | Updated: 6:38 pm
Steven Jones (Arizona Daily Sun via AP, File)
(Arizona Daily Sun via AP, File)
PHOENIX — The retrial for a former Northern Arizona University student who was accused of fatally shooting another during a fight at an off-campus apartment complex has been set.
Steven Jones will go on trial in March 2019 for first-degree murder and aggravated assault in the 2015 shooting in Flagstaff. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Jones’ first trial ended with a deadlocked jury. His retrial has been rescheduled multiple times.
The latest delay came after one of the shooting victims alleged Jones’ defense attorneys had a conflict of interest. The State Bar of Arizona was reviewing the allegation.
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The judge overseeing the case granted a defense request last month to postpone the case.
Colin Brough was killed in the shooting that took place after a fight outside of an off-campus apartment near NAU.
Nicholas Piring, Nicholas Prato and Kyle Zeintek were wounded.
All of them were unarmed.
Jones told police he shot the group of students with a .40-caliber handgun only after they hit him in the face and chased him, according to court documents.
An officer noticed he had a split lip and Jones said he had been hit “pretty hard” in the back of the head, according to a police report.
A report released a few months after the shooting said Jones was sober at the time, while the four victims were not.
All of the victims were legally intoxicated and all, save for Piring, tested positive for recent marijuana use.
Jones remains free while he awaits the retrial.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
