Court Rejects Appeal in Shooting of Wilmington Officer

The Delaware Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a man serving life in prison for shooting a Wilmington policeman in the face during a traffic stop.

Frederick Gray was convicted of attempted murder in the 2013 shooting of Patrolman Justin Wilkers.

Gray argued on appeal that the trial judge erred in allowing a statement Gray's mother gave to police into evidence. He also argued that the judge should have declared a mistrial after prosecutors did not turn over potentially exculpatory evidence about inconsistent statements made by Wilkers' partner until after the trial had started.

The Supreme Court rejected those arguments last week, saying Gray's mother gave a voluntary statement, and that the late-submitted evidence was contradicted by other evidence and given to Gray's attorney before he cross-examined Wilkers' partner.