As his former teammates wore maroon and gold at practice, Loren Wade appeared in a Phoenix courtroom Friday wearing black-and-white stripes and pink handcuffs.
Wade is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the March 26 death of Brandon Falkner, another former ASU football player, in front of a Scottsdale nightclub.
Wade's lawyer, Ulises Ferragut, requested his case be sent back to a grand jury because he said the prosecution unfairly left out and misrepresented evidence in the initial grand jury appearance that supported Wade's explanation of an accidental shooting.
Ferragut said a grand jury receiving a fair summary of evidence might indict Wade of negligent homicide or manslaughter.
Ferragut argued that Scottsdale detective Todd Larson, who summarized witness statements for the grand jury, misrepresented the way one witness described the shooting. Larson said Levise Robertson told police "Wade's right arm went into the vehicle, and she heard a pop."
On a videotaped interview with police, Robertson described the action as a "lunge." That wording, along with Robertson's physical demonstration of the act, is more consistent with Wade's explanation that the gun accidentally went off when he hit Falkner, Ferragut said.
Ferragut also said Larson unfairly skewed words Wade said after the shooting.
Larson told the grand jury Wade said the shooting was "for" girlfriend Haley van Blommestein, but the sheriff's detective who heard Wade's statement reported the shooting was "'cause of" her.
"One might think 'Hey, these are similar statements,' but they're not," Ferragut said. "If one [hears] 'I did this for you' one can conclude that what the defendant just did was admit premeditated murder."
Premeditation is a defining factor of first-degree murder.
Prosecutor Catherine Hughes said that distinction did not matter because the prosecution was not alleging Wade "plotted ahead of time to kill somebody on her [van Blommestein's] behalf."
Ferragut also said the grand jury should have heard Wade's gun had a history of malfunctioning, even though an examination of the gun had not yet been completed.
Ferragut said the gun could fire from its safe position and could switch to the unrestricted position when it misfired.
However, Hughes said that meant Wade still had to pull the trigger.
"The pistol doesn't fire unless somebody's finger is on the trigger and pressure is applied," Hughes said.
Ferragut also said Falkner's autopsy results did not disprove Wade's explanation of an accidental shooting.
The doctor who performed Falkner's autopsy estimated the gun was from six inches to two-and-a-half feet away from Falkner's head, Larson told the grand jury in April.
Wade told police "the gun just went off" as he pistol-whipped Falkner.
"It is conceivable that Mr. Wade goes to punch Mr. Falkner, and as he's pulling back, the gun could go off," Ferragut said.
Judge Douglas Rayes said he will consider the requestfor a new grand jury hearing along with the video evidence of Wade and Robertson separately re-enacting the shooting after the videos are submitted today.
Ferragut said he also plans to seek Wade's release from jail, but declined to comment further until he files the request, probably within the next two weeks.
Reach the reporter at brian.indrelunas@asu.edu.
