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Shaw appears in court for pretrial hearing

Brian T. Shaw, the former Syracuse University student charged with the murder of his daughter’s mother, will appear in court again next Wednesday in a series of pretrial hearings.

Judge Joseph Fahey called for the session at the first pretrial hearing for Shaw Thursday morning after saying he still had to review the case’s grand jury minutes. Next week’s hearing will focus on the validity of Shaw’s oral statements to police the night of his arrest, whether police had probable cause to arrest him and the circumstances in which Shaw’s 4-year-old daughter identified him as the killer of her mother, Chiarra Seals.

Chief Assistant District Attorney Patrick Quinn, who is prosecuting the case against Shaw, said after Thursday’s hearing that he will call six officers to testify next Wednesday, including one who spoke with Shaw’s daughter the night of the killing.

Quinn said the 4-year-old told police who arrived at the scene that it was her ‘daddy’ who hurt her mother, and she was ‘sleeping’ with a cord around her neck. She was then able to identify Shaw from a photograph in Seals’ home.

During Thursday’s hearing, Thomas Ryan, Shaw’s defense attorney, requested the warrant application for Shaw, along with any related audio tapes in order to prepare for the impending trial. Ryan also said he wished to have time to respond to any of Shaw’s prior ‘bad acts’ that may be brought up during the trial. Fahey said he would not allow Shaw’s history to be used.



Shaw’s next pretrial hearing is scheduled for Wednesday August 17 at 2 p.m. A date has not been set for his trial.





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