Australian law enforcement officials have been cleared to provide testimony at the trial of an American man linked to the fatal Wieambilla shootings in rural Queensland. The officers from Queensland will present statements in the Arizona court, adhering strictly to factual accounts of the incident. A US federal judge has ruled that personal commentary from the officers that could focus the jury’s attention on the violence of the shootings will not be permitted. The shooting in December 2022, conducted by the Train brothers with high-powered weapons, resulted in the deaths of two police officers and an innocent bystander.
Donald Day Jr., 60, from Arizona, has been charged with threatening public figures and FBI agents, as well as with firearm offenses. His legal team earlier sought to block the Queensland police officers from testifying at his upcoming trial. However, the prosecutors insisted that the officers’ accounts were necessary to establish the extent of Day’s ideological alignment with the Train brothers’ views of law enforcement as “devils and demons.”
Judge John Tuchi has ruled that the Queensland officers can testify regarding Day’s motives and the intent behind his alleged threats, provided the testimony is neutral and factual. This includes details on how the officers arrived at the scene, the exchange of gunfire, and the violent deaths that followed. However, the judge has restricted the officers from using loaded language that might provoke emotional reactions from the jury in relation to the actions of the Train brothers.
Outside of the police incident, the Victim, Alan Dare, 58, was also killed by Nathaniel and Stacey Train, following the deaths of the two officers. All members of the Train family were later shot dead by specialist police when they did not surrender. The Queensland officers will be able to discuss these events as witnesses. Initially, the Queensland police had planned to send two police officers and three forensic officers to testify at the trial, which is scheduled to begin on April 22 in Arizona.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/apr/01/australian-police-will-testify-at-trial-of-us-man-linked-to-wieambilla-shootings
