FRESNO (KMJ) — A not guilty plea has now been entered by Detective Jared Mullis, accused of accidentally killing his Fresno County Sheriff’s Office colleague Sergeant Rod Lucas.
He stood tall and remained silent inside Fresno County Superior Court Thursday morning, letting his attorney Roger Wilson speak for him.
“This is a bad situation for everybody,” he revealed following the hearing. “What was good today was that Mr. Mullis had a ton of people there in there for support, but also Sergeant Lucas had his family and some other people in there for support as well.”
Sergeant Rod Lucas lost his life after being shot in the chest on October 31st 2016. His funeral was held on November 9th 2016 (click here to read more), and was attended by local, state, and federal law enforcement.
It was announced on January 6th 2017 that the incident was considered a homicide (click here to read more), and on July 14th 2017 Fresno County District Attorney’s Office announced felony involuntary manslaughter charges had been filed.
“It’s difficult because it is law enforcement because everybody I think in the room understands that this is an accident and there’s no intent behind the shooting.
“That’s the difficulty because they’re professionals…so when you get the profession involved, and you see the turnout we had today from all the professionals, it makes it a little more emotionally trying.
The case against Detective Jared Mullis will continue on September 14th for the pre-preliminary hearing, and September 28th for the preliminary hearing. He remains out of custody.
Hear the report from KMJ’s Dominic McAndrew as it aired:
