Thursday, March 12:

The court ruled on three motions:

(1) Over DA objection, the court ruled admissible a 2004 incident in which Officer May was alleged to have punched and maced an arrested suspect improperly.

(2) The court also granted over DA objection the defense motion to admit a 2005 incident in which Officer May allegedly struck a suspect during an arrest with his gun.

(3) Over defense objection, the court granted the prosecution motion to exclude evidence of an argument with Officer May's ex-wife.

The trial is in recess Friday and will resume on Monday morning at 9:00 with further hearing on the trial motions. Two important motions will be heard Monday: (1) DA motion to admit evidence of the fact the defendant was on parole at the time of the murder, as motive for the shooting; and (2) DA motion to admit evidence of gang membership and the gang expert on the defendant's involvement in the Sacramento Street gang.

Jury selection remains set to start on March 23, 2009.