Innocent until proven guilty, and Leslie Allen Merritt, Jr. is really claiming innocence.
The accused Phoenix highway shooter is adamant that he is not the one who’s been targeting random cars along Interstate 10 in the Arizona city, even though authorities are pretty confident they’ve got their man.
Related: Three Teens Arrested For Copycat Crimes Linked To The Highway Shooter!
Merritt, speaking in court during his initial appearance one day after his arrest, said to the judge:
“All I have to say is I’m the wrong guy. I tried telling the detectives that. My gun’s been in the pawn shop the last two months. I haven’t even had access to a weapon.”
Merritt, whose bail was set at $ 1 million, told the judge that he has two children, and wouldn’t be able to afford to pay his way out of jail pending trial.
Despite Merritt’s innocence claims, though, Bart Graves, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Public Safety, feels pretty confident about the state’s case:
“The evidence as you’ll see in the next couple of days speaks for itself. We’re not going to get in a debate about that.”
Guess we’ll all know more very soon.
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[Image via AP.]