Overview
- A Maricopa County jury found Essa Williams guilty on all counts for the Dec. 14, 2021, ambush that left Officer Tyler Moldovan wounded, with the verdict delivered Thursday.
- Prosecutors relied on body-camera video shown at trial that shows Moldovan approach Williams before Williams pulled a handgun and opened fire.
- Prosecutors told jurors Williams fired as many as 15 rounds and struck Moldovan eight times, including a wound to the brain stem that required months of hospital care and long-term therapy.
- Williams was on parole with nine prior felony convictions and was legally barred from possessing a firearm at the time of the shooting, while his defense argued he acted in self-defense and disputed that he knew Moldovan was an officer.
- The court will reconvene on Aug. 25 for an aggravation phase to hear evidence that could increase Williams’s sentence and to weigh the lasting harms to Moldovan from his injuries.