Judge refuses to dismiss charges in fatal police shooting of Detroit girl during 2010 raid

A judge has refused to dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against a Detroit police officer in the fatal shooting of a young girl during a raid.

Aiyana Stanley-Jones, 7, was killed May 16, 2010, after officers searching for a murder suspect lobbed a flash grenade through a window and stormed into her family's first-floor flat. Police had said she was sleeping on the couch when she was shot in the head after officer Joseph Weekley's gun fired accidentally.

Wayne County Judge Cynthia Hathaway told a packed courtroom Friday that officer Joseph Weekley, who is charged with involuntary manslaughter, will stand trial on May 29.

A film crew with the A&E Network's "First 48" crime reality cable TV show was shadowing Detroit police on the raid. A photographer and producer for the series, New Yorker Allison Howard, is charged with perjury. Specifics on her involvement were not immediately given.

Michigan State Police conducted a nine-month investigation and turned it over to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office.

The focus of the raid was Chauncey Owens, the fiance of Aiyana's aunt.

--Chauncey Owens

Owens was wanted in the May 14, 2010, shooting death of 17-year-old Je'rean Blake outside a nearby convenience store.

Owens was found in the separate upstairs apartment. He has since pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.