A New Mexico prosecutor has filed murder charges against two police officers for the killing of a mentally ill homeless man which ignited protests against the Albuquerque Police Department. The officers, Keith Sandy and Dominique Perez, will now face a public, preliminary hearing before a judge for the killing of James Boyd last March. Boyd had been confronted by police for sleeping in an unauthorized campsite. Police say he was armed with knives, but video from a police helmet camera shows Boyd apparently agreeing to surrender and turning away to pick up his belongings before officers fire a flashbang grenade, release a dog on him and open fire. At a news conference, Bernalillo County District Attorney Kari Brandenburg said proceedings against the officers would be more transparent than the secret grand juries in other states, which declined to indict the officers who killed Michael Brown and Eric Garner.

Kari Brandenburg: “Unlike Ferguson and unlike in New York City, some recent high-profile cases, we’re going to know, the public is going to have that information, you all are going to have seen the witnesses, heard the arguments, and you’ll understand, hopefully, perhaps, why the judge made the decision that he or she made.”

Albuquerque police have been involved in more than 40 shootings since 2010, 27 of them fatal. Last year a scathing Justice Department probe found most of the department’s fatal shootings were unconstitutional. It is the first time Albuquerque police involved in a shooting have faced murder charges.