Aussie cops to testify at US trial of man linked to killer Train family

Queensland police will give evidence at the US trial of an Arizona man who has been charged in connection with the murders carried out by the Train family in Wieambilla.

Queensland Police officers will be permitted to give evidence at the trial of an Arizona man charged in connection with the Wieambilla murders but will be limited to neutral descriptions to avoid a jury focusing on the “horror” of the case, a US judge has ruled.

American man Donald Day, 60, will face trial in the United States later this month accused of making interstate threats against law enforcement.

His alleged comments came to the attention of Queensland Police and FBI agents in the wake of the deadly attack by Gareth, Stacey and Nathaniel Train at their Wieambilla property where they murdered two police officers – Constables Rachel McCrow and Matthew Arnold – and neighbour Alan Dare, 58, in December 2022.

Donald Day of Arizona was in regular contact with the Trains leading up to the shooting. Picture: YouTube

The US Government alleges Day and the Trains had “numerous, lengthy and frequent” contact online before the murders discussing their philosophies, disdain for and desire to confront law enforcement.

Eight Queensland police officers have provided statements and were prepared to give evidence at Day’s trial in the Arizona District Court later this month.

But the defendant filed a motion urging the court to restrict evidence about the Wieambilla murders and limit the testimony to a maximum of one Queensland officer, arguing their evidence would be “emotionally charged” and overly prejudicial to his case.

The conspiracy theorist killers behind the Wieambilla Shooting: Gareth Train, Stacey Train and Nathaniel Train.

United States District Judge John Tuchi has now ruled Queensland officers will be allowed to give evidence, but they will be limited to giving “neutral factual descriptions”.

For example they will be able to testify that the Trains shot and killed their victims but not use words like murder or ambush.

“Such terms may be factually accurate, but they also are loaded, and threaten the balance of the court’s ruling by inviting the jury to focus on the horror of what the Trains did — for which Defendant is not responsible — rather than the fact of the confrontation and killings as a marker for Defendant’s knowledge,” Judge Tuchi wrote in his decision.

After killing their three victims, the Trains posted a video message online, making comments including “they came to kill us and we killed them”, ending it with a farewell message to Don, in what prosecutors allege is a reference to Day.

Day posted a video in response in which he said “the devils come for us, they f***ing die. It’s just that simple. We are free people, we are owned by no one.”

US Prosecutors allege that was a threat to harm law enforcement.

Young Constables Rachel McCrow and Matthew Arnold were both killed.

Judge Tuchi said the defendant’s affection for the Trains coupled with his knowledge of the deadly shootouts and their deaths that “enraged him”, was probative of his motive and intent in the threats case against him.

“The Government may not infer or argue that simply because defendant and the Trains lived in a similarly isolated manner in rural areas, or in a similar way, in that both lived to a high degree a subsistence lifestyle, that defendant has a predisposition to act as the Trains did, or to threaten to do so,” the judge said.

The jury will be given warnings that it cannot consider the defendant guilty based on the similarity of his property to that of the Trains.

They will also be instructed Day has never been to Australia, was not involved in the Wieambilla confrontation, and that his guilt cannot be inferred by his correspondence with the killers.

The trial is listed to run for seven days.

Originally published as Aussie cops to testify at US trial of man linked to killer Train family