Perhaps it comes as no surprise, but the charges against Nadeem Jiwa in connection to the death of Detective Constable Robert Plunkett have been upgraded:

His lawyer Azam Murji said his client Nadeem Jiwa, 19, is still stunned by events of the past few days.

"There's a state of shock," Murji said yesterday, after Jiwa heard that charges against him have been raised to first-degree murder from manslaughter.

If Jiwa was shocked, it could only be because Murji didn't prepare him very well.

Azam Murji is giving hints as to what part of the defence strategy will be. He is raising questions about whether Nadeem Jiwa could get a fair trial:

Murji said in an interview that he has "significant concerns" that his client can get a fair jury trial in the region, considering police media releases on the death.

Another potential defense is to claim that Plunkett did not identify himself as a police officer:

Crown attorney Peter Westgate said Jiwa's charge could be upgraded to first-degree murder.

"They have their work to do," Jiwa's lawyer, Azam Murji, said outside court of the investigators.

Police have said Plunkett, who was dressed in street clothes, clearly identified himself as an officer when he moved in to arrest Jiwa.

Murji refused to tip his hand and say whether or not that is something that may be in dispute.

This is particularly relevant in supporting the first-degree murder charge. The case for manslaughter is straightforward. First-degree murder normally requires establishing that there was an intent to kill. In the case of the murder of a police officer, though, that burden is lightened somewhat, but then only if the accused knew that he confronting a police officer.

Working against Jiwa is that he was out on bail, having been charged for a similar offence:

The lawyer acknowledged Jiwa was out on bail at the time following allegations of "a similar situation" in Scarborough back in April.

"It's still in the court system," he said of the prior charge.

That makes it hard to establish that Jiwa was doing anything other than what police were alleging, and that is removing airbags out of cars he had stolen. And having been arrested in a "similar situation" at least suggests the Jiwa knows his way around police procedures. He's no babe in the woods when it comes to being arrested.

Azam Murji is a good lawyer, by all accounts. He works primarily as a defence attorney, but also acts as a part-time Assistant Crown Attorney. In a high profile case in which his client lied to him, Azam Murji recused himself:

After viewing a surveillance camera video that could have backed up their client's story, Harjit Singh's lawyers have recused themselves from his case, which is now in front of an immigration detention hearing.

"We're getting conflicting instructions from out client and as a result, we have recused ourselves," Toronto criminal lawyer Azam Murji told reporters on Tuesday.

Singh, the man who made accusations against Judy Sgro that caused her to step down as immigration minister, is facing deportation.

At a Jan. 20 hearing, he was attempting to prove that he actually appeared at a scheduled appointment at an Immigration reporting office on Dec. 6.

The video showed that the man who appeared at the office was Singh's son and not Singh himself. Faced with a client who was caught in a bald-faced lie, Murji quit the case.

Nadeem Jiwa would seem to have good counsel defending him. Of course, with what seems to be a case of breaking bail conditions, Jiwa might have problems with honesty and integrity. That's going to be a problem if he deliberately lies to his lawyer.

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