Travis County DA defends approach of prosecuting police officers accused of excessive force

AUSTIN, Texas - Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza is defending his approach to prosecuting police officers accused of using excessive force. 

This comes after a state appeals court overturned the deadly conduct conviction of former Austin Police Officer Christopher Taylor, a decision Garza said his office plans to challenge.

The backstory:

In a rare move, the Seventh Court of Appeals overturned the deadly conduct conviction of former Austin Police Detective Christopher Taylor and entered a judgement of acquittal. The court ruled Taylor acted reasonably during the 2019 shooting of Mauris Desilva, who was experiencing a mental health crisis and was holding a knife in the hallway of a downtown condo.

"Every officer and every citizen has a fundamental right to self-defense when faced with a lethal threat, regardless of the attacker's mental state," Taylor’s defense attorney Doug O’Connell said.

Garza said the appellate court’s decision weakens the role of local juries.

"What happened ultimately is that a conservative court from a far-flung part of the state replaced the judgment of jurors, of community members right here in Travis County with their own judgment. We don't think that is appropriate, but most importantly, we don't think it is in compliance with the law, and so we will be challenging that decision," Garza said.

"It'll be a futile attempt to try to salvage a victory when the appeals court decision is such a smack down," O’Connell said.

Jose Garza's use-of-force cases

Dig deeper:

O’Connell said this was a politically motivated prosecution by Garza.

"He ran on a campaign of targeting police officers," O’Connell said.

Back in 2022, Garza reiterated his philosophy for prosecuting use-of-force cases involving Austin police officers.

"The change that I promised to make when I ran for office was that when it came to allegations of police violence, that we would let our community decide when that conduct was unlawful and when a law enforcement officer should be held accountable for that conduct. And that's what we've done. The change we have made that the prior administration didn't do is to present those cases to a grand jury and let the grand jury decide," Garza said in 2022.

Garza has indicted 27 police officers. Many of the charges have since been dropped, but three officers have taken plea deals. Garza said those cases show his office has followed through on its promise to pursue accountability.

"We have an obligation not to turn a blind eye when there are allegations of excessive force," Garza said.

Critics argued those outcomes differ sharply from jury trials involving officer-involved shootings, where Garza’s office has yet to secure a conviction.

"We're going to continue to make sure our community can look at these cases and make these decisions so that they can say clearly what the values are that they expect law enforcement officers in our community to carry out their duties with," Garza said.

What's next:

Records indicate the district attorney’s office has yet to file an appeal to the acquittal.