Lawyers for Austin police officer Christopher Taylor alleged in a motion filed Wednesday that members of law enforcement have faced unfair treatment from Travis County District Attorney José Garza during the grand jury indictment process.
A trial for Taylor, who is facing a murder charge in the 2020 shooting death of Michael Ramos, is scheduled to begin next month.
In the filing, defense lawyers Doug O’Connell and Ken Ervin requested materials shown by prosecutors to the grand jury that indicted Taylor in March 2021.
Later that year, Taylor and fellow Austin police officer Karl Krycia were indicted in connection with the 2019 shooting death of Mauris DeSilva.
In their motion, O’Connell and Ervin claimed that the district attorney’s office “primed” the jury to issue indictments in cases of police misconduct. They claimed that prosecutors presented a slideshow that “intended to shape the way the grand jurors view the law enforcement profession and police use of force.”
“This practice in large part explains the unprecedented number of law enforcement indictments in Travis County,” O’Connell and Ervin wrote.
More: Will the Mike Ramos murder trial be moved out of Travis County? Lawyers present arguments
In Texas, a grand jury must indict a defendant before a felony case can proceed through the criminal legal system. Jennifer Laurin, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law, said that prosecutors have significant discretion in how they conduct grand jury proceedings.
“All that a grand jury is required to be convinced of is there is probable cause of a crime — a much lower burden of proof than what is faced at trial,” Laurin said.
The grand jury that indicted Taylor in Ramos’ death was empaneled in July 2020, during the tenure of then-District Attorney Margaret Moore.
In July, Moore supported a request from defense lawyers to move the trial out of Travis County. In the motion, which was later denied, O’Connell and Ervin argued that it would not be possible for Taylor to receive a fair trial in Austin.
Moore did not respond to a request for comment.
Garza, who beat Moore in a 2020 primary runoff, campaigned on a promise to prioritize police misconduct cases — including that of Ramos.
Since Garza took office, grand juries have indicted dozens of Austin police officers, including the 19 who were charged under suspicion of using excessive force during the May 2020 Black Lives Matter protests.
More: Judge rules Austin police officer’s murder trial will stay in Travis County
In June, the district attorney’s office requested that Travis County District Judge Dayna Blazey bar defense lawyers and prosecutors from making public statements about the Taylor case.
In the filing, prosecutors claimed that O’Connell and Ervin have “engaged in a concerted public campaign over the last few years to denigrate the District Attorney’s Office” — including accusations of unlawful manipulation of the grand jury.
A ruling on the gag order is still pending.
Defense lawyers and prosecutors declined requests to comment on this story.
This isn’t the only time that O’Connell and Ervin, who represent several police officers facing criminal charges, have publicly accused Garza of unfair treatment during the grand jury process.
In an interview with the American-Statesman last year, Ervin accused Garza of “excluding” testimony from officers facing allegations of misconduct. Reporting by the Statesman revealed a more nuanced reality: that O’Connell and Ervin had not, as of March 2022, sought to have now-indicted officers testify during grand jury proceedings against them.
At the time, Garza told the Statesman he believed that officer testimony was being used as a talking point to undermine the credibility of the cases.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Lawyers for Austin police officer Taylor accuse DA of unfair treatment