Prosecutors in Travis County will not bring a case against Austin police officer Christopher Taylor in the 2019 shooting death of a man. Instead, they plan to convict him on a lesser charge.
The attorney for the family of Mauris DeSilva, a scientist and researcher who was shot to death in what officials and family members called a mental health episode, and attorneys for Taylor confirmed the development to the American-Statesman on Tuesday. The murder trial was scheduled to begin Monday.
A spokesman for District Attorney Jose Garza said the District Attorney’s Office would not comment on the ongoing case, but a preliminary hearing is scheduled for Friday.
Prosecutors recently spoke with DeSilva’s family, including his father, Denzil Desilva, to inform them of the decision to instead try Taylor on a charge of deadly conduct, a third-degree felony, attorney Brad Vinson said.
Vinson said prosecutors told them, “We think it’s better for the cause, better for the juries in Travis County in these cases, and that’s what we’re going to continue to do.”
“It makes me think that maybe their office thought a Travis County jury would be more likely to convict (police officers), and what they’re finding is that Travis County juries are more technical,” Vinson said. “They’re very well trained and technical in the way they evaluate evidence.”
The decision is the latest example of Garza changing strategy — or dropping a charge entirely — in a case involving police accountability, a key platform that helped the district attorney get elected in 2020 after the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis officer.
Taylor’s murder charge in connection with DeSilva’s death made national headlines. It was the second time the officer had been charged with murder in connection with a fatal shooting while on duty.
The 2019 shooting occurred when officers responded to the Spring apartment building in downtown Austin for a report of a man holding a knife to his neck. By the time officers arrived, the man had already gone inside, and when officers confronted him, DeSilva disobeyed their commands and walked toward officers with the knife.
DeSilva’s family said the use of deadly force was unjustified and that the shooting showed that officers need to be better trained in handling calls from people suffering from mental illness.
The following year, Taylor was one of the officers who responded to the parking lot of a southeast Austin apartment complex in a case that ended with a fatal police shooting of a man. When officers arrived, Michael Ramos disobeyed their commands and got into a car and began driving when Taylor opened fire, killing Ramos. Last year, the jury was deadlocked over whether Taylor committed murder, and prosecutors have since said they are dropping the case.
Now that the murder charge has been dropped, prosecutors no longer have to prove in court that Taylor intentionally killed DeSilva. But whether Taylor shot DeSilva in defense of himself or others is likely to remain a key question.
“DA Garza appears to finally understand that he has bitten off more than he can chew with his charges against police officers,” said attorney Ken Ervin, who along with attorney Doug O’Connell is representing Taylor. “But dropping the murder charge while continuing to pursue the deadly conduct charge shows that he has a long way to go in understanding basic Texas law.
“If it was legal to shoot and kill someone in self-defense, it was also legal to shoot that same person in the first place,” he added.
Vinson said his client was not angry about the latest developments in the case, but instead “hoped for a just outcome for the DeSilva family, with Officer Taylor being held accountable for his reckless actions that resulted in the loss of Mr. DeSilva’s life.”
Taylor would receive a lesser sentence if found guilty at his upcoming trial. He could have faced up to life in prison if convicted of murder, but now faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of deadly conduct.
“I think dropping the murder charge raises serious questions about the state’s ability to prove this case at trial,” said Jorge Vela, a former federal prosecutor and defense attorney in Austin who has followed the case. “I think they’re saying they overcharged this case, but ultimately I don’t think it changes what the core issue is.”
“It comes down to self-defense and defense of others,” he said.
Garza’s track record of prosecuting police
In his first term as district attorney, Garza and his Public Integrity Unit have failed to secure a single conviction in the more than two dozen cases they have brought against police officers.
Prosecutors have dropped all but four lawsuits against officers over their use of force against protesters during protests in May and June 2020, instead asking the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the Austin Police Department.
Garza sent the invitation to the Justice Department in February, but the federal agency has not yet responded.
In March, a jury found former Williamson County sheriff’s deputies Zachary Camden and James Johnson not guilty of manslaughter for their roles in the death of Javier Ambler II. The verdict came just two days after Garza handily won the Democratic primary for district attorney, all but clinching his re-election in the upcoming November election.
It was the third use-of-force trial under Garza that ended without a conviction. In October 2022, a jury found former Austin police officer Nathaniel Stallings not guilty of felony charges stemming from a 2017 arrest.
Garza told the Statesman earlier this year that prosecutors face institutional hurdles in prosecuting police officers, including the way law enforcement investigates such cases. He added that presenting cases to a grand jury gives the community a voice in such cases.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Travis DA drops murder charges against Austin police officer
