Here’s what it could mean for our city and for how law enforcement is held accountable
Brenda Ramos in 2020, in front of a mural memorializing her son, Michael Ramos , who was shot and killed by Austin police Officer Christopher Taylor
“It’s tended to be the case that police officers, even as defendants, enjoy a level of presumption of credibility that the average non-police suspect doesn’t in the mind of the public.”And the trial could have national implications, too. Travis County District Attorney José Garza has his Civil Rights Unit prosecuting the case . Garza is at the forefront of the progressive prosecutor movement, which has spread throughout the nation.
Ultimately, because of these problems and other challenges , they were just two alternates short of a full jury, and Blazey called a mistrial in June. But jury selection resumed Monday, Oct. 16, with a new strategy in place. Three panels of 100 potential jurors each would be summoned across three days, with attorneys on both sides given two hours to question each panel.
After this back-and-forth plays out, an officer can be heard saying,"Impact him," which prompts another officer, Mitchell Pieper – who was still in the post-Academy field training program – to shoot Ramos with a lead-pellet round. After Ramos is hit, he falls back into the Prius and, after a few moments as officers continue shouting, he begins to drive, slowly, in a direction that appears to be away from the officers. As Ramos drives away, Taylor fires three times, killing the man.
To secure a guilty verdict, prosecutors will have to convince the jury that Ramos' action did not pose a serious enough threat to Taylor or his fellow officers to warrant the use of deadly force. Outside the facts of the case, that task may prove difficult for prosecutors due to what one expert called the"atmospherics" of trials involving police officers accused of criminal conduct through the normal course of their duty .
Consider Garza's campaign commitment to bring every case of police violence before a grand jury. Or a statement made by Garza, on the cusp of his election in November 2020, that he was"prepared to fight" for the families of victims of police violence as they awaited justice. Garza opponents have attempted to characterize the campaign promise and the statement as reflective of the D.A.
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