Trial in opposition to Austin police officer Christopher Taylor to start Monday for 2019 capturing

Jury choice is about to start Monday for the trial of Austin police officer Christopher Taylor in a 2019 killing.

Prosecutors hope to steer the jury to convict Taylor of lethal misconduct for his function within the deadly capturing of Mauris DeSilva, a Sri Lankan scientist and researcher who had been threatening himself with a knife at his downtown condominium when officers arrived. Police stated DeSilva had taken a step or two towards officers with the knife at his aspect when he was shot.

Nearly two years after the incident, a grand jury returned a homicide and lethal misconduct indictment in opposition to Taylor and officer Karl Krycia, who additionally shot DeSilva. A trial date has not been set in Krycia’s case.

Prosecutors announced last week that they’d not pursue the homicide cost in opposition to Taylor, solely the lesser cost of lethal misconduct, a third-degree felony with a most penalty of 10 years in jail.

A spokesperson for the district legal professional’s workplace stated prosecutors wouldn’t touch upon pending issues. A lawyer representing DeSilva’s household in a civil lawsuit stated this resolution was in all probability made as a result of a jury could be extra prone to convict on the lesser cost.

The trial is anticipated to final three weeks, with opening statements prone to start Wednesday.

That is the second trial Taylor has confronted in a 12 months. He was charged with homicide within the killing of Michael Ramos in 2020. The jury in that trial deadlocked on whether or not he dedicated homicide, and the Travis County district legal professional introduced that prosecutors would drop the case after a grand jury selected to not return new indictments.

Attorneys Doug O’Connell and Ken Ervin are representing Taylor within the DeSilva case and did so final 12 months within the Ramos case as properly.

In a pretrial listening to Friday, O’Connell and Ervin stated that they had proof that in 2020, the district legal professional’s workplace, then led by Margaret Moore, had determined to not pursue an indictment in opposition to Taylor or Krycia for killing DeSilva after a separate investigation into the incident.

O’Connell stated in a press release that the capturing was justified as a result of DeSilva approached officers with a lethal weapon.

“The info of the case didn’t change, the one factor that modified was José Garza’s politics and his overwhelming urge to prosecute cops,” he wrote, referring to the present Travis County district legal professional.

The trial will likely be one other check for Garza’s administration, particularly the civil rights unit, on whether or not it will probably safe a conviction in opposition to a police officer. To date, it has been unsuccessful in acquiring a single conviction within the greater than two dozen instances it has introduced in opposition to cops.

Holding police accountable grew to become a difficulty that helped Garza safe his victory in 2020 within the wake of the homicide of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis. Garza has stated the outcomes of those trials spotlight the complexities of prosecuting cops.

What occurred?

Officers have been despatched to the Spring Condominiums on Bowie Road, close to West Third Road, about 5 p.m. July 31, 2019, after stories of a person with a big kitchen knife threatening himself.

A wrongful loss of life lawsuit filed on behalf of DeSilva’s household stated a neighbor known as 911 and stated DeSilva was having “one other psychological episode.” Austin police had responded to a number of psychological well being incidents involving DeSilva, together with one in 2015 involving a knife and others within the months earlier than his loss of life, the lawsuit stated.

Then-Police Chief Brian Manley stated witnesses noticed DeSilva on the day of his loss of life banging on the emergency exit doorways and later holding a knife to his neck within the elevator.

When officers arrived, police stated, they started talking with the rental employees within the foyer and placing collectively a plan to securely get him out. At the moment, staffers informed police that they had seen DeSilva waving the knife round on the cameras within the rental’s health club on the fifth flooring.

The 4 responding officers then took the elevator to the health club. After they stepped off, one officer was holding a Taser, and two others, Taylor and Krycia, had their firearms drawn, the lawsuit says.

Officers noticed DeSilva on the finish of the corridor holding a “massive kitchen knife” to his neck, Manley stated. He was about 7 to 10 ft from the officers, in line with Manley.

Officers informed DeSilva to drop the knife, the chief stated. DeSilva dropped the knife to his aspect after which took a step or two ahead, and that is when one officer fired his Taser and the opposite two fired their weapons, Manley stated.

DeSilva was taken to a hospital, the place he later died.

This text initially appeared on Austin American-Statesman: APD officer Christopher Taylor’s trial for 2019 shooting begins Monday