AUSTIN, Texas — Travis County District Attorney José Garza has confirmed for the first time that his office will take Austin police officer Christopher Taylor back to trial in the shooting death of Michael Ramos.
A jury deadlocked in Taylor’s murder trial last month, with eight jurors voting not guilty and four voting to convict him.
Taylor shot Ramos in April of 2020 after officers said Ramos failed to obey orders and got into a car and started driving. The shooting led to a local outcry and calls for justice, amid ongoing outrage over the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Taylor's defense attorneys say he fired to protect himself and fellow officers from being hit by Ramos' car. Prosecutors say Ramos was only trying to flee.
"In the court where that trial was held, there have been three mistrials this year," Garza told KVUE Senior Reporter Tony Plohetski. "And every single one of those cases is going to be retried. This case is no different. What this community deserves is a criminal justice system that treats everyone the same."
Police officer convictions in Texas shooting cases are rare. Following the mistrial result, the KVUE Defenders examined what has happened in high-profile police shooting cases across Texas once they went to a jury.
The issue of self-defense may be one of the biggest hurdles for prosecutors, but they also have the challenge that key witnesses are usually fellow officers of the defendant who either saw what happened or investigated the case.
Last month, a juror in the Taylor trial took KVUE inside the divided deliberations that led to the deadlock.
Taylor still faces a second unrelated murder charge involving the death of a man in 2019. He and a fellow officer opened fire on 46-year-old Mauris Nishanga DeSilva after they said that he moved toward them with a knife. DeSilva’s family has said he was suffering a mental health break at that point.