AUSTIN, Texas — A Travis County court has selected 12 jurors and two alternates to serve in the trial of former Williamson County Sheriff Robert Chody and assistant county attorney Jason Nassour. Both are charged with evidence tampering in connection with the 2019 in-custody death of Javier Ambler.
Chody and Nassour are accused of essentially directing the destruction of reality TV show footage that showed Ambler’s death during his arrest in 2019.
Crews with "Live PD" were riding with Williamson County deputies that night when they tried to pull Ambler over for failing to dim his headlights. That turned into a 22-minute chase. Once he stopped, deputies Tased Ambler and he died.
A jury acquitted the deputies who were accused of Ambler’s death back in March.
Prosecutors allege Chody and Nassour conspired to create a contract with "Live PD" to destroy videos from ridealongs after 30 days. They say that the contract was backdated so that it included the video of Ambler’s death, and as a result, that footage was eliminated.
About 70 jurors were brought in on Monday. Several were concerned about their biases when it came to the fact that Chody and Nassour were public servants who they would want to hold to a higher standard than normal citizens.
The trial will start Tuesday morning. Judge Karen Sage said it could take up to two weeks.