After four days of deliberations, the jury found Austin Police Officer Christopher Taylor guilty of deadly conduct in connection with the 2019 shooting death of Mauris Desilva, a man with a mental health crisis.
On Saturday morning, the jury unanimously found Taylor guilty, the first officer to be held criminally responsible for a fatal shooting in Travis County. After the verdict was known, the officer’s lawyers challenged the verdict, publishing on social networks that the jury could have demonstrated misconduct.
The allegation caused a reaction from the prosecutor’s office.
“They believe that if Detective Taylor is found guilty, we will never be able to have confidence that the jury based their decision on the evidence and not on media reports,” said Travis County Prosecutor Rob Drummond.
On Friday, it emerged that the jurors had electronic devices while deliberating and that “they were on their phones and laptops,” said Dianna Sánchez, bailiff of the court.
As a result, the defense asked to annul the trial, a motion that Judge Dayna Blazey rejected. Immediately afterwards, Taylor’s lawyers made the following publication on social networks: “We are baffled. This is the clearest case of self-defense involving an officer we have ever seen. “The jury must be incorrectly considering the other unproven allegations made by this same anti-police court prosecutor.”
The prosecution later accused the defense of compromising the integrity of the case: “and then they turn around and make unverified allegations of jury misconduct outside of this courtroom,” Drummond said.
Despite the concerns, the jury found Taylor guilty.
“I think moving forward we need to make sure that these rules are clearer and that people don’t have access to their phones in the deliberation room,” said Chas Moore, co-founder of the Austin Justice Coalition.
Judge Blazey scheduled sentencing for October 15 and Taylor could receive two to 10 years in prison.
