Officer-Involved Shootings Case Won't Automatically Go To Grand Juries Anymore: Travis County DA

AUSTIN, TX — Grand juries will no longer be automatically convened in the aftermath of officer-involved shootings during which police use lethal force, the Travis County district attorney said on Wednesday.

Travis County DA Margaret Moore said she would no longer present all cases in which lethal force is used to police. Instead, she will evaluate each case to personally determine whether a police officer may have acted criminally, taking cases to grand juries only if she believes a cop shooting was unlawful or if the facts behind each case are disputed.

The move is a dramatic departure from predecessors who have posited grand juries as independent, dispassionate arbiters better suited to determine whether to indict an officer, the Austin American-Statesman noted.

She also will rely on a newly launched Civil Rights Division she established to yield a recommendation as to the legal validity in pursuing each case.

“I recognize that the handling of officer-involved shootings are a matter of great division in this community, and I wanted to see if there was something the DA’s office could do,” Moore told the Statesman. “The words we heard over and over again is that people want accountability. The DA who was elected by citizens of this county is accountable, and I’m assuming that accountability.”

The change in policy takes effect immediately, Moore said during a Wednesday press conference.

Not surprisingly, the Austin police union representing officers' interests after police-involved shootings, reportedly support the move. The police union recently represented since-fired officer Geoffrey Freeman after he fatally shot an unarmed teen. The officer fired at the 17-year-old black teenager wandering nude in his neighborhood, a move condemned by then-Police Chief Art Acevedo in spite of aggressive calls by the police union to reinstate the ultimately fired officer.

The slain boy's family was ultimately given a $3.25 million settlement by the city, the largest such payout in Austin's history.

Moore's new policy also comes days after police shot at an armed man during a standoff in East Austin stemming from a disturbance, after which police officially stated the African American man had first fired at them with his rifle. Four days after the shooting, however, Police Chief Brian Manley acknowledged the man did not fire his weapon but merely pointed it in the direction of officers—although no dashcam evidence supporting that claim exists as dashcam cameras weren't trained in the direction of the suspect, the chief said.

It's unclear whether Moore's new policy would spare the officers involved in that shooting from the scrutiny of a grand jury. For his part, Manley attributed faulty perception in the midst of the interaction as a possible reason officers in that incident believed they had fired upon without gunfire being heard: "Perceptions are sometimes not 100 percent accurate," Manley said, noting the officers involved in the shooting had hit the ground after the suspect emerged from his home carrying a rifle.

Moore was sworn in as DA in January, succeeding her retiring predecessor Rosemary Lehmberg. In taking office, she vowed her office would place a premium on transparency.

During her campaign in pursuit of the Travis County District Attorney post, Moore pledged to pursue the appointment of special prosecutors in cases of officer-involved shootings resulting in deaths: "Moore advocates exploring the appointment of special prosecutors in cases where police conduct results in the death of a citizen," her campaign website reads. "There are multiple issues that would have to be addressed for such an approach to be successful, and Moore has the perfect background and experience to lead such a discussion to a satisfactory implementation."

Moore also vowed during her campaign to address justice inequities: "Her policies will specifically address the disparate treatment of minorities in the criminal justice system," her website reads.

Working closely with police given her DA's role, Moore garnered a coveted endorsement during her race from the Travis County Sheriff's Law Enforcement Officers Association, its statement of support ("all that needs to be said," it's noted) appearing at the top of her campaign page: “We believe that you are the candidate that possesses both the qualifications and equally important the integrity to lead the Travis County District Attorney's Office," the endorsement reads.

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