Jury deliberating in APD officer’s deadly conduct trial

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The judge sent the jurors deliberating the deadly conduct case against Austin Police officer Christopher Taylor home around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday. They started deliberating around 11:30 a.m.

Taylor is charged in the 2019 death of Mauris DeSilva, 46. Police shot and killed DeSilva in a common area of his downtown condo complex. Taylor and three other officers responded after 911 callers reported DeSilva walking around, holding a knife to his neck. 

Judge Dayna Blazey read a letter the jury sent to the court, stating jurors were tired and still needed to review more video and work through more questions. Jurors will return 9 a.m. Thursday.

Blazey instructed them to pack a bag in case they get sequestered overnight Thursday. She also instructed them not to speak about the case, view media reports or conduct any independent research.

Below is the body camera video of the shooting.

The State said DeSilva was undergoing a “profound” mental health episode and expressed throughout the evidence portion of the trial that APD could have done more to de-escalate the situation and keep both DeSilva and others at the complex safe. Taylor’s attorneys said he committed no crime, and that DeSilva posed a credible threat to officers when they fired.

The crime of deadly conduct as it pertains to this case involves knowingly firing a gun at another person. Taylor’s attorneys do not deny Taylor shot DeSilva, but said he did so in self-defense, so the use of force was justified and within Taylor’s rights.

Three other officers confronted DeSilva alongside Taylor. One other officer, Karl Krycia, shot DeSilva as well. Another officer, Joseph Cast, fired a Taser. Officer Phillip Zuniga did not actively hold a weapon; his role was to “go hands” if needed. 

Taylor originally also faced a murder charge in this case, but that charge was dropped the week before the trial. According to online court records, Kyrcia still faces a murder charge for shooting DeSilva. Neither Cast nor Zuniga face charges. 

Prosecutors asked Cast and Zuniga why police didn’t take more time to gather more information about DeSilva and his mental state before confronting him. This included asking officers why they didn’t speak further with a worker who also came face-to-face with DeSilva holding a knife. That worker testified that he saw DeSilva outside the elevator and said something along the lines of “We’re not doing that today” and DeSilva walked away. 

Testifying officers said DeSilva’s behavior was not only a danger to himself, but to others in the condo as well, and the priority became “addressing the threat.” 

At one point, prosecutors asked Cast about police bias and how his relationship with Taylor as a fellow police officer may impact his testimony. Cast said his testimony was unbiased.

Closing arguments

Prosecutor Dexter Gilford spoke first Wednesday morning for the State. He emphasized DeSilva's mental illness and said the 46-year-old spent his last moments hoping to get help.

Gilford also addressed the recording played in court Tuesday of District Attorney Jose Garza talking to Austin ISD police about the legality of lethal and less lethal force. In that recording, Garza mentioned a scenario with a person being 30 feet away from police, brandishing a knife and ignoring commands to drop it. Garza said that would be a case where officers would likely be able to use deadly force. The Defense used that recording in their argument.

Gilford, though, mentioned discrepancies between that hypothetical and DeSilva's case.

Defense attorneys told the jurors the only thing they need to consider is whether in the moments the elevator door opened and police confronted DeSilva, Taylor had a reasonable belief he and the other officers were in danger.

Defense attorney Ken Ervin brought up how prosecutors addressed tactical decisions that happened before officers got into the elevator. He posed the notion to the jury that there are things to learn from this police response, but "the problem is taking that and putting it into the context of a criminal case. We can't work backward," as Taylor could not work backward while responding to the 911 call.

He and his co-counsel Doug O'Connell reiterated the State has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Taylor did not act in self-defense.

"It's whether or not Taylor had a reasonable fear when the elevator door opened," O'Connell said.

Prosecutor Rob Drummond closed out arguments Wednesday morning.

He addressed both Desilva's father Denzil and the jury when he started speaking, starting off by noting how people who saw DeSilva with the knife called 911 for not only their safety, but DeSilva's as well.

Drummond countered what the Defense said about the moments and decisions prior to getting into the elevator, saying every decision Taylor made put him in a position to confront DeSilva in the smallest space, with the highest level of force in the least amount of time to react.

You can follow post-by-post updates from closing arguments from KXAN's Brianna Hollis on the social media platform "X" at the link below.

Taylor’s murder trial in separate case ends with hung jury 

Last year, Taylor stood trial for murder in the 2020 death of Michael Ramos during a police confrontation at a southeast Austin apartment complex. You can read details on that shooting here. 

The District Attorney’s Office brought in a special prosecutor, Gary Cobb, to try that case.

After the weeks-long trial, the jury still could not come to a consensus, and a mistrial was declared.

In June of this year, the case went to a grand jury, who no-billed it, so Taylor no longer faces those murder charges.