Travis County DA releases witness list in APD officer indictments

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- For the first time since 19 Austin Police officers were indicted by a grand jury on felony charges earlier this year, we are learning new details about the indictments from a court document filed by the Travis County District Attorney's office.

In February, this grand jury indicted each officer on two counts of aggravated assault by a public servant, accusing them of harming or injuring a total of 10 people during the May 2020 racial justice protests.

Earlier this month, attorneys for eight of the officers called on District Attorney José Garza to release the list of witnesses who testified before the grand jury. They also accused him of interfering with the officers' right to due process.

In response to the criticism, Garza filed a list of witnesses with the court on Wednesday, which includes two representatives with APD’s Special Investigations Unit, a firearms instructor who works with APD and a forensic expert who has authored a book on risk management and less lethal options for law enforcement.

In their initial motion asking for the list, defense attorneys Ken Ervin and Douglas O'Connell cited a portion of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure which states that -- in preparing the grand jury indictment documents -- the state's attorney "shall endorse on the indictment the name of each witness on whose testimony the indictment was found." Ervin and O'Connell called this provision "one of the few safeguards of transparency in otherwise secretive grand jury proceedings."

They went on to say, "the law is extraordinarily clear, succinct, and unambiguous."

In the past, D.A. Garza has emphasized the "secret" nature of grand jury proceedings. The same chapter in the Code of Criminal Procedure notes certain limits placed on the information state attorneys and prosecutors.

In his response, Garza wrote that he believes the provision for endorsing the names of witnesses on grand jury indictments "is directory and not mandatory," citing previous decisions by Texas courts. Garza said that the courts have not yet directed his office to provide the names of these witnesses, but went on to list "every witness who appeared before the grand jury in the Austin Protester Cases."

In the filing, Garza also asks the judge to find a “particularized need" for his office to release some additional items, such as transcripts, evidence and PowerPoint presentations given before the grand jury. Garza says the Code of Criminal Procedure prevents him from releasing these documents without that ruling.

The nature of the testimonies and the information contained in these other materials remains unknown, due to a stipulation in the Code of Criminal Procedure that the information must be provided to the officers and their attorneys, but cannot be released or disclosed to any other person.

KXAN has reached out to Ervin and O'Connell, as well as the department, for comment. We will update this article when more details become available.