Jury selected, deadly conduct trial of APD officer Christopher Taylor to start Wednesday

AUSTIN (KXAN) – Jury selection wrapped up Monday afternoon for an Austin police officer accused of deadly conduct in the 2019 death of Mauris DeSilva .

Opening statements are set for Wednesday.

Christopher Taylor faces one deadly conduct charge, which is a 3rd-degree felony. Taylor and another police officer, Karl Krycia, were both indicted in 2021 for one count of murder and the one count of deadly conduct – discharge firearm, according to the Travis County District Attorney’s Office.

On Tuesday , Sept. 17, Taylor’s attorneys said that the Travis County District Attorney’s Office would not pursue the murder charge against Taylor.

“The government has notified us, and the Court that they will not proceed on the murder charge and instead will only proceed on Deadly Conduct, a 3rd degree felony,” said Taylor’s attorney, Doug O’Connell. “Regardless of the charge, Officer Taylor is not guilty of any crime. We are looking forward to seeing him acquitted so that he and his family can finally put this tragedy behind them.”

KXAN previously reported that DeSilva was having a mental breakdown in July 2019 and was holding a knife up to his neck when officers arrived, per APD accounts. Police said DeSilva moved the knife to his side when asked, but after he moved toward officers with the knife, he was shot and later died at the hospital.

In November, Taylor also stood trial for murder in the 2020 shooting death of Michael Ramos. A judge declared a mistrial after jurors could not come to a unanimous decision . Before that, a judge also granted a mistrial in May due to various issues during jury selection .

Austin-based attorney Will Hale, of the GHC law firm , said choosing a jury in such a high-profile case can be challenging.

“When you are a judge, defense lawyer or prosecutor picking a jury, the first and foremost concern is having a fair jury – one that’s not influenced by what they’re hearing in the news,” Hale said. “It gets to be very tough to find a jury that is not going to come in with pre-convictions on this case, one direction or the other.”

In June, the Travis County District Attorney’s Office said a grand jury decision ended the case’s prosecution against Taylor.

Monday’s jury selection for Christopher Taylor’s deadly conduct trial

The courts called a larger jury pool than normal to seat the jury for this case, calling in groups of 100 instead of the typical roughly 75.

Similarly to the last two jury selection processes in Taylor’s murder case, the majority of the questions asked by both prosecutors and defense attorneys surrounded people’s experience with, connection to, and general thoughts on law enforcement in general and police use of force.

Some members of the jury pool stated on the record Monday afternoon they did not believe they could be fair and impartial on this case because of their experiences and thoughts on police.

Cameras are not allowed inside the courtroom during jury selection.

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