Wyatt was arrested in December and charged with the misdemeanor offense after employees at a Washington Avenue restaurant accused her of breaking into an unlocked vehicle. Her attorney, Christopher Downey, conceded that Wyatt had shown “unusual behavior” prior to the arrest but maintained nothing was stolen.
Downey did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the grand jury’s decision.
In January, Judge Shannon Baldwin in County Criminal Court at Law No. 4 declared the allegations ambiguous and set her case for a probable cause hearing that month to determine whether the evidence was sufficient for the case to continue. The hearing was repeatedly delayed.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office made plans last month to take her case before a panel of grand jurors, whose proceedings are secret by law, rather than air out the evidence in open court where members of the public and press can observe.
Legal experts described the reversal as odd. Misdemeanor cases, except in limited circumstances, are not required by law to go before a grand jury. The burglary of a vehicle charge is not among the statutory exceptions.
On Thursday, officials with the Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare’s office walked back a prior statement claiming that misdemeanor cases are often brought before grand juries.
Rafael Lemaitre, one of Teare’s spokespeople, didn’t say why prosecutors turned to a grand jury consisting of Harris County residents instead of going forward with the public hearing, but he said grand juries can play an “especially important” role in examining misdemeanor cases involving elected officials.
“They provide independent, community‑driven oversight and ensure prosecutors have probable cause that a crime was committed before any charges move forward.”
Members of grand juries are picked like jurors in criminal and civil trials and meet twice a week for terms that sometimes last several months.
The grand jury’s decision was noted in the panel’s agenda of cases from Wednesday. The prosecutor, Carina Batista, presented two cases, including Wyatt’s burglary charge. Wyatt is still scheduled to appear in court next week, records show.
Wyatt was previously arrested for driving while intoxicated in December 2023, but the charge was dismissed last August after she completed a yearlong pretrial diversion program.