The Travis County District Attorney’s Office in the Ronald Earle Building in Austin, Wednesday, June 11, 2025.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
Travis County District Attorney José Garza plans to drop murder and deadly conduct cases against an Austin police officer who fatally shot a man during a mental health crisis in a downtown condominium, the American-Statesman has learned.
Garza is in final negotiations before entering a unique agreement with Officer Karl Krycia that will require him to serve as a police academy instructor, teaching officers about how they should respond in rapidly evolving and dynamic situations such as the one he encountered with Mauris DeSilva in 2019.
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The arrangement represents a strikingly different approach to how Garza handled the case against Officer Christopher Taylor, who also opened fire on DeSilva in the same moments.
Prosecutors pursued a deadly conduct case against Taylor that resulted last year in what is believed to be the first conviction of an Austin police officer for using lethal force while on duty. A decision in Taylor’s appeal could come by the end of December.
Attorneys for DeSilva’s family confirmed Garza’s plan to the Statesman following a recent meeting with Garza and his prosecutors. They said they are shocked that Krycia was able to “cut a deal to avoid trial and accountability.”
“The father and mother of Dr. Mauris DeSilva are dismayed and disappointed,” attorneys Jarrod Smith and Brad Vinson said in a statement. “The family believes that only a jury can speak truth to the longstanding abuses of police power historically condoned by the City and its Police Department.”
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The news comes as Garza’s office is trying another Austin police officer on deadly conduct charges in connection to a separate shooting.
Garza, who was elected in 2020 on a platform of greater police accountability, said in a statement that “this matter is still pending in the Travis County District Attorney’s Office.”
The Travis County District Attorney’s Office in the Ronald Earle Building in Austin, Wednesday, June 11, 2025.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
The Austin Police Department said in a statement that it “would provide further comment if an official agreement is reached. It is important that we respect the process and allow it to run its proper course.”
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Krycia’s attorney, Jason English, did not return calls seeking comment.
Austin police were called to the Spring Condominium tower after DeSilva, who had a history of mental health issues, was seen with a knife to his neck. When they arrived, they got on an elevator to the building’s fifth floor – a common area with a gym and pool – because they feared DeSilva might hurt another resident, their attorneys have said.
Within seconds of the elevator doors opening, they saw DeSilva with the knife, screamed for him to drop it, and Taylor and Krycia shot when they said DeSilva appeared to move toward them.
It was Taylor’s second fatal shooting. A Travis County jury deadlocked in 2023 in the murder trial of Taylor, who shot and killed Michael Ramos in April 2020. Prosecutors later decided not to try the case again and dropped the charges.
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A grand jury indicted Taylor and Krycia on murder charges in DeSilva’s death, but prosecutors only pursued a deadly conduct charge against Taylor during a trial last year. A judge sentenced him to two years behind bars, but he remains out on bond during his appeal.
Austin police officer Christopher Taylor arrives at his sentencing hearing at the Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center Tuesday December 3, 2024. Taylor was found guilty of deadly conduct in the fatal shooting of a man with a history of mental illness.
Jay Janner/American-Statesman
Last week, Taylor’s attorneys argued in Lubbock before the 7th Court of Appeals that the jury convicted Taylor without sufficient evidence, which prosecutors disputed.
Under the agreement, Smith said Krycia will remain with the Austin Police Department and help train officers for several months on what the Police Executive Research Forum describes as an “innovative, evidence-based approach to use-of-force.” The program is known as ICAT, which stands for “Integrating Communications, Assessments and Tactics.”
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Austin police currently use the ICAT program, but are also in the process of working with researchers to evaluate their force policies and training.
“ICAT focuses on situations involving persons in crisis and those who are unarmed or armed with weapons other than firearms,” training materials say.
Read More: ‘Nothing reasonable about it’: Why juror says APD officer Christopher Taylor was convicted
Smith and Vinson said they also do not believe the city has done enough to address “its culture of excessive force and its policy of impunity in failing to discipline officers. The family is disheartened and dismayed that the city and its police department persist in upholding this culture.”
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Although Garza’s office has obtained indictments on more than two dozen officers in his five years in office, it has struggled to obtain convictions, mirroring national challenges in police prosecutions.
Most notably, Garza’s office secured indictments against 21 police officers after the 2020 social justice protests on excessive force charges, but later dropped all but a handful.
A trial against Officer Daniel Sanchez, who is charged with deadly conduct, is ongoing this week in the fatal 2022 shooting of tech entrepreneur Rajan Moonesinghe, focusing on whether Moonesinghe posed a real threat and whether Sanchez’s split-second decision to fire was justified.
Respected veteran attorneys with decades of experience in Austin offered a different analysis of Garza’s proposed resolution of Krycia’s case.
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Former state district Judge Jon Wisser said “it is somewhat unusual” to try one defendant but not the other in cases of similar actions.
But Charlie Baird, a defense attorney and former district judge, said it is appropriate in certain circumstances, particularly when there is a broader community benefit such as better police training.
“If you can use this as an approach as far as a teachable moment, I think that is appropriate,” he said.
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