{"id":371412,"date":"2026-07-13T18:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T18:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/371412\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T18:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T18:36:09","slug":"records-case-against-ex-sapd-officer-james-brennand-dismissed-following-new-erik-cantu-accusation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/371412\/","title":{"rendered":"Records: Case against ex-SAPD officer James Brennand dismissed following new Erik Cantu accusation"},"content":{"rendered":"

BEXAR COUNTY, Texas \u2013 A whirlwind morning inside Bexar County\u2019s 437th Criminal District Court concluded with the dismissal of the felony case against former SAPD officer James Brennand<\/a>. <\/p>\n

According to Bexar County court records, Brennand\u2019s aggravated assault by a public servant charge, which was considered a first-degree felony, was dismissed due to \u201cfurther investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Monday morning\u2019s court proceedings<\/p>\n

Approximately 90 minutes before the dismissal, prosecutors\u2019 motion to delay Brennand\u2019s trial was denied. <\/p>\n

The denial, which was made by Judge Joel Perez, initially meant that the trial of Brennand, 31, was on track to begin with jury selection next Monday. <\/p>\n

Erik Cantu<\/a> was sentenced on June 8 to two years of deferred adjudication<\/a> on a 2025 burglary of a habitation charge when he was accused of breaking into the home of his child\u2019s mother<\/a>. Cantu was indicted on the charge one week before he was sentenced. <\/p>\n

At the time, the June 8 sentencing meant he would not serve any additional time behind bars.<\/p>\n

Prosecutor Neil Cordero told the court Monday that their reason for the delay stemmed from new information involving a new criminal investigation into Cantu. <\/p>\n

According to an SAPD report obtained by KSAT, a 20-year-old woman told officers she was in a car with Cantu on July 1 in the 1000 block of Locke Street when he allegedly \u201cmade concerning comments that placed her in fear.\u201d <\/p>\n

The woman said Cantu, who was driving the vehicle, then stopped the vehicle and \u201cdemanded\u201d she get out of the car, the report said.<\/p>\n

While SAPD said its investigation into the case is ongoing, one of Cantu\u2019s probation orders handed down at his June 8 sentencing was that he was not allowed to drive for two years.<\/p>\n

Cordero said the terroristic threat accusation, which is considered a Class A misdemeanor, is \u201cstill in the investigation phase\u201d and the charge has not been filed with the Bexar County District Attorney\u2019s Office. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe the Court should continue (delay) this case because, at this time, the State of Texas would be greatly disadvantaged in proceeding to trial with this investigation pending over our named complainant,\u201d Cordero said. <\/p>\n

Jason Goss, a co-defense attorney for Brennand, successfully argued to Perez that his client\u2019s right to a speedy trial would be ignored if the state\u2019s request was granted. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe state doesn\u2019t have the same due process rights as the defendant (Brennand), especially when their complainant (Cantu) continually and will not stop committing new offenses, new crimes or alleged new offenses or new crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the dismissal, KSAT reached out to the Bexar County District Attorney\u2019s Office for comment on Monday\u2019s development. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe purpose of the motion was to allow us time to properly investigate and assess the implications of this new development and its potential impact on the current case against James Brennand,\u201d a Bexar County District Attorney\u2019s Office spokesperson told KSAT in a statement. \u201cAs a result of the judge\u2019s ruling in denying the motion, we decided to dismiss the case due to the pending investigation of Mr. Cantu\u2019s latest allegations.\u201d <\/p>\n

While the DA\u2019s office declined additional details on Brennand\u2019s dismissal, the spokesperson said the case can be refiled at a later date after the \u201ccompletion\u201d of the Cantu \u201cinvestigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Background<\/p>\n

In October 2022, police records show that Brennand, who was 27 at the time of the shooting, fired multiple shots at a BMW driven by Cantu, who was 17. <\/p>\n

Brennand, who was fired from SAPD three days after the shooting, was captured on body camera footage opening the door of Cantu\u2019s vehicle and shooting at him as Cantu attempted to drive away.<\/p>\n

The shooting drew national attention. Cantu suffered serious injuries and spent months recovering.<\/p>\n

Brennand\u2019s trial was expected to last two-and-a-half weeks.<\/p>\n

If he was convicted, Brennand could have faced up to life in prison.<\/p>\n

Read also:<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BEXAR COUNTY, Texas \u2013 A whirlwind morning inside Bexar County\u2019s 437th Criminal District Court concluded with the dismissal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371413,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[698,815,294,1094,1098,82,84,83,632],"class_list":["post-371412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-bexar-county","tag-courts","tag-crime","tag-erik-cantu","tag-james-brennand","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-sapd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371412\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}