BEXAR COUNTY, Texas \u2013 After a weekslong trial, a Bexar County jury handed down its verdict on Monday in the high-profile 2023 deadly police shooting of a Southwest Side woman. <\/p>\n
The three ex-officers \u2014 Eleazar Alejandro, Alfred Flores and Nathaniel Villalobos \u2014 were on trial in connection with the shooting death of Melissa Perez. <\/p>\n
Alejandro \u2014 who was initially charged with murder, aggravated assault and deadly conduct \u2014 was found not guilty. <\/p>\n
Flores, who was also facing the same charges as Alejandro, was also found not guilty. <\/p>\n
Villalobos, who was found not guilty, was the lone ex-officer not facing a murder charge. He was initially facing aggravated assault and deadly conduct charges. <\/p>\n
This was the first-ever Bexar County case when multiple on-duty officers faced murder charges in connection with a deadly SAPD police shooting. <\/p>\n
Following the reading of each verdict, the Bexar County District Attorney\u2019s Office released the following statement to KSAT on Monday afternoon. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Bexar County District Attorney\u2019s Office respects the jury\u2019s verdict and has no further comment,\u201d the statement read. <\/p>\n
A San Antonio Police Department spokesperson also sent KSAT a statement, attributed to the City Attorney\u2019s Office, following the verdict. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe City acknowledges the jury verdict today,\u201d the office said in a statement. \u201cHowever, the civil litigation and disciplinary processes are separate and distinct from the criminal process and we will continue to defend the City in the civil litigation and the discipline issued for the former officers involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
San Antonio Police Officers Association president Danny Diaz thanked jurors \u201cfor their time and diligence\u201d throughout the trial in a Monday evening statement to KSAT. <\/p>\n
Additionally in the statement, Diaz was also critical of the Bexar County District Attorney\u2019s Office. <\/p>\n
\u201cBexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales has once again exposed his willingness to engage in prosecutorial misconduct, by his team\u2019s lack of transparency and failure to disclose information during the discovery process, which could have placed a law enforcement officer behind bars,\u201d Diaz said, in part. \u201cThis is absolutely unacceptable, and our community has had enough. Our brave men and women in law enforcement answer the calls, risk their lives, and don\u2019t complain as they bravely and honorably serve the citizens of San Antonio. These heinous attacks on our officers must end today!\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have complained about the double standard within the department and the fact that wrong decisions are being made due to political pressures,\u201d Diaz continued. \u201cDA (Joe) Gonzales and co-prosecutors Daryl Harris and David Lunan have no place representing our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ben Sifuentes, a co-defense attorney for Alejandro, shared how his client reacted to the verdict on Monday afternoon. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe was extremely relieved, and he was elated,\u201d Sifuentes said. \u201cI can understand why he\u2019s grateful.\u201d <\/p>\n
According to Sifuentes, there are \u201cremedies at law\u201d that may be explored for the ex-officers. However, he did not elaborate on what those specific remedies would entail. <\/p>\n
Despite the three former officers firing 16 gunshots at her, Perez was only struck and killed by two bullets. <\/p>\n
Each officer\u2019s original charges carried maximum sentences of life in prison. <\/p>\n
The prosecution and joint defense presented their closing arguments to jurors on Monday morning. <\/p>\n
After the closing arguments concluded, Judge Ron Rangel, who presided over the trial, instructed jurors to begin deliberations on Monday afternoon. <\/p>\n
During the trial, SAPD detective Ronald Soto \u2014 the lead investigator of the police shooting of Perez \u2014 revealed on Oct. 28 that he did not include several relevant pieces of information<\/a>, including how many times she was shot in an arrest affidavit. <\/p>\n Soto also told jurors on Oct. 29 that he did not watch all 15 responding police officers\u2019 body-worn cameras<\/a> before filing an arrest affidavit for Alejandro, Flores and Villalobos on the same day of the shooting. <\/p>\n In addition, defense attorney Thom Nisbet, who represented Flores, pointed out on Oct. 30 another detail that was either left out of or incorrectly stated in the arrest affidavit.<\/a> <\/p>\n Nisbet went frame-by-frame with Soto and the court to debunk the detective\u2019s original reporting. <\/p>\n Soto wrote that Perez was in an apartment hallway when officers opened fire. In fact, according to SAPD body-worn camera, Perez was running toward the officers and positioned near a glass patio door when she was shot. <\/p>\n One of the witnesses the joint defense team called was former SAPD detective and Sgt. Lisa Miller, who alleged on Nov. 3 that the decision to charge the ex-officers was made in an SAPD administrative meeting approximately six-and-a-half hours after Perez was shot and killed<\/a>. <\/p>\n On Nov. 7, the final day of testimony, the prosecution made an attempt to call one final rebuttal witness after the defense rested its case. <\/p>\n Former CIA and FBI agent Chuck Joyner was called to the stand to answer questions from both sides before he would have been introduced to the jury. <\/p>\n However, the court learned that the state committed a violation when it did not provide all appropriate documents and disclosures to the defense, which in this case, was an up-to-date version of Joyner\u2019s resum\u00e9. <\/p>\n The resum\u00e9 would have disclosed that he currently worked as a peace officer in Harris County, Texas. <\/p>\n Rangel decided to disqualify Joyner from testifying in front of the jury due, in part, to this violation<\/a>. <\/p>\n Background<\/p>\n Melissa Perez, 46, was shot and killed<\/a> inside her Southwest Side apartment on June 23, 2023, during what SAPD Chief William McManus described at the time as a mental health crisis.<\/p>\n Alejandro and Flores were each facing murder charges while Villalobos was charged with aggravated assault by a public servant. <\/p>\n Back in May, a U.S. magistrate judge dismissed a civil lawsuit against two of the officers<\/a> \u2014 Alejandro and Flores \u2014 that Perez\u2019s family filed on her behalf. Villalobos\u2019 name was also previously thrown out of the civil lawsuit. <\/p>\n