Prosecutors dropping case against APD officer Christopher Taylor in Michael Ramos death

Travis County prosecutors will not move forward with the case against Austin police officer Christopher Taylor in the death of Michael Ramos in a shooting that fueled the city's social justice protests of 2020.

The decision comes after prosecutors this week sought additional charges against Taylor for crimes that included aggravated assault, deadly conduct and manslaughter — as well as a murder charge — and a grand jury declined to issue any indictments.

Prosecutors could have gone to trial on an existing murder charge against Taylor in Ramos' death but are declining to do so. A jury deadlocked last year in a murder case against Taylor, and prosecutors initially said they would take it to trial again.

Travis County District Attorney José Garza cited the grand jury's assessment of the case in his decision to not move forward.

“We are surprised and disappointed at this result, but we also respect the grand jury's decision and time,” he said. “Our hearts continue to break for the Ramos family, who we know are still grieving.”

Attorneys Ken Ervin and Doug O'Connell, who represent Taylor, said in a statement that Garza used the grand jury to establish a "false reason" for the dismissal and "wants the public to believe his hands are now tied and he has no choice but to dismiss the case."

He said the grand jury's ruling "is of zero legal consequence to the existing indictment" and that "Mr. Garza is dismissing the case because he knows no Travis County jury will believe Officer Taylor committed any crime."

Taylor still faces a murder charge in the death of Mauris DeSilva, a man wielding a knife at a downtown Austin condo complex during what family members said was a mental health crisis.

The decision represents another loss in Garza's platform of police accountability that helped get him elected in 2020 for his first term. Garza brought the case against Taylor in his earliest weeks in office.

Earlier this year, his prosecutors also received not-guilty verdicts against former Williamson County deputies J.J. Johnson and Zach Camden in the death of Javier Ambler II. In December, Garza and his team dropped nearly all of the nearly two dozen cases against officers involving allegations of excessive force during the 2020 protests.

Taylor shot and killed Ramos in April 2020. He said he fired because Ramos began driving a car and he feared for the safety of his fellow officers.

Chas Moore, policy director at the Austin Justice Coalition, said the outcome of the case shows that "the system has once again failed to hold a police officer accountable for the unjust killing of a Black man. This isn't just about Michael Ramos; it's about the message that this sends to our community — that Black lives still don't matter to those in power."

In a message on X, Michael Bullock, president of the Austin Police Association, said that "as happy as I am to read this news, I'm even more relieved for Officer Taylor who had to endure this ordeal. No one deserves to go through all this, yet APD officers continue to show up and defend the citizens of this city."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Case dropped against APD officer Christopher Taylor in Ramos death