Austin Police officer Christopher Taylor was sentenced to 2 years in prison yesterday for killing Mauris DeSilva in 2019. The reaction from law enforcement groups has been as expected — disappointment, outrage. An unfair process But these reactions skirt over major checks in the justice system. - ThreadSky

austinsanders.bsky.social • 102 days ago

Austin Police officer Christopher Taylor was sentenced to 2 years in prison yesterday for killing Mauris DeSilva in 2019. The reaction from law enforcement groups has been as expected — disappointment, outrage. An unfair process

But these reactions skirt over major checks in the justice system.

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austinsanders.bsky.social•102 days ago

On the left is a statement from a pro-police group that is perceived in Austin politics to generally act in good faith. On the right is the statement from the statewide police union. And, well, it's what you'd expect a police union to say.

austinsanders.bsky.social•102 days ago

both reactions overlook three critical pieces of the justice system that led to Taylor's sentence.

1. Taylor was indicted by a Grand Jury consisting of Travis County residents
2. He was convicted at trial by a Travis County jury
3. He ws sentenced by a judge elected by Travis county voters

austinsanders.bsky.social•102 days ago

At 3 separate points in Taylor's journey through the justice system, representations of the community he served as a patrol officer rendered judgement on his conduct when he shot and killed DeSilva. At each point, those representations all agreed, to some extent, Taylor should have acted differently

austinsanders.bsky.social•102 days ago

So that's what the law enforcement groups are reacting with disappointment and outrage to — not just that a police officer was convicted of a felony and sentenced to prison for on-duty conduct, but that various aspects of the officer's community made those decisions.

austinsanders.bsky.social•102 days ago

Both the CTPSC and CLEAT know this, of course. It's the same argument they would make for any other criminal defendant sentenced to prison. It's just that they're unaccustomed to police officers being held accountable in this way.

austinsanders.bsky.social•102 days ago

The statement from Lisa Davis, Austin's new police chief, is much more restrained. I was kind of surprised, given that prior chiefs have not hesitated to publicly express their own disappointment at the criminal prosecution of police officers.

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