Lawyers for Army Sergeant Daniel Perry accused Travis County District Attorney José Garza of evidence tampering and witness retaliation.
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As the Board will no doubt learn, the lead detective in this case was forbidden by the Travis County District Attorney from mentioning a great deal of exculpatory evidence to the grand jury which considered the case in the first instance,” the attorneys wrote. While acknowledging the DA is not required to present exculpatory evidence to the grand jury, the defense team added, “there is a very clear legal distinction between choosing not to present exculpatory information to a grand jury and tampering with the testimony of a grand jury witness by shaping that witness’s testimony as to what that witness is allowed to say under fear of reprisals.”
“In fact, when the decorated detective later explained in an affidavit that he believed the Travis County District Attorney tampered with his grand jury testimony, the District Attorney did retaliate by putting the detective on a
Brady list which ultimately caused him to resign after almost 30 years of exemplary service at the Austin Police Department,” the attorneys continued.
A
Brady list is compiled by prosecutors or police departments and contains a list of law enforcement officers who “have sustained incidents of untruthfulness, criminal convictions, candor issues, or some other type of issue placing their credibility into question,”
according to a presentation published by the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
“Being placed on a
Brady list is the kiss of death to a homicide detective’s career,” Breitbart Texas legal analyst Lana Shadwick said. “The detective can no longer serve as a homicide detective because they would not be able to testify in court about the evidence they gathered during the investigation.