SAN ANTONIO — Note: The above video is from a March 22 story.
The Bexar County District Attorney's Office on Thursday filed to dismiss manslaughter charges against a sheriff's deputy under investigation for the death of an Elmendorf man in 2020 during a domestic violence call.
According to court records, a judge promptly approved the request, which cited insufficient evidence in the case against Brandin Moran.
The seven-year Bexar County deputy was indicted by a grand jury just this week on charges that he "recklessly caused the death" of Jesus Benito Garcia in March of 2020. Authorities say Moran shot Garcia multiple times when he apparently refused to drop a screwdriver.
"Our actions are determined by the actions of the suspect on the scene," Sheriff Javier Salazar said in a news conference at the time. "They did what they had to do."
Garcia's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit earlier this month against Moran, calling the Bexar County Sheriff's Office's use-of-force police unconstitutional.
An attorney representing the family said Garcia "never threatened any of the officers" in the 2020 confrontation. But in a statement to KENS 5, District Attorney Joe Gonzales, calling the case "heartbreaking," also said his team wouldn't have been able to prove definitively in court that Moran's actions didn't potentially save the life of Garcia's wife, who was being "essentially held hostage" by the suspect.
"We know this result is disappointing to Mr. Garcia’s loved ones, and we also know that certain members of this community, which has seen too many police shootings, will be disappointed in the result," Gonzales's statement went on to read. "But once I realized we could not prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt, given the particularities of Texas law, it was our ethical duty to dismiss it."
Following the latest development, BCSO officials say Moran will be returning from administrative leave "effective immediately."