Overview
- The Amarillo-based 7th Court of Appeals reversed Christopher Taylor’s felony deadly-conduct conviction on legal-sufficiency grounds and entered an acquittal that forecloses a new trial.
- The opinion cited body-worn camera footage showing officers confined in an elevator as Mauris DeSilva turned and advanced with a knife, concluding prosecutors failed to negate self-defense.
- A Travis County jury had convicted Taylor in October 2024 and a judge imposed a two-year sentence, though he remained free on bond during the appeal.
- Garza criticized the decision as substituting judges’ views for the jury’s and said his office will ask higher courts to review the case.
- The Austin Police Department, which fired Taylor after his sentencing, said it will review the ruling with the City Attorney’s Office, and DeSilva’s family attorneys said their civil case will proceed.