A former Austin police officer sentenced to prison for fatally shooting a man in 2019 has been acquitted by a Texas appeals court.
Christopher Taylor fatally shot 46-year-old Mauris DeSilva, who was in a mental health crisis and holding a knife, at his downtown condo in 2019. Travis County District Attorney José Garza later charged Taylor with deadly conduct. He was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison late last year.
Taylor's attorney, Doug O'Connell, immediately appealed the conviction. O'Connell said Tuesday night that he was happy with the decision from Texas' 7th Court of Appeals to acquit him of the charge.
"The use of force in this incident was both legal and authorized under the circumstances," O'Connell said. "The Appeals Court’s ruling fully exonerates ... Taylor and delivers a powerful rebuke to the flawed legal theory pursued by the District Attorney’s Office."
In a statement, Garza called the decision by the appeals court "absurd."
“The conservative Amarillo-based 7th Court of Appeals judges think they know better than the Travis County jurors who heard the case and convicted Taylor," he said. "We will continue fighting to uphold the jury’s conviction.”
At trial, defense attorneys argued Taylor acted within APD’s training and was defending himself. Travis County prosecutors argued he didn’t need to kill DeSilva.
Taylor was the first officer to be convicted of an on-duty shooting in the department's modern history. APD fired Taylor after his conviction, citing state law that bans convicted felons from serving in law enforcement. The department said on Tuesday that it was "aware of the ruling from the Texas 7th Court of Appeals."
A spokesperson said APD "will review the decision with the City Attorney’s Office."
Taylor was previously accused of murder for fatally shooting Mike Ramos in 2020. The killing of Ramos, a Black and Hispanic man, sparked mass protests locally and dovetailed with the national wave of outrage over police killings of Black people after the murder of George Floyd. The Ramos case ended in a hung jury in late 2023.
