On Feb. 8, 2016, Austin Police Officer Geoffrey Freeman fatally shot 17-year-old David Joseph. Four months later, a Travis County grand jury declined to indict the officer for his death.
In December, KUT aired a story about Joseph’s cousin Vanessa Bissereth who spent more than a year trying to memorialize his life. She worked to have a mural painted in his honor. She met with local politicians and drafted police reform. Nothing changed.
After hearing the story, a grand juror who served on the Freeman case reached out to KUT. We put her in touch with Bissereth, and the two agreed to meet. KUT’s Audrey McGlinchy was present and recorded the conversation.
Listen to their conversation below.
Grand jury proceedings are secret, and jurors can face fines or jail time for discussing information that is not public. For this reason, the juror spoke only about parts of the case KUT was able to independently verify, and KUT is not revealing her name.
