Dallas sheriff makes race for governor official

Dallas County Sheriff Guadalupe “Lupe” Valdez announces she is running for governor, giving Democrats a Hispanic standardbearer they hope will boost minority turnout and end their drought for statewide office.

Ricardo Llamas, with scars on his back and legs from being shot four times by a sheriff’s deputy, was somber after his trial ended Wednesday in a hung jury.

“If I had been shot by anybody else, I would be the victim in this case,” he said. “But I got shot by a cop, so they’re trying to make me a criminal. They have to go after me to justify what this guy did to me.”

The 41-year-old truck driver’s aggravated assault trial ended in a mistrial after the jury sent out nine notes over six hours saying they could not agree. Five jurors were voting not guilty and seven wanted to convict.

To Llamas, it seemed like he was on trial because he was leaving a flea market at 10 p.m. on March 26 when a sheriff ’s deputy opened fire on the broad side of Llamas’ softtop Jeep Wrangler.

“It’s very hard to be Hispanic or black in this country,” he said. “If he (deputy) comes downtown or the Galleria, he wouldn’t have opened fire.”

Llamas was arrested at the hospital and taken to jail on a charge of aggravated assault against a public servant after police say he tried to use his Jeep to run over Harris County Sheriff ’s Deputy Christopher Mook in the 8700 block of Airline Drive.

After notes from the jury that they were hopelessly deadlocked, state District Judge Susan Brown declared a mistrial and released the jury.

The prosecutors declined to comment as they left the courtroom.

The jury foreman, a 49-year-old woman from north Houston who declined to give her name, said she voted not guilty because prosecutors did not prove intent.

“I didn’t think the prosecutor proved their case,” the juror said. “I’m not doubting that everything happened, I agree with that, but I don’t think that

they proved to me that he intentionally tried to run over the officer.”

She said she thought Llamas behaved recklessly, but was not intentionally trying to run over the deputy.

Civil rights activists have questioned why Llamas’ trial began before a civil rights investigation into the officer’s actions was complete.

“We continue to believe that important information would be uncovered in an investigation of a questionable shooting that has never been investigated,” said defense attorney Carmen Roe, who represented Llamas.

After the mistrial, she said she was disappointed that the jury did not agree with her contention that the shooting could not have happened the way the officer testified.

“They ignored a story that was completely implausible and could not have occurred based on the physical evidence,” she said. “I think the jury correctly identified the issue which was that Mr. Llamas never intentionally tried run over the officer.”

Roe said Llamas did not pose any threat to the officer, citing bullet holes in the side — rather than front — of the vehicle as evidence that the shooting may have been unwarranted. She said evidence presented at trial showed the officer was on one knee, shooting at the side of the Jeep from about 15 feet away.

Prosecutors have argued that the officer was in fear for his life from a speeding Jeep when he fired the shots.

At a press conference in November, Johnny Mata, acting chairman of the Greater Houston Coalition For Justice, said that the rush to judgment without a serious investigation is “travesty of justice.”

He questioned why a trial is going forward before the officer has been investigated by a grand jury, as is protocol with all officer-involved shootings in Harris County.

The trial began Nov. 28 after reaching the top of the docket on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Last month, Dane Schiller, a spokesman for the District Attorney’s office, said trial dates are set by the judge, and are out of his office’s control.