No change of venue in Denny’s choke-hold death
Former deputy, husband had sought move, saying video prevented fair trial for them here
A Harris County judge on Friday ruled there was no reason to move the trials of a sheriff ’s deputy and her husband who are charged with murder in the choke-hold death of a man at a local Denny’s.
Defense attorneys for ex-deputy Chauna Thompson — who has been fired from the sheriff ’s office — and her husband, Terry, had asked for a change of venue and want to move the case to another county because of publicity in the case.
State District Judge Kelli Johnson said she was confident that in a county with more than 2 million jurors a fair and impartial jury could be seated.
“I find there was no evidence of a dangerous combination against the defendants,” Johnson said while making her ruling. “I also find there was no evidence of prejudice against the defendants that would prevent them from getting a fair trial.”
During a three-day hearing over the past week, prosecutors argued that after 10 days of intense media scrutiny when the Thompsons were arrested last June coverage has fallen off.
Defense attorneys Greg Cagle and Scott Courtney, who are representing the Thompsons, had argued that video of the event, which has been shown by media across the country, would prejudice a Harris County jury. They unsuccessfully argued that District Attorney Kim Ogg, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez and civil rights attorney Randall Kallinen worked together in a “dangerous combination” to get the Thompsons indicted within days of the video surfacing.
Kallinen is representing the family of the deceased, John Hernandez, in a civil lawsuit and stands to gain financially if he wins the civil case, a task made easier if the Thompsons are convicted, their defense team argued in a failed effort to remove local prosecutors from the case.
Hernandez’s death sparked widespread publicity after the video of the late-night May 28 deadly encounter was released, with hundreds of protesters marching across downtown Houston demanding that the Thompsons face criminal charges.
Terry and Chauna Thompson were arrested and charged in Hernandez’s death shortly after a video showing the married couple restraining him about 11:40 p.m. May 28 in the parking lot of a northwest Harris County Denny’s. They both face life in prison if convicted.
A motion for a change of venue was always a long shot because of the large size of the jury pool. Moving any case, including Houston’s most high-profile trials, to another county for trial is practically unheard of over the past decade.
The Thompsons’ attorneys have maintained that Hernandez initiated the fatal encounter by throwing the first punch. Hernandez died from severe injuries, and bystander video showed Terry Thompson apparently administering a choke hold during the struggle.