Murder trial to begin in Denny’s strangling
Testimony is set to begin Wednesday in the murder trial of the husband of a former Harris County Sheriff’s deputy, charged with strangling a fellow patron during a late-night altercation outside of a Houston restaurant.
Terry Thompson, 42, is accused of intentionally killing 24-year-old John Hernandez while pinning him down in a choke hold after a midnight confrontation in the parking lot of a Denny’s in east Harris County on May 28, 2017. Hernandez died days later after being removed from life support.
Thompson is married to former deputy Chauna Thompson, 46, who was with him during the struggle and also has been charged with murder.
The case garnered national coverage because it was Hernandez who was initially charged with wrongdoing, then county officials reversed course after a minute-long bystander video of the confrontation surfaced. The video spurred a massive protest that swept through downtown with about 150 people waving signs proclaiming “Brown Lives Matter” and “Justice for John Hernandez.”
The Thompsons, who are
both white, were indicted days later, and Chauna Thompson was fired from the sheriff’s office.
Lawyers for the couple have maintained that Hernandez was urinating outside the restaurant when Terry Thompson, who had just arrived with his children, confronted him. Thompson’s defenders say an argument turned physical and Hernandez threw the first punch, initiating the deadly exchange.
“My client was not the aggressor,” Scot Courtney, an attorney for Thompson, said after the video was released. “My heart goes out to the entire family, but we need to see the entire picture and not just the end result.”
Father demands jail time
Friends and family of Hernandez say Terry Thompson used his previous training as a mixed martial artist to choke Hernandez while his wife, a law enforcement officer, egged him on.
Before jury selection last Friday, about 30 protesters chanted on the steps of the civil courthouse at 201 Caroline.
“We feel like there needs to be a conviction,” said Cesar Espinosa, executive director of FIEL Houston. “Folks need to know that these things won’t go unpunished. If people commit these types of crimes, there will be punishment.”
Hernandez’s father said he’s glad to see the trial begin and wants both Thompsons jailed.
“They need to be in jail for what they did to my son,” he said through a translator. “If he goes free, he’s going to continue killing Hispanic people.”
A family friend was upset the responding police took the side of the officer and her husband.
“It’s not right — everyone involved should’ve been arrested,” said Antonio Ramirez, a friend of the Hernandez family. “If the roles were reversed and he would’ve killed (the deputy’s) husband, John would’ve been locked up.”
‘I’m not getting off him’
Melissa Trammell, a server at Denny’s, sobbed as she talked about the struggle days afterward.
“The man was turning purple,” she said of Hernandez. “We begged him to get off the man, and he wouldn’t.”
She said she tried to reason with Thompson as he straddled Hernandez and choked him.
“He looked me in the face and said, ‘I’m not getting off him,’ ” she said.
The trial, in front of state District Judge Kelli Johnson, began with jury selection Friday and opening statements and testimony scheduled for Wednesday.
A jury of nine men, one of whom was black, and six women were seated Friday. It was unclear whether any of the jurors were Hispanics or Latinos.
Because most murder cases take two years or longer to get to trial in Harris County, the defense demanded a speedy trial. They have argued that prosecutors rushed to indict the Thompsons because of pressure from protesters. In this case, getting the case before a jury in just over a year is almost unheard of, particularly after Hurricane Harvey shuttered the county’s 20-story criminal courthouse.
Prosecutors have recently filed several motions for continuance because experts, such as the doctors who performed the autopsy, are out of town on vacation. Johnson has denied those motions.
If convicted, Thompson faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.