Hung jury forces mistrial for deputy
A Harris County Sheriff ’s deputy on Friday was one vote away from being cleared of wrongdoing after being accused of beating a speeding motorist after an early morning traffic chase in 2015.
Jurors deliberated almost seven hours before saying they were hopelessly deadlocked, with 11 jurors voting for not guilty in the aggravated assault case case of Harris County Sheriff ’Sgt. Marco Carrizales. State District Judge Josh Hill then declared a mistrial because of the jury’s inability to reach a unanimous verdict.
The deputy, who was working an off-duty job in uniform, is accused of smashing Ismael Garza Jr. in the face, fracturing his eye socket.
Bequita Pegram, a 45-year-old middle-school history teacher from Cypress, was the only juror who insisted that Carrizales was guilty.
“I felt like it was beyond a reasonable doubt that he was acting outside of the law,” she explained. “It was a very difficult case, because of the evidence.”
Ten other jurors declined to comment and one, who declined to give her name, said jurors thought both men were in the wrong. But because Garza initiat-
ed the chase by running a stop sign, she said, Carrizales should not be the only one held responsible.
“I couldn’t convict Mr. Carrizales because of the behavior Mr. Garza,” she said. “They were both guilty.”
Carrizales still faces a maximum of life in prison if convicted of the offense. The deputy can be retried, the case could be dismissed, or both sides could reach a plea deal.
Prosecutors Michael Harrison and Gavin Ellis left the courtroom without commenting or indicating their plans.
Defense attorney Cordt Akers said Carrizales is not guilty and is ready to go back to trial.
“Marcos Carrizales is a good man and a good cop, which is something our city sorely needs right now,” he said. “If the DA’s office decides to retry him, I’ll be proud to stand with him again.”
Through the weeklong trial, prosecutors worked to show that Carrizales was acting outside the law when he pursued Garza at speeds of up to 100 mph, and then injured him. Garza, a 30-year-old carpenter, ran a stop sign outside a La Porte refinery during shift change.
It was about 5 a.m. when Garza, who was driving home from a late-night barbecue, sped through the stop sign without stopping, he acknowledged on the witness stand.
Carrizales, who was directing traffic as a side job with another officer, then pursued Garza in his personal truck, without lights and sirens. Garza testified he thought the pursuing officer was a robber intent on stealing his truck.
Defense lawyers for Carrizales have tried to prove to the jury that the deputy, who was in uniform, identified himself as a police officer when trying to arrest Garza.
Carrizales testified that Garza stopped his pickup twice during the chase. The deputy said Garza pulled over the first time and yelled to the officer that he could not go back to jail before fleeing again. When Carrizales caught up to Garza again and pulled him over, the two struggled as the officer tried to get Garza out of his pickup truck.
During that fight, Carrizales testified, he got Garza out of the truck, then used a used a leg sweep to take Garza to the ground. The officer testified that the injury happened when Garza fell.
The defense also brought evidence to show that Garza had a history of running from police and fighting officers while resisting arrest. Garza was on probation in Hidalgo County when he was pulled over by Carrizales.
The trial began Monday. The jury deliberated for an hour Thursday before deliberating about six hours Friday. If Carrizales had been convicted, the case would have moved to a second phase in which jurors decided punishment.
The case is reminiscent of the high-profile trial of Terry Thompson, the husband of a sheriff’s deputy whose first trial, for murder, ended in a mistrial after jurors heard evidence about the 24 year-old victim’s behavior. Prosecutors later re-tried Thompson and successfully limited a new jury from hearing about the victim’s conduct during a midnight encounter outside a popular Denny’s restaurant. In a re-trial, Thompson was convicted of murder in the strangulation death of John Hernandez.