Officer pleads not guilty in inmate’s death
A former Hays County corrections officer accused of shooting an inmate to death in December has pleaded not guilty to a charge related to the incident.
Isaiah Garcia, 27, was guarding inmate Joshua Wright, 36, during a visit to Ascension Seton Hays Hospital in Kyle.
The Hays County Sheriff’s Office said Wright was attempting to escape when Garcia shot him.
Garcia, who is no longer employed by the Hays County Sheriff ’s Office, was indicted in April on a charge of deadly conduct-discharging a firearm, a third-degree felony, according to court documents.
Wright’s family members, their attorneys and community activists have disputed officials’ statements about the fatal shooting.
Chevo Pastrano, an attorney representing Wright’s family, said earlier this year that Garcia followed Wright into a hospital bathroom where a “short scuffle and a push” occurred.
Pastrano said Wright’s legs were shackled when he was shot by Garcia, and he alleged that Wright was shot six times in the back.
Jordan Buckley, a social justice activist in Hays County, said Garcia should have faced more serious charges in the fatal shooting.
“It seems to me when you shoot an unarmed man whose feet are shackled in the back fatally that a more serious charge deserves to be applied,” Buckley said.
“As we understand it, the charge has to do with the endangerment of bystanders, rather than him being shot to death in the back while his feet were shackled in a hospital.”
In a written statement after Garcia was indicted in April, Hays County District Attorney Kelly Higgins said the grand jury determined the deadly conduct charge was “the most appropriate.”
Garcia’s attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.
Wright was facing charges of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, bail jumping, failure to appear, reckless driving, criminal mischief and evading arrest and detention, according to the Hays County Sheriff ’s office.