New charges filed against ex-officer

James Brennand, the fired San Antonio police officer under indictment for shooting and critically injuring 17-year-old Erik Cantu in 2022, is no longer facing an attempted murder charge.

A Bexar County grand jury initially charged Brennand with two counts of aggravated assault by a public servant, both firstdegree felonies, and one count of attempted murder, a second-degree felony.

But last week, a grand jury issued a new indictment. A copy was served on Brennand during a court hearing Monday.

The first two counts in the new indictment remain the same. But the attempted murder charge is gone. In its place, the grand jury substituted a charge of deadly conduct, a third-degree felony, court records show.

The change gives a trial jury greater flexibility in applying the law to the facts of the case and deciding what if any crimes Brennand committed. If the evidence doesn’t show that Brennand was guilty of aggravated assault, the jury still could convict him of the lesser charge of deadly conduct.

To prove attempted murder, the prosecution would have to show that Brennand intended to kill Cantu. For deadly conduct, it’s sufficient to prove recklessness.

The Texas Penal Code defines deadly conduct as reckless behavior “that places another in imminent danger of serious bodily injury,” including by firing a gun “at or in the direction of ” one or more individuals.

According to the new indictment, Brennand shot Cantu and fired “in the direction” of his girlfriend, Emily Proulx, 18, who was sitting beside him. She was uninjured.

If convicted of the charges against him, Brennand would face a potential sentence ranging from five years to life in prison.

The indictment is the latest turn in the former officer’s legal saga. He was arrested on Oct. 11, 2022, nine days after he shot Cantu outside a Mcdonald’s restaurant on the North Side.

Cantu was sitting in a maroon BMW eating a hamburger when Brennand, a probationary officer with seven months on the job, approached him, body camera footage shows.

On the video, Brennand can be heard telling dispatchers that he recognized the BMW as a stolen vehicle whose driver previously had eluded him. Brennand approached the car with his gun drawn, opened the driver’s side door and told a seemingly stunned Cantu, “Get out of the car!” He did not identify himself as a police officer.

Cantu drove in reverse for several feet, hitting Brennand’s leg with the open car door. The teenager then sped toward the exit of the parking lot. Brennand fired at least 10 shots at the car, seriously injuring Cantu, who was rushed to University Hospital, where he spent several weeks on a ventilator.

An affidavit supporting Brennand’s arrest said the officer was “clearly not in danger of death or serious bodily injury” when he shot Cantu.

Police Chief William Mcmanus fired Brennand, alleging that his actions violated department tactics, training and procedures.

Cantu, meanwhile, was charged with evading arrest and assault on a peace officer. Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales later dropped those charges.

In October of last year, Brennand’s defense team filed a motion to move Brennand’s trial out of Bexar County on the ground that “persistent inflammatory media coverage” would prevent Brennand from receiving a fair trial here.

Earlier this year, after KSAT-12 and later the San Antonio Express-news detailed how an Austinbased criminal justice reform group had offered public relations advice to Gonzales and his top aide about the Brennand-cantu case, Brennand’s defense team issued a subpoena to obtain those communications. They argued that they could be relevant to their change-of-venue motion.