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The trial for three former San Antonio Police Department officers charged in connection with the shooting and killing of Melissa Perez in the summer of 2023 is nearing.
The final pre-trial hearing has been set for next Wednesday.
Two former officers, Eleazar Alejandro and Alfred Flores, are charged with murder over the shooting of Perez, a woman with schizophrenia who had an apparent mental health crisis at her apartment complex when the officers confronted her.
SAPD Chief William McManus quickly fired the three officers and said they had not followed protocol.
A third former officer, Nathaniel Villalobos, is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon by a public servant.
The most recent hearing was held in April. Defense attorneys accused prosecutors at the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office of withholding key evidence related to the process behind the speedy warrant that led to the officers’ arrests, which prosecutors denied.
Alejandro’s attorney Ben Sifuentes told Judge Ron Rangel, who is overseeing the case, that he believes the evidence the defense team is seeking may show that there was a “rush to judgment” by SAPD leadership in order to get warrants.
If documents were improperly withheld, Sifuentes said, it could constitute official misconduct — an offense that could trigger a 2023 Texas law that allows the state to remove locally elected prosecutors.
The DA’s office maintained that it had turned over all evidence it was legally required to and that the documents the defense is seeking do not exist.
Rangel ended that hearing by allowing the defense to share information with him under seal detailing why the potential evidence was so important to their case.
Rangel is likely to decide whether such evidence is likely to exist and whether the prosecution is required to turn it over to the defense at next week’s hearing.
