BELL COUNTY, Texas — The Bell County jury that acquitted Carmen DeCruz of all charges in connection to the death of Michael Dean made the decision after only a few hours of deliberations and after they were given an additional last minute charge to consider against the former Temple Police officer.
DeCruz was only facing second degree manslaughter, but in closing arguments, the prosecution decided to add criminally negligent homicide to the charges for the jury to consider.
6 News Legal Analyst Liz Mitchell was shocked the prosecution decided to do that, but believes there was one or two reasons behind the move.
"Hearing that the state decided to include what we call a lesser included offense, kind of was the first signal of trouble or doubt in my opinion," Mitchell explained. "Maybe they were a little concerned that they were not going to meet the burden beyond a reasonable doubt for the second degree reckless charge, but a lot of times when you include a lesser included, you might be worried that you have one or two jurors that are holdouts that might not possibly convict on the higher charge."
Mitchell said, like most, she was surprised by the unanimous not guilty verdict. She believes the prosecution made the right decision going after the second degree manslaughter charge.
Because she was not in the courtroom during the trial, she can't speak on what might have caused the jury to side with the defense. Mitchell did say it's easy for jurors to get confused if the trial or charges gets to complex or confusing.
"Usually if a jury charges too convoluted and confusing, you end up with a hung jury meaning they cannot reach a verdict or it's a split jury," Mitchell said. "However, in this case, we have 12 people who unanimously decided that DeCruz was not guilty of any of the offenses and in a relatively short amount of time."
Here's how Mitchell explained the jury's verdict in regards to the charges DeCruz faced in connection to the fatal interaction with Dean.
"They didn't feel that he was acting recklessly when he pointed the gun at the victim's head with his finger on the trigger for a routine traffic stop and the jury also acquitted him of the lesser included -- meaning they didn't feel that he failed to handle the firearm in a safe manner," she said.
The jury's verdict acquitted DeCruz of any future charges by the state in this case, but Mitchell said the former Temple police officer could potentially have other trials in federal court or civil court.
"He could face charges in a federal system if the offense meets certain criteria, one of which being did the offense occur on federal property and seeing as how the shooting did occur on a federal highway that could be a possibility," she explained.
The Dean family filed a $10 million civil lawsuit in 2021, claiming that the Temple Police Department displayed a consistent and systematic failure to address the continued use of excessive force against black people.
Mitchell says Tuesday's verdict could have an impact on it.