KILLEEN, Texas — The Bell County Grand Jury met Wednesday and no charges were returned in the shooting death of Curtis Shelley, Bell County District Attorney Henry Garza confirmed.
The incident from Nov 12., 2017, was caught on camera, and the Texas Rangers who investigated the case, as well as the grand jury, saw the video.
KCEN Channel 6 reporter Cole Johnson spoke to legal analyst Liz Mitchell to gain her perspective on the situation and grand jury proceedings in general.
When the Texas Rangers completed their investigation, they presented it to the grand jury.
Mitchell said the job for a grand jury is to see if there is probable cause that someone committed a crime.
She also said grand juries don't use the same standard a criminal trial does, which would be proving beyond a reasonable doubt that someone did commit a crime.
Grand jury proceedings are secret, so KCEN Channel 6 doesn't have access to transcripts, nor can anyone from the grand jury comment on what happened during the hearing, Mitchell explained.
In a grand jury hearing, members of the jury are able to directly question witnesses and break down the entire case.
"The grand jury just fires away with questions," she said. "Often times the witnesses are detectives that have investigated the case."
Once the jury hears the evidence, it deliberates and makes a decision.
"The prosecutor steps out of the room and no one is present during the grand jury deliberation," she said.
In Shelley's case, the grand jury said there wasn't enough probable cause to indict someone.
This decision does not mean charges could never be filed, but Mitchell said it's not likely.
"It's unlikely to think that another prosecutor is going to be appointed and another grand jury hear this case, but it is possible because double jeopardy was not attached," she said. "Other course of action for the family could be a civil wrongful death lawsuit, however I would say that would be unlikely."
Mitchell said the video only shows so much in this case.
"We don't know the set of facts and circumstances that surrounded the truck stopping," Mitchell said. "How did the person exit the vehicle? was he pulled out of his vehicle? Was there violence surround that encounter?"