This browser does not support the Video element.
This browser does not support the Video element.
CROSBY, Texas - There was outrage and disbelief from family and friends when they found out Chauna Thompson is no longer facing murder charges.
Her husband, Terry Thompson, was recently convicted on the same charge, and is serving a 25-year sentence. This stems from an incident outside of a Denny's restaurant two years ago when Terry placed John Hernandez in a choke hold after a fight.
Chauna was seen in cell phone video holding Hernandez down. Hernandez died days later.
"There will never be just us for the Hernandez family, because John is not here,“ says Cesar Espinosa, a community activist, who has been helping the Hernandez family during this time.
Melissa Hernandez, John's cousin tells us, “We really thought that we were going to continue with the case, and we were going to be able to fight for John and for the justice that he deserves. We wanted Chauna to have to pay for what she did because she was there.“
The family of John Hernandez feels they only got half justice. Terry Thompson is in prison serving a 25-year sentence, but Chauna gets to walk free.
Harris County District Attorney’s Office says although they found probably cause for her involvement in John’s death from the beginning, the last two years have brought forth witnesses, and new evidence.
Tom Berg, First Assistant for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, says, "We realized we don’t have the evidence to convict Chauna Thompson. We need to let her go, we have to dismiss the case.”
It was stated that Chauna attempted to give John CPR when he went unconscious, but in the family’s eyes that’s not enough to wipe her slate clean.
The family wants to close this dark chapter in their lives, and thanks everyone for the support they have received. But they do have one request-- "If she is going to continue to be free that she never has a job in a law enforcement agency ever,“ says Espinosa.
We reached out to Chauna's attorney. He issued us this statement:
"We are pleased that after almost 2 years, the District Attorney was finally able to do the right thing in this case. No new facts have been discovered since the indictment in June 2017 and the dismissal is simply the confirmation that Deputy Thomson should never have been charged with a crime."