No indictments for 2 officers in Alva Braziel shooting death
HOUSTON (FOX 26) - The Harris County District Attorney's Office says the case of two HPD officers fatally shooting an armed man in Sunnyside is officially over.
It's the second time a Harris County grand jury declined to indict the officers in the fatal shooting of Alva Braziel in June 2016.
The D.A.'s office says the second grand jury was mostly minority citizens and the case was presented by a senior prosecutor with experience in civil rights investigations.
Still the man's widow and her supporters are upset with the grand jury's decision
It was back in March when the D.A.'s office first presented the fatal police shooting of Alva Braziel to a Harris County grand jury.
"We did not think that we did a good job of keeping either the family of Mr. Braziel or the community informed as to how we were proceeding in the case,” First Assistant D.A.Tom Berg said.
So the D.A's office says it decided to have a second grand jury made up of mostly minority citizens to review the case again.
“They saw the same evidence that the first grand jury saw," Berg said.
Berg said the second grand jury also had the opportunity to speak to Braziel's wife.
"I was sitting there waiting to go inside to talk to the jury," said Braziel’s wife Nikita Braziel.
But grand jurors declined to hear testimony from Nikita Braziel who was not present when her husband was killed.
Officials say the police body cam and another video from a nearby store prove the officers’ actions were justified, and that's probably why the second grand jury came to the same conclusion as the first.
"There's no question that he had a weapon and to the extent that you can make sense from the far away prospective of the camera he is lowering his arm with the weapon in his hand,” Berg said.
Some Sunnyside residents and Braziel’s wife are upset with the grand jury's decision to not indict the officers.
"It was basically an inside job to me," Nikita Braziel said.
The Harris County District Attorney's Office released the following statement on Thursday:
A Harris County grand jury declined Thursday to indict two Houston Police officers for the shooting death of Alva Braziel, an armed man they encountered as he walked in the middle of Cullen Boulevard in the early morning hours of July 2016.
"Grand juries comprised of citizens review all police shootings," Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said. "This enables the community, not prosecutors or police, to ultimately determine whether a person should be indicted."
The case was evaluated and presented to the grand jury by a senior prosecutor with experience in civil-rights investigations.
"It is our duty to be transparent and ensure that grand jurors have the opportunity to make informed decisions on whether a crime has been committed," Ogg said. "These decisions can impact people's lives forever."
Thursday's presentation marked the second time Braziel's death had been considered by a grand jury and the second time a grand jury declined to indict the officers.
The first time the case was presented to a grand jury, Braziel's family members said they had been unaware of the proceeding.
They then asked for the opportunity for additional information, including possible new evidence, to be considered by a grand jury.