District Attorney addresses criticism from SAPD chief, SAPOA about ‘habitual offenders’ on the streets

SAN ANTONIO – After every week the place 5 San Antonio Police Officers have been shot whilst pursuing suspects with energetic warrants and violent felony histories, Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales is addressing criticism from SAPD Chief William McManus and San Antonio Police Officers’ Association President President Danny Diaz.

“Again, we have another officer in the hospital being shot by an individual we were trying to arrest and take off the streets because he was wanted on violent felony warrants,” McManus stated after an incident on Wednesday afternoon.

A 40-year-old gunman who used to be sought after on a couple of prison warrants and a misdemeanor warrant opened hearth at drivers and cops on an East Side freeway. One officer used to be wounded earlier than the suspect — who has been recognized as Michael Kirkland — used to be shot and killed by means of police. Kirkland had a long felony historical past, however he used to be no longer convicted of the final seven fees on his file.

Hours after that taking pictures, any other officer suffered a gunshot wound whilst pursuing two automotive housebreaking suspects. The officials shot and killed one among the suspects after he allegedly pulled out a gun. McManus stated each suspects had felony fees, however their fees have been disregarded, they usually spent no time in prison.

“It’s been a rough day. It’s been a rough couple of weeks,” McManus stated. “I don’t want to get into a back and forth with the DA, but I just know that this happens in many, many, many cases. This isn’t an anomaly here… this is happening over and over and over again.”

Last week, any other taking pictures left officials hospitalized. The officials have been injured when 28-year-old Jesse Garcia allegedly opened hearth on them as they attempted to take him into custody on exceptional warrants simply southwest of downtown. Records display Garcia has a felony historical past relationship again to his teenagers. He have been set free of prison two times in the previous yr.

“I remain concerned about people who are on the street who should be in jail because they’re habitual offenders, especially the violent crime habitual offenders,” McManus stated at the scene of Wednesday’s incident.

District Attorney Joe Gonzales held a press convention Wednesday night time to deal with those issues and why the fees have been disregarded in opposition to Kirkland.

“I heard part of Chief McManus statement, and I will agree with him on several points, one of which is that this man could be characterized as a career criminal,” Gonzales stated.

“I’ve heard the term accountability tossed around,” Gonzales stated. “And I’ll tell you that my definition of being accountable is being answerable, being liable to the community. The community of Bexar County are the individuals that voted me into office, that kept me in office, and I am answerable to the entire community, and that’s what I’m doing today is explaining or answering how this man got away.”

With seven separate instances since past due 2019, Gonzales stated the dismissals have been normally because of loss of proof, no longer ready to find sufferers or witnesses, or any other technicality.

“This man has had incredible luck because every one of those cases where we’ve tried to go to trial, where we’ve tried to make him accountable, we’ve been unable to do that because of proof problems,” Gonzales stated all the way through the press convention. “That’s the situation we find ourselves in.”

Gonzales stated in terms of a felony case, they’ve in an effort to end up “beyond a reasonable doubt” that the crime used to be dedicated. Otherwise, the suspect may not be convicted.

Below is a listing of the seven felony instances delivered to the DA involving the suspect that have been disregarded, in keeping with Gonzales:

• Sept. 2, 2019

  • Aggravated Assault w/ Deadly Weapon

  • Unable to find sufferer, case disregarded

• Sept. 5, 2019

• Sept. 11, 2019

• Sept. 20, 2019

• Nov. 27, 2020

  • Aggravated Assault w/ Deadly Weapon

  • Victim used to be a person who used to be sentenced to jail. By the time the DA’s workplace positioned him and reached out, soliciting for cooperation, he wasn’t .

  • Case disregarded

• July 15, 2023

• August 2023

  • Aggravated Assault Against Public Servant

  • Case filed by means of Somerset Police Department

  • Active warrant — no longer arrested

“This individual was a habitual offender… But that doesn’t mean anything for punishment if we can’t even get that far,” Gonzales stated.

According to Bexar County courtroom information, Kirkland’s felony file dates again even additional to the yr 2000. It’s unclear if he confronted any jail time for the ones fees.

As for criticism about bonds being set too low for criminals, Gonzales stated he’s simply following the prison gadget.

“As has been explained before, with very limited exceptions, everyone, including someone who’s accused of murder, has a right to a bond and so long as that person has the ability to bond out, that person may be released and may be walking the streets among the rest of us if he can afford a bond. And so that’s the system that we have today. And that’s why I’ve been harping since I’ve been in office that our bail bond system ought to be based on risk, not based on how much money an individual has sitting in his bank account,” Gonzales stated.

Gonzales stated he is taking factor with fresh feedback that he attributed to SAPOA President Danny Diaz inferring that Gonzales wasn’t doing his process. On Thursday, Diaz referred to as on Gonzales to surrender.

“You know, I swore an oath when I was elected back in 2019 and was re-elected and began my second term earlier this year was to do everything I could do to keep our community safe. But we still have obligations as lawyers. We still have to go to court and prove these cases, regardless of how much I want to keep this community safe. We have to do our jobs. And that requires us being able to prove these cases. So, I felt it was important to correct that narrative that we are not doing what we’re supposed to be doing, that I am not doing enough as a leader of this huge office and in keeping our community safe,” Gonzales stated.

You can concentrate to Gonzales’ complete press convention in the video participant at the best of this newsletter.