CORPUS CHRISTI, TX — A Texas judge on Jan. 7 rejected a motion for a mistrial in thecase of a former school police officeraccused of failing to protect children during theUvalde school shootingin 2022.
Judge Sid Harledenied the mistrial requestby defense lawyers for Adrian Gonzales, a former officer for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, during a hearing on Jan. 7. Gonzales' lawyers sought a mistrial due to concerns that awitness' testimony on Jan. 6had new details not previously shared with the defense.
Gonzales' lawyers argued that this violated the laws that the prosecution share evidence with the defense. Harle said inclusion of the testimony appeared to have been inadvertent, and that the trial would resume with the jury at 9 a.m. local time on Jan. 8.
Speaking to reporters outside the Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi on Jan. 7, Gonzales' defense team said the intention is for the jury to hear the witness' original statements to law enforcement. The witness, Stephanie Hale, who was a third-grade teacher at the school, will return on Jan. 8 to continue her testimony.
Gonzales, 52, was charged in 2024 with 29 counts of abandoning or endangering a child and has pleaded not guilty, according to court documents. An indictment accused Gonzales of failing to confront the shooter, who killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022.
Gonzales is one of two former police officers, including former Uvalde schools police chiefPete Arredondo, facing criminal charges for their role in the law enforcement response to one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history. Gonzales' case was transferred from Uvalde to Corpus Christi earlier this year as the officer's lawyers argued he could not receive a fair trial in Uvalde.
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Witness' testimony provided new details on shooter's location
The defense's request for a mistrial came after Hale testified on Jan. 6 that on the day of the shooting, she and her students were on the playground when gunshots were heard. Hale said she saw the shooter on the south side of the school while running with her students to get back to the classroom.
She had previously never told investigators or a grand jury that she had seen the gunman, but said in court that she had shared that information with prosecutors. Defense attorney Jason Goss said the defense team was not aware of this and accused the prosecution of a "trial by ambush."
Harle halted witness testimony until Jan. 8. The judge and lawyers reconvened on Jan. 7 to discuss the matter outside the presence of the jury.
The defense asked for a mistrial, which Harle denied, adding that he does not believe the prosecution intentionally withheld information, citing negligence.
Harle also said he does not believe the new details of the testimony resonated with the jury enough to impact the defense strategy. The defense and prosecution teams were allowed to discuss other potential remedies.
The judge added that he was ready to strike the relevant testimony from the record, which would mean asking the jury to disregard the information in their decisions.
The prosecution agreed they believed striking the testimony from the record was sufficient. But the defense wanted to wait, referencing an interest in reserving the right to later argue that the mistrial was wrongfully denied.
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Trial revives criticism over police response
The trial of Gonzales, which is expected to last for two weeks, has reignited criticism over law enforcement's response to the shooting. At the time of the attack, responding officers hadwaited 77 minutesbefore confronting the shooter.
In 2022, aTexas state reportfound that 376 law enforcement officers from 23 agencies responded to the shooting, but officers disregarded their active shooter training and "failed to prioritize saving the lives of innocent victims over their own safety."
The report, released by a Texas House committee investigating the shooting, cited "an unacceptably long period of time before officers breached the classroom," stopped the gunman, and aided the injured.
That same year, Steve McCraw, the former director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, testified before a state Senate committee and called the police responsean "abject failure."McCraw blamed Arredondo, who was the incident commander, for stopping officers from quickly confronting the shooter.
In 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice concluded inits own reportthat there were "cascading failures of leadership" at the scene and weak communication from authorities. The report also found that "the most significant failure was that responding officers should have immediately recognized the incident as an active shooter situation" and not treat it as a "barricaded subject" scenario.
Contributing: James Powel, George Petras and Janet Loehrke, USA TODAY; Niki Griswold and Chuck Lindell, USA TODAY Network; Reuters
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times:Uvalde school officer case: Texas judge denies mistrial request
