Zero Tolerance for SWAT Officer?
Austin Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the Dec. 3 traffic accident and subsequent drunken driving arrest of Austin Police Department SWAT team member Officer Michael Hamilton. Hamilton, who was on call, was driving a department-issued Crown Victoria at the time of the accident. He was found standing near the car, which had rolled over – presumably with his SWAT gear inside – on Convict Hill Road, south of William Cannon Drive. “The Department’s zero tolerance stance on DWI is well known throughout the APD and the community we serve,” Chief Art Acevedo said in a statement. “Consistent with our stance, we are investigating Officer Hamilton’s actions leading up to and following the crash.” Reportedly, Hamilton had been out drinking with a group of fellow officers; in part, the investigation would determine the circumstances of that celebration and whether anyone knew how much Hamilton had to drink or whether he was intoxicated. Former Officer Leonardo Quintana, who was responsible for the shooting death of Nathaniel Sanders II in May 2009, was fired by Acevedo this spring for a single-car DWI crash in January – but got his job back after an arbitrator ruled that his termination was out of line with DWI-related discipline Acevedo had previously meted out for other officers. (Quintana was subsequently terminated for an unrelated incident and is again seeking reinstatement.) At the conclusion of the Hamilton investigation, Acevedo said, the department will “take appropriate administrative and criminal action.” – Jordan Smith
Was Toddler’s Death an Accident?
Travis County District Judge Charlie Baird will hear evidence Thursday, Dec. 9, from an expert witness who says the 2003 death of toddler Bryan Gutierrez was nothing more than a tragic accident. It will be the first testimony in a hearing on an appeal by Rosa Estela Olvera Jimenez, who was convicted and sentenced to 99 years for allegedly stuffing a wad of paper towels into Gutierrez’s throat, which the state says ultimately led to the toddler’s death. Jimenez argues that new evidence – the opinions of three leading pediatric specialists – now refutes the state’s theory of the crime. Instead, the experts have opined in affidavits filed with the court that Gutierrez’s injuries were most likely accidental, caused by the child placing towels in his own mouth. In response to Jimenez’s appeal, filed in October by her attorney, Bryce Benjet, Travis County prosecutor Elizabeth Phillips argues that the opinions of the retained defense experts do not constitute new evidence. Rather, she wrote, the experts offer only “alternative theories from those presented by the State at trial concerning whether the choking was accidental.” Even if the expert evidence were to be considered new, the state argues, it still wouldn’t be enough to “unquestionably establish” Jimenez’s innocence. After Thursday’s hearing, Baird will hear the remaining testimony later this month. – J.S.
Yogurt Shop Murders Not Forgotten
Nineteen years after the grisly quadruple murder in a North Austin yogurt shop, prosecutors are still testing DNA evidence to try to link a suspect to the murders of Eliza Thomas, 17; sisters Jennifer and Sarah Harbison, 17 and 15; and Amy Ayers, 13. The four teens were found on Dec. 6, 1991, at the yogurt shop where the two older girls worked. They had been bound, gagged, shot, and burned in a fire that investigators said was set to cover the crime. It wasn’t until eight years later that investigators said they’d found those responsible: four men who were also teens at the time of the murders. Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott were tried and convicted of the crime, but their convictions were later tossed out by the courts. (For lack of evidence, prosecutors dropped the charges against a third suspect, Maurice Pierce, whom they had dubbed the crime’s “mastermind.” The case against the fourth, Forrest Welborn, was abandoned after two grand juries failed to indict him.) Last year, the charges against Springsteen and Scott were dismissed after previously undiscovered DNA found inside one of the victims came back with an unknown male profile. Investigators are still looking for the owner of that DNA, a District Attorney’s Office spokesman told the Chronicle, with DNA samples still being collected and tested. – J.S.
This article appears in December 10 • 2010.