Police Use of Force and Prosecution

A defense motion in Travis County district court seeks to dismiss aggravated‑assault charges against Austin police officer Chance Bretches, alleging District Attorney Jose Garza’s office violated Brady v. Maryland and Texas’s Michael Morton Act by failing to disclose internal talks about possibly criminally charging the City of Austin over defective “less‑lethal” beanbag rounds used during 2020 George Floyd protests. Bretches’ attorney, Doug O’Connell, says sworn declarations from a former city manager and a former city council member describe multiple 2023 meetings and internal communications in which Garza’s prosecutors discussed indicting the city as a corporate entity, making it an “alternative suspect or an unindicted co‑defendant” whose potential culpability was exculpatory for the officer. The defense argues that once the DA’s office considered the city criminally responsible for injuries allegedly caused by department‑issued beanbag munitions, all evidence and rationale behind that theory had to be turned over, even if prosecutors later decided not to pursue charges. Law‑enforcement groups in Austin are now publicly calling for Garza, a progressive DA often criticized as "soft on crime," to resign over what they describe as “secret meetings,” political coordination with city officials, and a pattern of mishandling protest‑era police cases. The dispute adds another front in the national fight over Soros‑backed prosecutors, police‑use‑of‑force prosecutions, and whether ideological agendas are short‑circuiting both officers’ and protesters’ rights.