State prosecutors have setback in case against former WilCo sheriff

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas – Former Williamson County Sheriff Robert Chody and his attorney left court Monday morning with the expectation that there will be a felony trial. 

They also left with a motion that provided a big pre-trial win for them and a loss for prosecutors.

“It’s very big. I mean, they can’t proceed on the theory that they’re saying they want to proceed on in the light of the ruling, unless they can figure out some way around it,” said defense attorney Gerry Morris.

APD body-cam video of the in-custody death of Javier Ambler is the only video to be made public since the incident in March 2019. Several more police recordings were made that night, but prosecutors don’t have video from a Live-PD production crew.

Show crew members were riding with Williamson County deputies when Ambler was chased for a minor traffic violation. The Live-PD video was later erased, which was allowed under the contract the company had with Williamson County.

The loss of the video is the basis for the indictment against Chody and Williamson County Attorney Jason Nassour. Prosecutors claim they should have seized it, and failing to do so was a criminal act despite a federal law that prevents taking media property without a court order. 

Chody denied he told anyone to destroy the videotape.

Prosecutors argued the federal law does not apply to their case and the Live-PD crew technically abandoned the video at the scene when they briefly left their equipment in a county patrol car. 

Judge Karen Sage will allow prosecutors to provide that claim during the trail. But in jury selection, and in even in opening arguments, prosecutors will not be allowed to bring it up. They can’t even imply that Chody or Nassour had any legal authority, or an obligation, to seize the equipment at the time without a court order. 

During the hearing, Morris included a statement from a Live-PD producer. According to the statement, Sheriff Chody told the producer the Live PD video was evidence, and they told him if authorities wanted it, they would have to get a court ordered subpoena.

“That was the district attorney’s office obligation to try to get it. And they botched it. They, you know, first year law student would have known how to send a subpoena, and they didn’t.”

A final pre-trial hearing will be held in February and its possible a trial could happen this spring. There is also the possibility the trial could be moved out of Travis County because of all the pre-trial publicity.