Three former SAPD officers appeared in court for a hearing in the Melissa Perez case.
SAN ANTONIO — Three former SAPD officers were in court Tuesday afternoon in the first hearing held in months in the Melissa Perez case.
The three are charged in connection to the death of the 46-year-old woman back in June of 2023. Investigators believe she was suffering from a mental health crisis when she was shot and killed while inside an apartment.
The hearing was held in the 379th Criminal District Court over a motion for a Brady request filed by the defense. The Brady rule requires prosecutors to hand over any evidence that could prove a defendant is innocent or could help them get a lighter sentence.
Former Sgt. Alfred Flores and former officer Eleazar Alejandro are charged with murder. While former officer Nathaniel Villalobos is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
The three are out on bond and sat next to each other in the gallery while the defense made its arguments.
Their defense attorneys argued in front of Judge Ron Rangel that the state is withholding evidence. However, state prosecutors said they have turned over the requested evidence that does exist.
The two sides went back and forth for several minutes. However, the defense attorneys ultimately wanted to submit a sealed argument so they would not reveal all of their defense tactics before the trial. The judge agreed to allow them to submit it.
Despite not wanting to reveal too much, the defense did bring up the fact the three officers were arrested 19 hours after the shooting.
They allege the arrest warrant has inaccuracies and the detective who wrote up the warrant rushed to make a judgement before looking over each body camera video.
The state did not respond directly to those allegations. However, they did point out there are 15 body cameras in evidence that total 11 hours.
Melissa Perez’s family was in the courtroom on Tuesday. Her daughter, Alexis Tovar, said she has confidence in the prosecutors to bring her family justice.
“I choose to focus on my faith and pray and leave everything into God’s hands,” Tovar said.
She said she believes something good will come out of the tragedy and is trying to remain patient as the justice system plays out.
“I’ve always made it very known that I’m very pro-police, but I do believe accountability should be taken where it’s due and I want systemic change all around,” Tovar said.
Judge Rangel said he is taking time to review the motion. It is unclear when another hearing will be held. The trial date has not been set.