The state was starting to question a crime scene investigator before the debate over the nature of the evidence stalled the testimony.
SAN ANTONIO — Testimony in the trial of three former San Antonio police officers accused of fatally shooting 46-year-old Melissa Perez in June 2023 during a mental health emergency paused Monday afternoon after debate over whether the jury should see certain crime scene photos deemed too graphic by defense attorneys.
Crime scene investigator Yvonne Diaz, a civilian employee with the San Antonio Police Department, was called to the stand by prosecutors. She responded to the scene the night Perez was shot to collect evidence.
On Monday, she brought hundreds of photos and a video of the aftermath of the shooting at Perez’s southwest-side apartment complex.
Before the jury could view the evidence, however, the defense raised objections to several of the images, arguing they were too disturbing to show. Judge Joel Perez ended proceedings early to give both sides time to review the material.
The exchange proved emotional for Perez’s family, several of whom left the courtroom in tears during the discussion.
Earlier in the day, testimony centered on Officer Andrew Chernak, who has about 30 years of law enforcement experience and was among the officers at the scene the night of the shooting, but did not witness the shooting itself.
Defense attorneys pressed Chernak to speculate about what he might have done in the same position as the three defendants. Chernak pushed back.
“Even with my experience and training, trying to ‘what-if’ it is difficult because there’s variables that can change in an instant,” Chernak said. “I may never be in the same situation they were in.”
The defense team also played new body camera footage showing an officer describing how close Perez got to hitting another defendant with a hammer. The attorneys were trying to make the point that Perez had tried to hit officers with the hammer multiples times throughout the night and early morning before shots were fired.
The trial resumes at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Background on the case
It was early in the morning of June 23, 2022, when authorities say Perez tampered with her complex’s fire alarm system, triggering a police response.
Later that morning, Alfred Flores, Eleazar Alejandro and Nathaniel Villalobos fatally shot at Perez when authorities said she came at them with a hammer. Before 24 hours had passed, they were suspended from the force and jailed after Chief William McManus said their actions didn’t conform with protocols.
At the center of the trial is whether or not the defendants’ use of deadly force was warranted, which jurors must determine. Flores and Alejandro are charged with murder, while Villalobos is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in connection with Perez’s death. The three are being tried together.
Chernak is the third San Antonio police officer to testify so far. But it was questioning of the second, Officer Jonathan Salinas, that pushed the defense to call for a mistrial on Friday.
Salinas on Thursday said he was upset with a theory the state was formulating over the early days of the trial—that the officers who entered Perez’s apartment were committing burglary of a habitat. The defense team said that could incriminate Salinas and the other officers expected to testify over the course of the weekslong trial, which the district attorney’s office says is likely the first time a Bexar County law enforcement officer is on trial for murder.
Salinas was then given a public defender who announced the officer wanted to plead the Fifth, giving him the flexibility not to testify further.
Ultimately, the state decided to grant immunity to the officers testifying—aside from Salinas and Officer Jesus Ramos, who was questioned for four days this week.
‘Surprised the heck out of me’
Later on Friday, the state began to question Chernak, who testified he thought Flores was coming up with a plan to detain Perez that didn’t include lethal force.
“Did you ever get any details about that execution decision?” a state prosecutor asked Chernak, referring to that plan.
“I did not,” Chernak responded.
“Did you seek it out?”
“I was about to step back and check with them, and that’s when the shooting started,” Chernak said, before going on to say: “It surprised the heck out of me, to put it politely.”
On Wednesday, the fourth day of the trial, the defense team showed new body camera video of Perez trying to harm an officer with a hammer after he tries going through her window.
The defendants’ attorneys also called foul on the state’s argument over whether or not the officers had the right to her apartment at all. That led to brief verbal sparring between prosecutors and the defense team.
Earlier in the week, the prosecution said the video appeared to show the officers on scene, including the defendants, attempting to talk to Perez. Prosecutors said the footage shows the officers did not appear to know how to respond to the complicated situation as Perez appeared to be having a mental health crisis.
The defense has also grilled Officer Jesus Rojas – the first who responded to the scene – as they tried to argue that he didn’t follow protocol and could’ve prevented the shooting.