The lead detective in the case was grilled over his timing on executing warrants for the three defendants, who were arrested within 16 hours of Perez’s killing.
SAN ANTONIO — A Bexar County judge on Tuesday denied a defense request for a mistrial in the ongoing trial of three former San Antonio police officers charged in the shooting death of Melissa Perez in June 2023, as testimony continued into a tense Day 12.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys clashed over whether jurors should weigh the issue of warrants in the case. Defense attorneys sought a mistrial after prosecutors asked lead detective Ronald Soto about how easy it is to obtain a warrant. The judge ultimately instructed jurors to disregard any questioning related to warrants and allowed testimony to move forward.
Perez was 46 when she was fatally shot during a mental health crisis in June 2023. Authorities say she was coming at officers with a hammer. At the center of the case is whether the defendants – Alfred Flores, Eleazar Alejandro and Nathaniel Villalobos – were justified in their use of deadly force.
The state has argued the officers’ decision to enter Perez’s south-side apartment without a warrant the morning of June 23, 2023, amounted to burglary of a habitation. Defense attorneys counter that Perez committed a felony when she was seen on body camera footage throwing a candle at an officer, giving police authority to arrest her without a warrant.
Soto – who wrote up and executed the arrest warrants for the three defendants within 16 hours of the shooting – spent the entire day on the witness stand. Defense attorneys grilled him over why he did not wait for additional evidence before pursuing charges. He testified a captain weighed in on his decision.
Soto added he stands by his own actions more than two years later, based off the body camera footage shown in court.
Perez was shot at 16 times, but struck twice. A forensic scientist previously testified that the only bullet recovered from her body matched Flores’ gun. The defense maintains Flores was justified in firing because Perez was holding a hammer and posed a threat.
Soto, however, testified that what he saw on body camera footage led him to believe deadly force was not reasonable.
“I am looking at reasonableness, was it reasonable to use deadly force at the time to take care of the situation,” Soto said under questioning. “I was shocked they didn’t go there with that.”
Prosecutors played multiple body camera clips during their questioning, prompting emotional reactions from Perez’s family, who left the courtroom in tears at one point.
During one heated exchange, Soto emphasized that Perez appeared to cling to the hammer as a means of protecting her home.
“That hammer is all she has to protect her home. That’s it,” he said.
There were several tense back-and-forths between Soto and defense attorneys throughout the day, with visible frustration on both sides.
Testimony is expected to resume Wednesday morning, with Soto returning to the stand. It will be the 13th day of the trial.
What’s happened in the trial so far?
Perez was 46 when she was fatally shot during a mental health crisis in June 2023. Authorities say she was coming at officers with a hammer. At the center of the case is whether the defendants – Alfred Flores, Eleazar Alejandro and Nathaniel Villalobos – were justified in their use of deadly force.
Last week, jurors saw graphic photos and physical evidence from the scene of the police shooting, including the hammer Perez is said to have wielded. The defendants’ lawyers say Perez was a threat to their safety.
Crime scene investigator Yvonne Diaz with the San Antonio Police Department testified over two days last week, describing what she saw and the evidence she collected after the deadly encounter early the morning of June 23, 2023. Prosecutors used her testimony to show how bullets riddled Perez’s south-side apartment.
Also on the witness stand last Wednesday was Dr. David Lynch with the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office. Lynch said the ME’s office ruled the cause of death was gunshot wounds and the manner of death was homicide, meaning that the death was caused by another individual. He clarified that the manner of death ruling does not imply any wrongdoing. Lynch said Perez was shot once in the chest and again in her armpit, despite investigators saying the defendants fired off 16 shots.
One of the defense attorneys pointed out that in order for Perez to have been shot in the armpit, her arm had to be up. They also brought up the fact Perez was hit twice, not three times, even though there are three former officers charged.
On Thursday, Holli Worden, a forensic scientist supervisor in the firearm/toolmarks section of the Bexar County Crime Lab, took the stand to testify about the bullet and casings analysis. She was there to confirm the shell casings collected at the scene matched the guns used by the then-officers. She testified that 10 bullets were fired from Alejandro’s gun while three shots were fired from each of other two defendants’ guns.
Worden was also questioned by defense attorneys on the timing of her lab’s investigation and a potential discrepancy between the completion of the investigation and when the officers were officially charged.
Detective Deanna Platt was next to take the stand. Her role in this case was interviewing Flores following the shooting.
The state questioned her about the statement the then-police sergeant gave her that day.
As part of Platt’s testimony, she read word for word from Flores’ statement: “As she rushed toward us with the hammer raised above her head, I believed the suspect was going to attack us with a hammer… as I feared for my life and the other officers…”
The defense team took the opportunity during cross-examination to have Platt walk them through when use of force is justified. Attorney Nico LaHood even re-enacted what Perez was allegedly doing before she was shot and killed.
The defense team also asked the detective if Police Chief William McManus had pressured detectives to write up an arrest warrant—against their better judgment. But the detective testifying said she has no knowledge of that.
Background on the case
It was early in the morning of June 23, 2023, when authorities say Perez tampered with her complex’s fire alarm system, triggering a police response.
Later that morning, Flores, Alejandro and 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.
It was during questioning of a San Antonio police officer who responded to the scene, Officer Jonathan Salinas, that the defense called 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.