SAN ANTONIO – A man accused of shooting three San Antonio police officers last month has formally been indicted in two unrelated felony cases that took nearly a year to go before a grand jury.
Jesse Garcia, 28, was indicted Sept. 7 for possession of methamphetamine with the intent to deliver and for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, Bexar County court records show.
The cases, which turn one-year-old Friday, had stalled in the Bexar County court system.
District Attorney officials previously said basic investigative work by San Antonio police in both cases had not been completed.
“Very simple, basic things. On the unauthorized use of a motor vehicle case, for example, there was never even a statement taken from the owner of the vehicle. That’s just basic,” Bexar County First Assistant District Attorney Christian Henricksen told KSAT on Sept. 1.
SAPD officials previously told KSAT statements from victims are typically captured on officer-worn body cameras and that the DA’s office did not reach out to SAPD requesting additional information on the two cases until Aug. 25, a day after Garcia was charged in connection with a violent rampage on the city’s Southwest and West Sides.
The shootings commenced a chaotic 12 days in which five SAPD officers in all were shot and a sixth accidentally shot himself while pursuing an armed burglary suspect. The shootings also led to a volley of criticism back and forth between SAPD Chief William McManus and Bexar County DA Joe Gonzales.
A judge ordered Garcia, a convicted felon, to be held without bond Aug. 30 on a total of four older cases.
Garcia faces eight new felony charges for aggravated assault of a public servant, aggravated robbery, and aggravated kidnapping in connection with the shooting spree that started in the 100 block of Oriental Avenue and ended with an hours-long standoff in the 2600 block of Westward Drive.
DA blocks initial case reviews from Garcia’s 2022 cases
On Sept. 1, the same day Henricksen criticized SAPD’s handling of the drug possession and stolen vehicle cases against Garcia, KSAT Investigates requested the initial case reviews from both pending criminal matters.
ICR’s are emails or forms sent by the DA’s office to an arresting agency describing what information is still missing and outlining what is still needed by the DA’s office to move a case forward.
A DA official, in a letter to the Texas Attorney General’s Office seeking to withhold the records, said releasing them would interfere with the DA’s ongoing prosecution efforts.
The indictment in Garcia’s drug cases states that he was also found in possession of morphine during his arrest and faces a repeat offender enhancement due to a prior felony conviction.
He is scheduled for a court appearance in both cases on Monday.