SAN ANTONIO – Moments before jury selection was to begin Tuesday, a man charged with abusing his child in 2018 had his case dismissed because of a missing witness.
Rick Artis wasn’t indicted on the injury to a child case until Feb. 24, 2020, a few days after the toddler died in a separate incident.
In 2020, KSAT reported that 17-month old Lyriq Ogilvie Artis was found unresponsive in a home in the 6700 block of Brothers Lane. At the time, the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office didn’t reveal Lyriq’s cause of death. But on Tuesday, the ME’s Office told KSAT the cause of death was “remote blunt head trauma” and ruled a homicide.
Artis was questioned but never formally charged or said to have been involved in the child’s death.
According to the 2018 indictment, Artis was accused of striking Lyriq, not properly restraining him in a motor vehicle and failing to seek medical care for his injuries.
While the jury panel waited in the hallways Tuesday to begin selection for Artis’ trial, the state asked for a trial reset because the CPS caseworker in the case wasn’t available for testimony.
227th District Court Judge Christine Del Prado denied the request for the reset, saying the state knew about the trial date since May and it was noted during the last hearing that there wouldn’t be anymore resets.
Later, the state asked for a dismissal in the case because of the missing witness.
Artis had his GPS monitor removed Tuesday and is no longer facing any charges.
KSAT reached out to the District Attorney’s Office to see if they will be re-indicting Artis in the 2018 case but haven’t heard back.
KSAT also spoke to a spokesperson from the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office to see what happened in Lyriq’s death investigation. We are still awaiting to hear back as well.