Jury selected for Christopher Taylor murder trial
AUSTIN, Texas - A jury has been selected for the highly anticipated murder trial of Austin Police Officer Christopher Taylor. The trial will pick up with opening statements next Monday morning and is expected to run three weeks.
About 300 potential jurors were anticipated to be called in for a three-day jury selection process in this murder trial, but the court settled on a jury of 14 out of 100 potential jurors on the first day.
Judge Dayna Blazey assured the potential jurors during the selection process that the Travis County Sheriff's Office has a safety plan in place to protect the chosen 14 jurors.
This was the court’s second attempt to seat a jury for this trial. The first attempt resulted in a mistrial ruling from Judge Dayna Blazey due to failure to seat a jury and claims of jury intimidation.
The defense team for Officer Taylor also filed a change of venue motion in an attempt to move this trial out of Travis County, but the same judge denied the motion.
Judge Blazey says 300 potential jurors were called in hopes of moving this trial forward. The 14 selected jurors will decide whether Officer Taylor is guilty of killing Michael Ramos during an officer-involved shooting in 2020.
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Previously released police body cam footage of the incident is expected to be shown as evidence in this trial. Police previously reported they received a 911 call stating there was a man with a gun in the parking lot of a Southeast Austin apartment complex using drugs. It was confirmed later Ramos did not have a gun on him.
After being shot with a less than lethal round, Ramos can be seen in the video trying to drive off. Officer Taylor then shot three times and killed Ramos.
FOX 7 Austin reached out to Ramos's mother who says she is praying for justice in this case. It is a statement she told FOX 7 many times before following the shooting.
"I can't accept the way [Taylor] shot him from his head three times down to his back. I wasn't going to be able to see him at the funeral home," Brenda Ramos told FOX 7 Austin in 2021.
Former Austin Police Association President Ken Casaday told FOX 7 Austin previously that he believes there is more to the story than just what the body cam footage shows and a trial could bring that side out.