Former Temple police officer Carmen DeCruz’s trial resumes after weather cancellations

BELL COUNTY, Texas (KWTX) - The doors to the Bell County Justice Center didn’t open until 1 p.m., due to weather delays.

Once inside it was another 45 minutes until court began because three jurors were late.

The trial of former police officer Carmen DeCruz resumed today, after a two-day weather cancelation.

DeCruz is charged with manslaughter for the death of Michael Dean, on Dec. 2, 2019.

Before the jury presented themselves to the court, a hearing was held to see if Robert McFarlane, a solo forensics practitioner who handled DeCruz’s body cam footage, was qualified to testify.

“Sometimes eyewitness testimony can be subject to misinterpretation by the witness himself. You’ll often see things that aren’t there or miss things that really are there,” said Vic Feazell, former McLennan County District Attorney.

This was granted by the judge.

Before we could hear McFarlane testify, former Temple VA officer Eric Brooks took the stand, testifying to know DeCruz prior to 2019 and that DeCruz never showed signs of recklessness with a firearm.

After Brooks’ testimonial, McFarlane took the stand, this time, in front of the jury and under oath.

He went over his qualifications before the court adjourned but we are expected to see DeCruz’s body cam footage that was handled by brooks.

“The volume of the officer’s speech. I wish there was more training in de-escalation because screaming and yelling gets everybody’s adrenaline going and creates more problems than that solves,” said Feazell regarding the video being analyzed by McFarlane.

The court will meet for the last time this week, on Friday, picking up where they left off at 9 a.m.

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