A mistrial was averted on the second day of the trial of Adrian Gonzales, a former Uvalde, Texas, school police officer accused of endangering dozens of students during a deadly mass shooting at Robb Elementary, despite Gonzales’ defense team contending that the prosecution withheld key testimony.
Judge Sid Harle denied the defense’s motion for a mistrial on Wednesday and said the prosecution had merely been “negligent” after one of its witnesses revealed new information on the stand that she’d not previously disclosed.
Prosecutors allege that Gonzales failed to follow his active shooter training during the 2022 mass shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers.
Stephanie Hale, a former third-grade teacher at Robb Elementary, testified on Tuesday that she was outside on the south side of the school during her students’ recess time on May 24, 2022, when she got word to get inside. As she was ushering her students into the school, she said, she saw the shooter walking toward a door. Hale said she ran into the school with her students and hid in a classroom with them.
During cross-examination, the defense questioned Hale about seeing the shooter on the south side of the school because, according to the defense team, Hale had not revealed this information in an interview with police four days after the shooting, nor in her grand jury testimony. The defense said Hale’s revelation matters because their argument during opening statements was that Gonzales was on the south side of the school and never saw the shooter.
Jason Goss, one of the defense lawyers representing Gonzales, told the judge Wednesday that Hale’s testimony had a “significant effect” on their defense strategy.
The defense will continue its cross-examination of Hale on Thursday morning, and then Judge Harle will decide whether it should be excluded or not.
Goss argued that the former teacher’s “emotional” testimony will be difficult for the jury to disregard, however.
Hale cried as she recalled sitting with her students inside the classroom. She said that once she got inside, she followed what she had been taught, which was to ensure the students were inside, quiet, and away from any windows or doors. Hale said another teacher handed Hale a pair of scissors in case they needed to fight the shooter. She added that her students and the other teacher grabbed their own safety scissors.
While she and her students were inside a classroom hiding from the shooter, Hale said she did breathing exercises with two of the students to help calm them down.
The jury also heard testimony from Pastor Gilbert Limones, who was across the street from Robb Elementary at Hillcrest Funeral Home when he got word that someone had crashed a vehicle into a drainage ditch in front of the business. Limones said he ran outside to offer help, but when the driver started shooting, he ran back inside and called 911 to alert the operator that a shooter was headed toward the school.
Gonzales was one of the first police officers on the scene that day. Nearly 400 more showed up, but it took police 77 minutes to confront the shooter, who was killed at the scene.
Gonzales has pleaded not guilty to child endangerment.
Brett Cross, whose 10-year-old son Uziyah died in the mass shooting, said Tuesday on TikTok that the trial had been “fucking hard” for him.
“We have to hold these people accountable,” Cross said. “We have to hold Adrian accountable.”
