SAN ANTONIO – The man accused of shooting two San Antonio Police officers and injuring a third on Thursday had been let out of jail twice in the past year.
Jesse Garcia, 28, now faces eight new felony charges for aggravated assault of a public servant, aggravated robbery, and aggravated kidnapping. He is still being held in the Bexar County Jail with bonds totaling $4.33 million.
It’s not the first time that Garcia, who has a criminal record stretching back to his teens, has been in jail. Though, more recently, it has been easier to get out.
In September 2022, Garcia was arrested for unauthorized use of a vehicle and drug possession, but he was released after posting $17,000 worth of bonds.
He was arrested again in June for car burglary, evading arrest in a vehicle, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. That time, he posted another $40,000 worth of bonds.
However, the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office said that after the bondsman who covered Garcia’s June arrest lost contact with him, those bonds were doubled and new warrants were issued in early August.
SAPD was trying to arrest Garcia on those warrants Thursday evening when they said he turned his rifle on officers. Police said two officers were hit with gunfire and are still in the hospital. A third, who was hit with debris, has already been released.
Chief William McManus tweeted about Garcia’s multiple arrests Friday morning and questioned “Why wasn’t he in jail? Why were’t (sic) his bonds increased?”
One of the concerning aspects surrounding the shooting of our ofcs last nite… the susp was out on 2 bonds for almost a yr despite committing more crimes & being re-arrested & wanted on 3 diff warrants. Why wasn’t he in jail? Why were’t his bonds increased? People want to know.
— Chief Bill McManus (@Chief_McManus) August 25, 2023
“I don’t think that’s an issue of falling through the cracks. I mean, this is just the bond system that we have right now is incredibly frustrating for us. I know it’s frustrating for law enforcement. I believe it’s frustrating for the public,” Bexar County District Attorney’s Office First Assistant District Attorney Christian Henricksen said in a Friday afternoon press conference.
“Until we have a system that’s more based on risk, where judges can look at it, they can look at the defendant, they can look at the case, they can look at the criminal history and have more authority to remand people when they’re clearly dangerous, then this is going to continue to happen.”
Henricksen answered a barrage of questions from reporters Friday afternoon during a virtual interview.
Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales was not present for the interview, as Henricksen said the office had a lot going on.
Henricksen said that initial bonds are set by the magistrate judges, not the DA’s office, and prosecutors had recommended higher bonds for Garcia’s September arrest than what he received.
When Garcia was arrested again in June, though, Henricksen said prosecutors presented evidence of his prior arrests and pending cases, and the judge handed down higher bonds than normal for those offenses.
However, it has also been 11 months Garcia’s September arrest, but the DA’s office hasn’t indicted him yet. Pressed on why that hasn’t happened, Henricksen said “there seems to be a reason, but I don’t really want to comment on that until I’m certain that I know exactly what the answer to that question is.”
And despite Garcia’s second arrest in June, prosecutors did not push to have his original bond raised or temporarily revoked, though Henricksen said they could have pushed for it. Typically, he said, pretrial services will notify a judge that someone has violated their original bond with new offenses, though he did not know if that happened in this case.
“Maybe they (prosecutors) were relying on pretrial,” Henricksen said, “but they could have filed motions to increase, and that did not happen.”
CRIMINAL HISTORY
Texas Department of Public Safety and Bexar County court records show Garcia has a criminal record stretching back into his teenage years. He has convictions as an adult for giving a police officer fake identifying information in 2015, drug possession in 2017, and being a felon in possession of a firearm in 2019.
His online DPS records also includes mugshots from 2011 and 2012, when he was 15 and 16 years old, respectively. The DPS records do not detail any charges he received as a minor, but they show he spent time under the supervision of the juvenile courts from the time he was 17 years old until his 19th birthday in 2014.