CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – While the trial of a former Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District police officer is canceled Wednesday, a critical afternoon hearing momentarily put the case in jeopardy.
Adrian Gonzales, 52, is one of two now-former Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District police officers charged with child endangerment regarding the law enforcement response to the deadliest school shooting in Texas history.
Gonzales is facing 29 child endangerment charges: 19 represent the children killed in the shooting, and the other 10 represent the children injured in the shooting.
Day 1 testimony on Tuesday ended with former Robb Elementary School teacher Stephanie Hale on the stand. A court order prevented her face from being shown on camera.
Watch Gonzales’ defense team discuss the events of Day 1 in the video player below:
During her initial answers, Hale disclosed where she had seen the 18-year-old gunman while trying to get herself and other kids inside the school on May 24, 2022.
>>Prosecution, defense’s tense hearing looms over Day 2 in trial of ex-Uvalde CISD officer
However, during cross examination, Gonzales co-defense attorney Jason Goss noted Hale’s statement was something she had previously not disclosed to investigators or to the Uvalde County District Attorney’s Office.
Goss and Bill Turner, the special prosecutor appointed in the case, briefly went back and forth regarding Hale’s statement on the stand.
A hearing outside of the presence of the jury later took place over the issue.
Judge Sid Harle ordered a Wednesday hearing to continue discussing the issue. During the Wednesday hearing, the defense asked Harle to declare a mistrial, which he denied.
A complete timeline of events from Tuesday’s court proceedings can be found here.
Background
The other officer, former Uvalde CISD Police Chief Pete Arredondo, has yet to go to trial in his child endangerment case. Arredondo is facing 10 child endangerment charges.
Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell is prosecuting the Gonzales case, but she appointed Turner as special prosecutor. Turner was the former district attorney in Brazos County.
San Antonio-area attorney and former Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood leads Gonzales’ defense team. The team is rounded out by fellow attorneys Goss and Gary Hillier.
In August 2025, Gonzales requested a venue change for the trial.
In the motion, Gonzales’ defense team argued that he cannot receive a fair trial by a jury in Uvalde County due to the impact the massacre had on members of the community.
“This horrific tragedy touched every member of the Uvalde community,” LaHood said at the time. “It would be impossible to gather a jury that would not view the evidence through their own pain and grief.”
In October 2025, LaHood confirmed to KSAT that the trial venue was changed from Uvalde County to Nueces County.
The state is expected to call approximately 60 witnesses to the stand. Court records indicate some of those asked to be witnesses include the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office, officers from other responding law enforcement agencies, medical personnel and some parents of school shooting victims.
Child endangerment charges are considered a state jail felony. Upon a potential conviction, Gonzales could be sentenced between six months and two years in a state jail.
Harle is the presiding judge in this case. If convicted, Gonzales also elected to have Harle determine his sentence instead of the jury.
More coverage of the Adrian Gonzales trial on KSAT: