SAN ANTONIO – A Bexar County District Attorney’s Office division chief sent a reminder to staff Thursday about how to tell law enforcement about a case being dismissed. The email comes one day after KSAT reported the DA’s office rejected a Converse teenager’s capital murder charge.
San Antonio police arrested Joseph Joshua Harris, 18, on several charges, including capital murder on March 27. Harris was on the run for nearly a month, landing himself on the state’s list of most wanted fugitives in connection to a deadly shooting that killed Hayden Lee Holt in Selma on Feb. 23.
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Online court records show the DA’s office rejected Harris’ capital murder charge for further investigation one day after his arrest on March 28.
An email obtained by KSAT Investigates shows Intake and Grand Jury Division Chief Emily Angulo sent staff a reminder on Thursday afternoon about emailing an arresting agency to explain why a case was dismissed.
“This is just a reminder that in any case that you reject, you must send an [information collection report] via email to the arresting agency detailing why the case was dismissed (don’t just check insufficient evidence; explain why it is insufficient,)” Angulo wrote.
The DA’s office and Selma police gave KSAT different answers about when police investigators learned the case got rejected.
WEDNESDAY
KSAT asked the DA’s office and Selma police about the decision to reject the capital murder charge.
Selma police told KSAT it was unaware of the district attorney’s office’s decision to reject the charge nearly a month ago.
“We had no idea it was dismissed until (KSAT) brought it to our attention today,” Selma Police Chief Darrell E. Volz wrote in an email.
An unnamed spokesperson for the DA’s office confirmed the rejection of the capital murder charge, adding that the case was sent back to Selma police “for further investigation.”
THURSDAY
A spokesperson for the DA’s office said on Thursday afternoon it was in communication with Selma police, and their team told the arresting agency why the case would be rejected.
KSAT followed up with Volz Thursday afternoon, who doubled down on the fact that Selma police were not told the capital murder charge was dropped.
“During several conversations between our (investigators) and the DA, it was mentioned that they may be dismissing the capital murder,” Volz wrote. “We just never received word that they had.”
Volz added that his agency has a “good relationship” with the DA’s office.
Harris remains in custody at the Bexar County Adult Detention Center and is awaiting indictment for two additional charges: evading arrest and unauthorized use of a vehicle. The capital murder charge could be reinstated.
Three other people arrested in the case are still charged with capital murder.
BACKGROUND
Harris was named in an affidavit obtained by KSAT in connection with a Feb. 23 deadly shooting near a home on Retama Crown near Ruidoso Chase in Selma.
Harris told a Selma Police Department detective that he was attempting to buy marijuana, the affidavit stated he was instead selling a firearm.
The affidavit identified a group of 17-year-olds — Robert Monreal, Dorian Camarillo and Eric Sepeda — as three suspects who planned to rob Harris of his firearm. However, according to the affidavit, Harris and the other three 17-year-olds exchanged dozens of rounds of gunfire.
Hayden Lee Holt, 20, who was in a vehicle with the 17-year-olds and did not appear to be armed, was shot and killed.
According to the affidavit, Monreal, Camarillo, Sepeda and Harris were all charged with capital murder. Harris is the only one of the four suspects to have the capital murder charge rescinded.
KSAT’s previous coverage on this case:
