Assault Investigation involving off duty BPD officer

14,689 Views | 56 Replies | Last: 1 yr ago by lethalninja
Marlin39m
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Is it true that the victim wouldn't testify?
Vinewood_03
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He testified. Stories of the accuser were too inconsistent to warrant a guilty verdict. Defendants story never wavered.
lethalninja
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One of his lawyers also said on Facebook that the alleged victim actually touched his face and the witnesses who said that never happened were close friends of the alleged victim and their stories were inconsistent with each other.
techno-ag
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AG
Glad to see this officer vindicated in the courts.
lethalninja
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Does anyone know the details of the 1991 assault that he received deferred adjudication for?
camra
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Not Guilty! Two years after being tarred and feathered on Kbtx - no one can wait for the case to be heard and presume anyone innocent until proven guilty! That's just too inconvenient with social media and instant reporting- not that there is real reporting anymore
Mr.Short-termMemory
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AG
camra said:

Not Guilty! Two years after being tarred and feathered on Kbtx - no one can wait for the case to be heard and presume anyone innocent until proven guilty! That's just too inconvenient with social media and instant reporting- not that there is real reporting anymore
At least they reported the not guilty verdict. There are a lot of cases that get dismissed or get a lower sentence or get a not guilty verdict that are never reported.
lethalninja
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True, but they didn't say why he was found not guilty other than briefly mentioning self-defense, leaving a lot of people to speculate what happened at the trial, since the news stories in 2020 made it appear like he was in the wrong. His lawyer gives a good explanation in a comment on Rusty Surette's Facebook post about the verdict, but the news didn't go into detail.
lethalninja
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"And for anyone who is interested in what happened at trial, testimony showed that while at a party the Complainant was highly intoxicated and violating the personal space of Mr. Rawls' wife. Mr. Rawls saw the look on his wife's face and went to see what was wrong. As he approached, the Complainant stuck his hand in Rawls' face and Rawls shoved him back. At some point the Complainant's hand got tangled in the inside pocket of Rawls' jacket, tearing it as they both fell into the bushes. Rawls then struck him multiple times while trying to free himself before another person intervened and the altercation was stopped.

The complainant refused to cooperate with the police that night, gave multiple conflicting stories about how the event started, and was caught in a significant lie about tearing the jacket while testifying in trial. The witnesses who gave the original version of events were all shown to be close friends of the Complainant and none of their stories were consistent with each other or the Complainant."

His lawyer's explanation for why he was acquitted
techno-ag
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AG
lethalninja said:

"And for anyone who is interested in what happened at trial, testimony showed that while at a party the Complainant was highly intoxicated and violating the personal space of Mr. Rawls' wife. Mr. Rawls saw the look on his wife's face and went to see what was wrong. As he approached, the Complainant stuck his hand in Rawls' face and Rawls shoved him back. At some point the Complainant's hand got tangled in the inside pocket of Rawls' jacket, tearing it as they both fell into the bushes. Rawls then struck him multiple times while trying to free himself before another person intervened and the altercation was stopped.

The complainant refused to cooperate with the police that night, gave multiple conflicting stories about how the event started, and was caught in a significant lie about tearing the jacket while testifying in trial. The witnesses who gave the original version of events were all shown to be close friends of the Complainant and none of their stories were consistent with each other or the Complainant."

His lawyer's explanation for why he was acquitted
Thanks for posting that. Glad to see the acquittal but this explanation really puts it into perspective.
lethalninja
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Yeah, the news should have talked more about why he was acquitted, since the articles from 2020 made the incident sound completely different.
lethalninja
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Speaking about police officers from Brazos County

[Start another thread if you want to talk about that but do not derail threads. -Staff]
lethalninja
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cslifer
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Ok….and you asked if anyone knows details of what happened with Rawls 20 yes ago…what is the difference?
lethalninja
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I was curious if anyone knew what the circumstances of the 1991 assault were, since it didn't say what happened on the news.
Mister Mystery Guest
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In 1991 he would've been 18. You keep diggin' though.
JP76
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My guess is he pled Nolo contende on a deal offered by the judge back then. Stays off the record once completing the probationary conditions given by the judge. Also keeps the case out of jury and removes risk of the person assaulted from using the guilty plea in a civil suit against him.


My question is why did the 2020 charge ever make it to trial if the case wasn't there for the state ? Just to appease the masses ?

Also if he knew he wasn't guilty, then why retire to stop the internal investigation and keep it from becoming public record ? Just hedging the unknown risk ?

I don't know Rawls but I wish the best of luck and am glad justice prevailed for him.
EBrazosAg
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AG
Interesting take. I'd recommend reading up on Blackstones Ratio and Type 1 vs Type 2 errors. I think most believe that the system should be - and is - weighted toward Type 2 errors. If so - then acquittal is not always equal to justice prevailing. Not specific to this case. I think there are several ways one could interpret the actions in your second and third paragraph. All in all a bad day for all involved.
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lethalninja
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I wasn't really digging for information, since I only asked once and I thought someone here would know, since several people on TexAgs know him.
lethalninja
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Maybe the state didn't know that the witnesses were all close friends of the victim until they testified during trial, since the witnesses could have hid that information from the state by failing to disclose it.
toolshed
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AG
lethalninja said:

I wasn't really digging for information, since I only asked once and I thought someone here would know, since several people on TexAgs know him.


I hope I never have "friends" that feel the need to speak about something from 20 years earlier, that I did as a teenager, on an anonymous forum.
lethalninja
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Knowing someone is different than being friends with them, cause they could be acquaintances, but if they were friends with him, it would be crappy of them to do that.
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