HOUSTON (AP) – A judge has denied a request to move the trials of a former Texas sheriff’s deputy and her husband who have been charged in the death of a man they confronted outside a restaurant.
Ex-Harris County Sheriff’s Deputy Chauna Thompson is set to go on trial June 1 while her husband Terry Thompson will be tried May 18.
The couple is accused of holding down 24-year-old John Hernandez in a chokehold following a May 2017 confrontation outside a Houston-area Denny’s restaurant. Chauna Thompson, who was off duty during the confrontation, was later fired.
State District Judge Kelli Johnson on Friday denied the couple’s request to move their trials outside of Houston.
The Thompsons’ attorneys had argued this week their clients could not get a fair trial due to pretrial publicity.
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