State seeks to halt Bland wrongful death suit

AG says civil action would interfere with trooper’s criminal perjury trial

The state of Texas wants to halt the federal wrongful death lawsuit filed by Sandra Bland’s mother, saying it would prevent a trooper involved in the case from getting a fair trial in district court, where he is charged with perjury.

Department of Public Safety trooper Brian Encinia, 30, was indicted on the criminal charge by a Waller County grand jury on Jan. 6. He surrendered the next day and was released on $2,500 bail.

He is the law enforcement officer who stopped Bland on July 10 in Prairie View for what he identified as an improper lane change. A tense confrontation escalated into an arrest after the 28-year-old refused to comply with Encinia’s demand to extinguish her cigarette. Images and sound from portions of the encounter were documented by the trooper’s cruiser dash camera and a bystander.

Bland was found dead, hanging from a noose fashioned from a plastic trash bag, three days later on July 13 in a Waller County jail cell. The Prairie View A&M University graduate, who was African-American, has become an emblem of the Black Lives Matter movement, and her ordeal intensified international protests over police interaction in the United States with people of color.

In August, Bland’s mother, Geneva Reed-Veal, and the deceased woman’s estate sued DPS, Encinia, Waller County and county jailers Elsa Magnus and Oscar Prudente in Houston federal court.

An autopsy by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences ruled the

in-custody death a suicide by hanging.

The state and the trooper previously claimed immunity against the civil lawsuit’s allegations and filed requests for the case to be thrown out.

A motion filed on Friday by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on behalf of DPS asks U.S. District Judge David Hittner to “stay all proceedings until the criminal charges against Trooper Encinia have been resolved.”

Could influence jurors

At a hearing last month, Assistant Attorney General Seth Byron Dennis — who is representing DPS and Encinia — mentioned the possibility of suspending the civil lawsuit if the trooper was indicted. At that time, Hittner said the state would have to persuade him through trial briefs to interrupt the proceedings for any criminal matter that emerged. A trial for the civil case is set for January 2017.

In its motion for a stay, the state cites the “Younger abstention doctrine,” in which federal courts refrain from deciding cases within their jurisdiction under exceptional circumstances.

The state claims that Reed-Veal’s lawsuit qualifies because “investigative reports (being provided), depositions being taken and the issuance of rulings regarding constitutional matters” could influence Encinia’s criminal proceedings. The motion also asserts that media coverage and public dissemination of reports “could influence jurors” in the misdemeanor perjury case.

If convicted, Encinia faces up to one year in jail and a $4,000 fine.

The motion adds that Magnus, Prudente and Waller County “are undecided at this time as to whether they are opposed or unopposed.”

The plaintiffs’ legal team rejects any delay.

“We’re not in agreement that our case should be stayed for a misdemeanor,” Chicago litigator Cannon Lambert said Monday. After the indictment was revealed last week, DPS announced its intent to fire Encinia.

The trooper’s criminal defense lawyer, Hempstead attorney Larkin Eakin Jr., said his client plans to plead not guilty to the perjury charge and is fighting for his job through the DPS administrative process.

Suspended with pay

A special prosecutor said grand jurors did not believe that Encinia’s initial report about the incident, a probable cause statement, was truthful.

“His statement is true in that he removed Ms. Bland for the purposes of conducting a safer traffic investigation,” Eakin said. “There is absolutely no evidence to the contrary.”

As of late Monday, Encinia was suspended with pay and had been relieved of all DPS equipment, including service weapons.

The trooper’s lawyer said that, over the week- end, he gained confidence that his client’s employment might be saved.

“Mr. Encinia’s firing process has already been appealed, and it’s my understanding that the agency will announce its decision shortly,” Eakin said. A DPS spokesman did not have a response late Monday about the possibility of Encinia regaining his job.