TRAVIS COUNTY — Two former Williamson County Sheriff’s Office deputies faced judge, jury and the victim’s family in a manslaughter case that started Monday.
The case stems from the 2019 stungun death of Javier Ambler at the hands of defendants James Johnson and Zachary Camden. It is being tried in the Travis County Justice Complex by District Judge Karen Sage.
“The state and the media have tried to make this case about failing to dim headlights. That’s entirely inaccurate. This is not about headlights, there is a litany of not just traffic offenses, but serious crimes…” said Johnson’s defense attorney Ken Ervin in his opening statements.
In 2019, then-deputies Johnson and Camden attempted to pull Ambler over for failing to dim his vehicle’s lights when turning into traffic. Ambler evaded officers for 22 minutes, running through intersections and crashing into stationary objects at least twice before coming to a stop in Travis County.
Body cam footage shows the deputies ordering Ambler to lay on the ground, a task which seemed difficult for the 40-year-old, who weighed 400 pounds and suffered from heart disease.
Officer: “Sir, I need you to comply.”
Ambler: “Sir…”
Officer: “I’m going to tase you again.”
Officer: “Flat on your stomach! Flat on your stomach!”
Ambler: “Sir, I can’t breathe.”
Officer: “Flat on your stomach!”
Ambler: “I can’t breathe!”
Officer: “Flat on your stomach!”
Reports from the time of the incident claim Ambler was tased four times. Officers then noticed he was not responsive and performed CPR until an ambulance arrived.
“These defendants chose to give Javier two seconds to comply and two minutes to die,” said state prosecuting attorney Holly Taylor in her opening statement.
While the state painted a picture of overzealous officers allegedly performing for a “Live PD” camera crew that was shadowing them, the defense attempted to depict Ambler as something less than an innocent former postal worker and father of two.
At the start of the trial, the defense council filed a motion for sanctions claiming the state failed to produce information about an active warrant for Ambler’s arrest at the time of his death. The warrant was for driving a car with expired license plates.
Defense attorneys argued that if the officers had knowledge of the warrant it could be exculpatory evidence, and asked the judge to ban the state from claiming Ambler fled for any reason other than the warrant. The judge ruled against that request and also denied the defense’s request to allow evidence of alleged criminal activity by Ambler.
The Travis County medical examiner’s report listed Ambler’s death as a homicide. It reveals Ambler, who had multiple health issues, had traces of pain medicine, marijuana and ibuprofen in his system at the time of death.
“The danger posed by someone willing to put themselves and everybody else in danger to get away, that justifies a quick response,” said Ervin, who referred to Ambler as a “drug dealer” during his statements.
“Javier’s tragic death could have been avoided if these two defendants had acted reasonably and prudently,” said Taylor. “The actions of these defendants killed Ambler, not his health.”
The trial faced scrutiny earlier this month when the jury selection was completed with no Black jurors, though one alternate juror is Black. Ambler and Johnson are both Black. The jury consists of six men and six women; at least eight are identified as white. Judge Sage said the lack of Black jury members reflected the lack of diversity in the jury pool, as only three of the 100 potential jurors were Black.
Johnson and Camden face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. The trial is expected to last up to two weeks.
