The State Just Blew Up Its Own Case

I've been doing this long enough to know when a case turns. Today, in a Corpus Christi courtroom, I watched the state's case against Adrian Gonzales take a hit it might not recover from.

And the best part? The prosecution did it to themselves.

What Happened

The state called Teresa Samaripa to the stand. She's the office manager at Southwest Texas College Law Enforcement Academy. A records custodian. She handles paperwork. She files training reports with TCOLE. She had never testified in a trial before today.

The prosecution's plan was simple: Use her to introduce Adrian Gonzales's training record and the lesson plan from the active shooter course he co-taught two months before Uvalde. Show the jury words like "isolate, distract, neutralize" and "first responders must place innocent lives above their own safety." Prove he knew what to do and didn't do it.

It worked. At first.

Prosecutor Turner walked her through the lesson plan. She read the damning language to the jury. "A first responder unwilling to place the lives of the innocent above their own safety should consider another career field." That's from the training materials Gonzales helped teach.

Then Gary Hillier stood up for cross-examination.

The Turn

Hillier is methodical. He doesn't go for dramatic moments. He builds. And today, he built something the prosecution didn't see coming.

First, he established that Samaripa has no expertise in active shooter training. She's a records keeper. She reads documents but doesn't know what they mean in practice. The prosecutor had her reading training materials she knows nothing about.

Then Hillier asked her to look at Gonzales's complete training record. The TCOLE Personal Status Report. Every class he ever took as a Texas peace officer.

"Do you see any ALERT training on his record?" Hillier asked.

She looked. She searched. "No sir, I don't see an ALERT class in here."

ALERT stands for Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training. It's the gold standard for active shooter response in Texas. The very training materials Gonzales taught reference ALERT as the program that "grew out of" post-Columbine training developments.

Adrian Gonzales was teaching training materials that reference a program he never received.

But Hillier wasn't done. He asked Samaripa to read the parts of the training materials the prosecution skipped.

What the Prosecution Left Out

The training materials don't just say "rush in and neutralize the threat." They say a lot more than that. And the parts the prosecution didn't want the jury to hear tell a very different story.

Hillier had Samaripa read: "The scale does not suggest that any first responder approach the mission with reckless abandon for safety."

Then: "In the event of an active shooter attack, school-based law enforcement officers should do the best that they can to fill the gaps until other first responders can arrive."

Do the best they can. Until help arrives.

That's from the state's own exhibit. Read by the state's own witness. In the state's own case.

Hillier also got Samaripa to admit that the learning objectives in the training only require students to "explain the need" for solo response. Not demonstrate it. Not prove proficiency. Just explain it.

And he closed with one final point: This training was held at Uvalde High School. Not Robb Elementary. No law enforcement training was ever conducted at the elementary school where 19 children and two teachers died.

What This Means

The state is charging Adrian Gonzales with child endangerment for allegedly failing to follow his active shooter training. But their own witness just told the jury that:

1. He never received ALERT training, the gold standard his materials referenced

2. The training materials say officers should "do the best they can until help arrives"

3. The learning objectives only require explaining concepts, not demonstrating tactical proficiency

4. The training itself acknowledges that team tactics with "more eyes and more guns" are preferable when available

How do you convict someone of endangerment for following training that says "do the best you can"?

The prosecution wanted this witness to prove Gonzales knew what to do. She ended up proving he did what his training said.

▶️ WATCH THE FULL TESTIMONY State Calls Witness Who Accidentally Proves Officer Followed Training

The Bigger Picture

I've said it before and I'll say it again: This case was always going to come down to whether the state can prove Adrian Gonzales failed to do what he was supposed to do. That requires establishing what he was supposed to do.

Today, the state's own evidence muddied those waters considerably.

The prosecution still has more witnesses. They still have more evidence. This isn't over. But today was a bad day for the state of Texas. And they did it to themselves.

Watch the system. Question everything.