Dallas Police Association President Mike Mata Cleared Of Tampering Charge In Amber Guyger Murder Case
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - A grand jury has decided not to indict Dallas Police Association President Mike Mata on charge of tampering with evidence in the September 2018 Botham Jean murder investigation, CBS 11's J.D. Miles confirmed.
Mata asked that a dash cam be turned off while talking to then-Officer Amber Guyger in a patrol car outside the apartment where it happened.
Mata attorney Robert Rodgers said in a statement, "It is a tremendous relief that things like the constitution, law and facts still matter. Mike Mata did absolutely nothing wrong in protecting an officer's rights."
During the Amber Guyger murder trial, prosecutors used security camera video to suggest the Dallas Police Association acted improperly when Mata arrived on the scene after the shooting.
It was enough for civil rights activists to accuse the officer's group of trying to cover up and clean up Guyger's account of what happened before she would face questioning.
The Texas Fraternal Order Of Police President Steve Stribley said in a statement back in October 2019, they support Mata, saying he responded to the Guyger shooting in his capacity as President of the Dallas Police Association and he had a legal responsibility to request recording devices in a squad car to be turned off as Guyger was going to talk to her attorney on the phone.
