Ex-Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver denied appeal for murder of Jordan Edwards

The Texas Criminal Court of Appeals unanimously denied an appeal Wednesday for Ex-Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver, who was convicted in 2018 for the murder of 15-year-old African-American Jordan Edwards.

Oliver shot into the back of a 2004 Impala that was leaving a high school party carrying Edwards, in the passenger seat, along with his brothers and friends, according to the court’s opinion.

Oliver is serving a 15-year sentence and was fined $10,000. He will be eligible for parole in 2026.

After the 2017 shooting, Oliver gave a statement to an internal affairs investigator after he was told he could be fired if he refused, the court opinion said.

In Garrity v. New Jersey in 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled statements from police officers as defendants given after a threat of being fired are involuntary, the opinion said. Any use of those statements by a prosecutor violates the officer’s rights against self-incrimination.

Oliver’s attorneys argued in his trial that the burden to demonstrate compliance with Garrity was with the state, with which the trial court disagreed.

Oliver’s petition for a discretionary review of the case was initially approved by the criminal appeals court but its judges found the evidence submitted didn’t suffice.

“Having considered the parties’ briefs and the record, however, we conclude that our decision to grant review was improvident. We therefore dismiss Appellant’s petition for discretionary review as improvidently granted,” the opinion said

KDFW-TV reported that Oliver and other officers were responding to a disturbance when they heard gunfire in the area.

Oliver claimed the car was going to hit Officer Tyler Gross, who testified against Oliver.

Gross said he never feared for his life and police body camera footage showed the car moving away from him.