Death penalty committee to offer recommendation on Daniel case
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Capital murder suspect Brandon Daniel will soon find out if he will face the death penalty.
Daniel is in jail without bond for the murder of Austin Police Officer Jaime Padron.
Padron responded to 911 call involving an intoxicated man inside a North Austin Walmart last spring.
Police say Daniel and Padron had a confrontation. They wrestled, and Padron was shot.
A committee inside the Travis County District Attorney’s office is expected to make a recommendation on possible punishments.
For Police Union Chief Wayne Vincent, the DA's Death Penalty Committee should look beyond the possibility of life in prison for Daniel, a 24-year-old Colorado native.
"This individual needs to stand in front of a jury with a death penalty on the table," Vincent said. "Just the symbolic act of killing a police officer that's trying to protect the citizens --that needs to be addressed with the most severe penalty."
Jamie Bush is an advocate with the Campaign To End The Death Penalty.
"I don't feel that's the government’s place, to be executing its own citizens,” she said. "I don't want the law to kill in my name."
Bush believes biblical "eye for an eye" is an ineffective crime deterrent.
"I just don't feel like capital punishment, execution, the taking of another life is the solution," she said.
A state prosecutor tells YNN the death penalty committee should have a recommendation in this case possibly in a week.
Ultimately, Travis County DA Rosemary Lehmberg will decide if the death penalty is on the table. The jury would then decide punishment.
Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo said a jury of 12, not the DA, should decide Daniel’s fate.