A Bastrop County grand jury late Tuesday afternoon indicted Bastrop County Sheriff’s Deputy Daniel Willis on a murder charge in the death of Yvette Smith in February.
Willis was arrested without incident at the Bastrop County Courthouse by the Texas Rangers around 5:30 p.m. and is currently being held at the county jail with bail set at $100,000, according to Bastrop County District Attorney Bryan Goertz.
According to the Bastrop County Sheriff’s office, deputies – including Willis – responded to a disturbance call around 12:30 a.m. Feb. 15 at a home located in the 100 block of Zimmerman Avenue. According to initial reports, Smith opened the door carrying a firearm, causing Willis to open fire after she failed to respond to a deputy’s command. The sheriff’s office later retracted the statement, saying it was unclear whether Smith was armed.
Records pertaining to Willis’ performance during field training sheriff’s office had been tampered with since Willis had been involved with the shooting, according to the sheriff’s office. In early March, Lt. Joey Dzienowski was demoted to patrol deputy and suspended for 240 hours, and Sgt. David Repka was demoted to patrol deputy and suspended for 32 hours, according to reports.
Four additional supervisors with the sheriff’s office received disciplinary action regarding the incident, officials said.
The case was investigated internally by the sheriff’s office and by the Texas Rangers after Willis had been placed on administrative leave – a common practice after a law enforcement officer uses lethal force – following the incident.
Willis was terminated from the Bastrop County Sheriff’s Office Tuesday evening, officials said.
For more, see Saturday’s Bastrop County Advertiser and next Thursday’s Smithville Times.
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