Grand jury declines to indict man in center of HPD beating probe

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A grand jury has declined to indict Chad Holley for the murder of a Houston man.

Holley was the center of a police beating caught on camera in 2010 when he was 15.

He was formally arraigned on the murder charge in February, but Friday, a grand jury declined to indict him.

"We presented the case to the grand jury and the grand jury declined to indict," said Jim Leitner, Bureau Chief of the Grand Jury Division for the Harris County District Attorney's Office. "If other substantive evidence emerges, the law allows for a grand jury to again consider this matter."

Police say Chad Holley, 22, shot and killed David Trejo-Gonzalez, 42, on September 21. For more than two months, no one was charged with his murder.

ORIGINAL REPORT: Man in HPD beating probe charged with capital murder

Prosecutors say a witness came forward placing not only Holley, but also an accused child killer, at the scene of Trejo-Gonzalez's murder.

Community Activist Quannel X met with Holley inside the Harris County Jail Friday afternoon. He said Holley broke down in tears when he heard the grand jury did not choose to indict him on that capital murder charge.

"And he said, 'I'd been praying to God that the truth would come out," Quanell X said.

Quanell X said he thinks an ankle monitor Holley was wearing at the time of the murder proved Holley was innocent.

"During the time that Mr. Holley was accused of killing this gentleman, Mr. Holley was at home. It clearly showed that Mr. Holley was at home, and that he never left home," Quanell X said, "He didn't leave home before, during, or after the murder of this gentleman."

Harris County Grand Jury Bureau Chief Jim Leitner said the ankle monitor was irrelevant.

"It was not a GPS tracker. So it did not tell us where he was at the time," Leitner said, "It was one of those devices that tells us when he's at his home. During the period of time in question, it had no readings at all, so it didn't help or hurt the case."

Quanell X expects Holley to be released from jail next week. He is currently being held there on unrelated charges.

A grand jury decided within 20 minutes not to indict Holley on the charge of capital murder.

Investigators said the witness saw Holley and Philip Battles run from the apartment complex after hearing the fatal shot that killed Trejo-Gonazlez.

The witness also said he saw Holley run behind a check cashing store and toss a gun into the dumpster.

He said Holley told him he had just killed someone for drug money and asked the witness to be an alibi if police came looking for Holley.

Philip Battles, aka Pewee, is accused with two others in last month's murder of Ava Castillo, 4. He has a second capital murder charge from the killing of Ignacio Ortega, 62, on November 7, a week before the little girl's death.