Prosecutors may not be done with Roy Oliver.
The Dallas County District Attorney will decide whether to pursue pending assault charges against the former Balch Springs police officer who is now convicted of murdering 15-year-old Jordan Edwards.
The sheriff’s office says Roy Oliver is in protective custody at the Dallas County Jail.
Those who worked to put him there spoke with NBC 5 about the long journey to this point and the impact of his conviction and sentence of 15 years in prison.
“Everybody is just saying ‘congratulations’ ‘congratulations,’” said Shawnkeedra Houston-Martin.
The Roy Oliver murder trial consumed the Dallas County Assistant District Attorney.
“Long, long time,” she said with a sigh and a laugh. “Really it started from the very beginning I got pulled in a few months into it.”
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Martin spent months reviewing each piece of evidence, investigating the incident in which Oliver, then a Balch Springs police officer, shot and killed 15-year-old Jordan Edwards as the teen and his friends were leaving a party that was broken up by police.
The state’s case against Oliver culminated with a nearly two-week murder trial which garnered a conviction followed by a sentence.
Martin recalls feeling differently with each announcement from the jury.
“Just to be able to give the family that closure on the guilty [on murder charge] that just made my heart sing. When the 15 years came my heart sank again. Just mixed feelings, mixed emotions about it,” she said.
While Martin says she absolutely respects and appreciates the jury’s decision not to give Oliver the minimum sentence of five years, she was hoping to get a sentence of 25 to 30 years.
There was also a chance Oliver could have been sentence to two years in prison.
Martin has a message for those, perhaps some in the African American community, who feel 15 is nowhere near enough for killing the innocent teenager.
“I want to say I think this case and this guilty verdict does show that our lives do matter,” said Martin. “We are taking a step in the right direction.”
For lead prosecutors, the celebration following the conviction and double-digit sentence, has been short lived.
“Even though you wish you might be able to detox for a while you don’t have the opportunity to do that,” said First Assistant District Attorney Mike Snipes.
Snipes said there are several things he will remember about the case that has affected him deeply.
“I love Jordan Edwards,” he said. “I came to love him by researching him, knowing him, walking the ground where he died. I love that family.”
Snipes and District Attorney Faith Johnson are adamant about one thing regarding the D.A.’s decision to bring the officer to justice.
“This is not about an indictment on police,” said Johnson. “This is an indictment on Roy Oliver who so happens to be a bad apple. That’s what this is about.”
For Martin, who previously prosecuted child abuse cases, finding justice for Jordan has changed her life.
“It made me a better prosecutor,” she said. “This just lit that fire again and that vigor that I have inside of me to continue to fight for victims who cannot fight for themselves.”
There are still pending aggravated assault charges against Oliver.
Two more charge for shooting into the car that Edwards was riding in.
The jury found Oliver not guilty of two aggravated assault charges.
There is also another set of aggravated assault charges stemming from a fender bender Oliver was involved in days before Edwards’ death.
The district attorney says she is in no rush to decide whether she will pursue those cases at this time.
