No trial date for Padron suspect

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Attorneys representing accused murderer Brandon Daniel, 24, met with prosecutors Tuesday in Travis County District Court for a status hearing.

Daniel did not appear in court and there was no word on whether prosecutors will pursue the death penalty whenever the case goes to trial.

Daniel is charged with capital murder in the shooting death of Senior Police Officer Jaime Padron at a North Austin Walmart in April.

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Attorneys for Daniel told KXAN they are working with the district attorneys office to get the case moving forward.

Witnesses say Padron was shot near the McDonalds store that sits at the front of the building. He was able to radio for other officers after being shot, but when they arrived Padron had died.

Defense attorneys say they do not yet know if prosecutors will seek the death penalty.

“Of course that decision ultimately affects what we do on the case," said Brad Urrutia, who represents Daniel, "So, there really are a lot of things we can’t do until they make that decision.”

Urrutia says they don't expect a trial for at least for another year--possibly fall 2013.

Padron, 40, was shot to death while responding to an early morning call about someone acting erratically inside the store. When he approached Daniel, 24, the officer was shot in the neck. Store employees subdued Daniel and tried desperately to save Padron's life, police said at the time.

Daniel, reportedly had been drinking heavily and under the influence of Xanax in the hours before the shooting.

Padron joined the Austin Police Department just more than three years before he was killed and also served as a police officer at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport as part of the Emergency Management Department that consolidated with APD in 2009

Before that, he spent 14 years as a police officer in San Angelo.

Padron was the first Austin police officer killed on duty since 2004.