Ex-Dallas cop charged in 2020 protests pleads guilty but given way to avoid conviction

A former Dallas police officer pleaded guilty to deadly conduct Thursday for firing “less lethal” ammunition and wounding a demonstrator during the 2020 protests, court records show.

Melvin Williams, 43, was sentenced to three years deferred adjudication probation, according to court records. The ex-SWAT officer had been accused in multiple use-of-force cases from the demonstrations in downtown Dallas that came after a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd.

Deadly conduct, discharging a firearm, is a third-degree felony. Williams faced up to a 10-year sentence and a fine.

He also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault Thursday and was sentenced to 24 months deferred adjudication probation in connection with a 2021 brawl in Deep Ellum. A deferred adjudication judgement in court records said Williams pleaded no contest, but a plea packet showed he entered a guilty plea, which attorneys later confirmed.

The two sentences will run concurrently, and he will not have criminal convictions on his record if he successfully completes probation.

Prosecutors dismissed nine other charges against Williams — including misdemeanor assault, official oppression, deadly conduct, and aggravated assault by a public servant — as part of the plea agreement, according to court records. Aggravated assault by a public servant is a first-degree felony, punishable by five years to life in prison.

Williams is also required to give up his licenses with the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, the state entity that certifies police officers, per the plea deal.

Robert Rogers, his attorney, said Williams decided his priority was to move on with his life and take care of his family. Rogers said he disagrees with how prosecutors charged use-of-force cases from the protests — noting there were “over 2,000 discharges of less-lethal” — but the plea deal “closes the book” for Williams.

“This plea deal gave him certainty and closure and the ability to continue to his family through the private sector,” Rogers said. “It keeps him from having a conviction and all the doors outside law enforcement are still open to him. So that’s what was most important.”

Daryl Washington, a civil rights attorney who represents two men Williams was accused of injuring, said he would have “loved to have seen more time in a case this egregious,” adding his clients are reminded of the force every day because of their lasting injuries.

He hadn’t spoken with the men as of early Friday, but said they’d likely be happy someone was held able and that Williams can’t be an officer in Texas again. He said he was disappointed by the dismissed charges, but applauded prosecutors for investigating the cases despite public pushback.

“I want to commend them on taking on these cases,” he said, “because I know they were not easy.”

Spokespeople for the Dallas County district attorney’s office and Dallas Police Department declined to comment.

Williams has been a central figure in the controversy over officials’ response to the Dallas Police Department’s use of force during the 2020 protests. He was charged in the high-profile case involving Vincent Doyle, an aspiring photojournalist who was shot in the face with a 40 mm less-lethal launcher, leaving him with 40% vision in his left eye and a smashed cheekbone.

A grand jury declined to indict Williams in late 2021 on an allegation he used excessive force on Doyle. A month after the grand jury’s decision, Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot’s office pursued a misdemeanor assault charge against him in connection with the same case.

Williams was indicted in May 2022 on 10 charges: four felony counts of aggravated assault by a public servant, two counts of deadly conduct and four misdemeanor counts of official oppression.

He was one of three officers charged in a case involving David McKee, who held a cardboard sign and was backing away from officers — complying with police orders — when multiple officers opened fire, according to an arrest-warrant affidavit. McKee told investigators he was hit in his bicep, groin and thigh, the affidavit said.

Williams was also accused in a case involving an unknown protester who was struck by less-lethal ammunition in the posterior, according to the affidavit.

Prosecutors dismissed the cases involving Doyle and the unknown protester.