WATCH: Man Elbows Bailiff After Being Found Guilty of Capital Murder

A man physically assaulted a bailiff inside a courtroom in San Antonio, Texas, on Monday moments after a jury found him guilty of capital murder for killing a San Antonio police detective in November 2016.

Otis McKane, 30, violently elbowed Bexar County sheriff’s Deputy Isidro Gonzalez in the face as Gonzalez tried to handcuff McKane on July 26, according to video footage of the altercation captured by local ABC affiliate KSAT-TV.

VIDEO: Otis McKane elbows a bailiff after being found guilty of the capital murder of SAPD Det. Benjamin Marconi. It took the jury roughly 20 minutes to reach its guilty verdict. The punishment phase begins tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. McKane faces the death penalty. pic.twitter.com/AvSEoynNPS

— Robert Price (@RobertPriceTV) July 26, 2021

McKane stands from a seated position, raises his right elbow, and thrusts it at Gonzalez’s head, hitting him in the face. The approximately six-foot-tall McKane then lunges at the shorter Gonzalez and appears to strike the deputy with his right fist a second time. McKane then seems to hook his right arm around Gonzalez’s head and pulls the bailiff down to the courtroom floor.

Several other deputies and police officers present in the courtroom immediately ran over to assist Gonzalez and attempt to subdue McKane. As the team of officers tried to handcuff McKane for a second time, he continued to resist arrest, holding his arms under his large body while lying face down on the courtroom floor. Two bailiffs, including Gonzalez, required the assistance of a number of other police officers to finally handcuff McKane on Monday.

Prosecutors in the capital murder trial called Gonzalez to testify on July 27 during the first day of the case’s punishment phase.

Gonzalez said he was “hurt” by McKane’s “forceful” elbow to his left cheek but remained focused on “getting control of Mr. McKane” because he was afraid of “him trying to take a weapon from one of us.”

“I had a feeling he was going to try and fight us,” Gonzalez testified. “Because he started removing his clothes.”

This version of the surveillance video shows you how McKane removes his tie and unbuttons/untucks his shirt after the verdict. Deputy Gonzalez says this set off alarm bells in his mind and prompted him to begin escorting McKane out of the courtroom. pic.twitter.com/zppB4b82D0

— Robert Price (@RobertPriceTV) July 27, 2021

The sheriff’s deputy referred to McKane’s conspicuous behavior directly before his assault of Gonzalez, in which the defendant methodically loosened the cuffs of his dress shirt, removed his necktie, unbuttoned his shirt, and untucked his shirttail shortly after hearing his guilty verdict read aloud.

“The jury was not in the courtroom for the chaos but was shown the video during Gonzalez’s testimony,” KSAT-TV reported of McKane’s assault of the bailiff.

“The jury on Monday deliberated for only 25 minutes in finding Otis McKane guilty of fatally shooting San Antonio Police Det. Benjamin Marconi execution-style in his patrol car in front of [the San Antonio] Public Safety Headquarters on November 20, 2016,” KSAT-TV reported on July 27.

Det. Marconi, 50, was a 20-year veteran of the San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) when McKane fatally shot him twice on a Sunday morning “as he sat in his patrol vehicle writing a traffic ticket near police headquarters,” the Associated Press reported at the time.

San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said he believed “the uniform was the target” during a news conference about the slaying on November 17, 2016, referring to Marconi’s police uniform.

“Anyone (in a police uniform) who happened along was the target,” the SAPD chief said.

This motive assessment was confirmed on July 23 by Elroy Brown, the social worker assigned to medically assess McKane after the SAPD arrested him on suspicion of killing Det. Marconi on November 17, 2016.

“He [McKane] basically said that it wasn’t about the gentleman that he had actually shot. It was just about the uniform. He was trying to make a statement towards the uniform,” Brown testified.

SAPD Officer Chris Enfinger, a member of the SWAT team that “helped escort McKane from the arresting scene to [San Antonio] Public Safety Headquarters for interrogation” gave testimony on July 23 about statements McKane made in the presence of several police officers shortly after his detention.

“He [McKane] said: he was glad to shoot him [Marconi]. You can’t judge me. It felt good to do what he did. And that he had to do something to get someone to listen,” Enfinger recounted.
The jury in McKane’s capital murder trial will deliberate in the coming days to determine his punishment. He faces either the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole. The San Antonio District Attorney’s office has yet to say if it will pursue additional charges against McKane in light of his assault on Gonzalez in court on Monday. According to the Texas Penal Code, “assault of a peace officer” is a second-degree felony, while “assault of a public servant or security officer” is a first-degree felony.