Ex-Texas trooper pleads not guilty in Sandra Bland case
HEMPSTEAD, Texas (AP) — A fired Texas trooper has pleaded not guilty to a charge of misdemeanor perjury stemming from his arrest last summer of Sandra Bland, a black woman who was later found dead in a county jail.
A Waller County grand jury indicted Encinia in January on the perjury charge for saying in an affidavit that he removed a combative Bland from her car after stopping her near Houston for a minor traffic violation so he could conduct a safer traffic investigation.