Today is 1st anniversary of SMPD officer’s death

It was a year ago today that SMPD Officer Ken Copeland was gunned down while serving a warrant. Copeland, who had been with SMPD since March 1998, was the first San Marcos officer to be killed in the line of duty and left behind a wife and four children.

Copeland and several other officers were serving a warrant before 2:30 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 4, 2017, in the Camino Real subdivision off of State Highway 123. The suspect fired on the officers, and Copeland was hit several times. His fellow officers rushed Copeland to the hospital in an SMPD vehicle, but he was pronounced dead there. 

Stewart Thomas Mettz was charged with Copeland’s death and arrested on Dec. 6. The warrant Copeland and his fellow officers were serving was for Mettz’s arrest on charges of assault causing bodily injury of a family member and assault of an elderly person causing bodily injury after he allegedly assaulted his mother-in-law. The first charge is classified as a Class A misdemeanor, but injury to an elderly individual is a third degree felony. Capital murder of a peace officer is a first degree felony. 

Mettz is in the Hays County Jail, awaiting trial in the 22nd District Court. Public records show that pretrial motions have already been delayed several times. In the meantime, expert witnesses for neuropsychological and competency exams have been called, and the defense has made numerous motions to have the trial court declare the Texas penalty scheme unconstitutional. Although the state reportedly has not decided if it will seek the death penalty, motions regarding the Texas penalty scheme are common in death penalty cases, District Attorney Wes Mau said.

“In most death penalty cases, the defense will file motions regarding the constitutionality of the death penalty. While the motions are rarely granted, the defense will want to preserve those issues for the appeal later on if the death penalty is assessed, and the motions serve that function,” he said. “It is also very common for [a] capital defendant’s attorneys to request psychological evaluations and other types of expert appointments to investigate whether or not insanity or competency are issues in the case, or just to develop potential evidence to present in mitigation of punishment.”

Pretrial motions for the capital murder case are currently scheduled for Jan. 14, 2019.

In the days following his death, Copeland was lauded by coworkers and other community members, with SMPD Chief Chase Stapp calling him “a hero.”

“It was his day off,” Stapp said of the day Copeland was killed. “He worked just about every day off.”

“Ken was a stellar officer and family man. He was dedicated to several families at home, in law enforcement, and in the military. It has been a pleasure to have served with him at San Marcos PD. He was a shining example,” retired SMPD Sgt. Dan Misaiszek said. “... I did his background check for hiring at SMPD. NOBODY, not even his ex-wife, had a bad word to say about him. He will be greatly missed.”

Copeland was honored at a candlelight vigil that began just before a rare snowfall. City officials, police officers and residents gathered around the Hays County Courthouse and stood in the snow to share remembrances of the slain officer and honor his life and his service.

“No doubt most of you here have never met Officer Ken Copeland,” Stapp said at the vigil. “But rest assured, he was the kind of guy you’d like to meet,” the chief said. “He was the kind of guy you’d like to know.”