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ROCKPORT — City of Rockport Ward 3 city councilman Brad Brundrett was found not guilty by an Aransas County jury on Aug. 18 for a Class A misdemeanor assault charge stemming from an alleged altercation last fall.

The verdict concluded a two-day trial in the Aransas County Court at Law and stems from a Sept. 2, 2025 incident at City Hall between Brundrett and Rockport resident Andrew Kane, a former mayoral candidate and local critic of city government, after a city council meeting.

The confrontation prompted a formal investigation into Brundrett’s conduct and the incident, with the Texas Rangers asked to examine surveillance footage and interview potential witnesses who were present during the city council meeting. Brundrett represents Ward 3 in Rockport.

Following the initial inquiry, previous stories in The Pilot detailed the councilman was formally charged with Class C misdemeanor assault in January. The investigation led by a Texas Ranger ultimately sought to elevate the charges based on the collected evidence, setting the stage for a trial in Aransas County over the councilman's actions and the admissibility of the city's CCTV footage, according to previous reporting in The Pilot.

“I feel relieved and it’s almost a year-long process is over, at least this portion is over and I’m not sure if anything else is going to happen out of it,” Brundrett said when reached by cell phone on Aug. 19. “I hold no ill-will toward Mr. Kane. He does bring good information to the table and he’s passionate about what he does, and it’s good to have differing opinions.”

When reached on his cell phone on Aug. 19, Kane said he respects the decision of the court and the process, adding the jury made their decision on the information they had in front of them.

“The instructions the jury was given, I can see how they came to that,” Kane said. “The instruction to the jury was, if you don’t feel there was an assault with injury, them you must vote not guilty. They never got to see the video, they never really got to see the entire case of the state.

“I have complete respect and appreciation for the jury. That’s just the way our system works and you’ve got to respect it.”

Kane added he would not have pursued the charges if Brundrett had apologized.

In a post chronicling the trial on Kane’s Facebook page, he said the prosecution’s case was hindered when the Texas Ranger investigating the case was forced to miss the trial due to an in-the-line-of-duty injury. Kane said the Judge Richard Bianchi denied a continuance and remote testimony. Kane also stated in the post that proceeding with the elevated Class A charge instead of accepting a Class C plea deal was his own mistake, as losing the Ranger meant the complete investigation and crucial zoomed-in surveillance video were excluded, leaving the jury with only a distant, wide-angle footage feed on a small courtroom monitor.

“Without the Ranger’s testimony, without the investigation being presented through its investigator, and without the clearest version of the video being shown, the State was left with very little evidence to support the elevated Class A charge,” the Facebook post stated. “The jury was not given the option of simply finding Brad guilty of the lesser Class C assault, the charge he offered to plea guilty to. The case before them was the Class A charge, and the evidence presented to them was not the same evidence the State had when the Ranger completed his investigation.”

Kane said he plans to file open records requests with the city, county and the Department of Public Safety, to acquire the evidence from the trial along with video footage that was not shown at the trial.