A district judge denied a motion to dismiss the capital murder case against DeVonte “DJ” Amerson in connection to the 2015 death of Texas State student Justin Gage.
22nd Judicial District Judge Bruce Boyer ruled against dismissal on Monday, Jan. 13. DeVonte’s codefendant, Cyrus Gray, had his charges dismissed in 2023.
“This case has persisted for nearly seven years without credible evidence linking DJ to the tragedy. There’s no weapon, no motive and no credible link to DJ,” David Sergi, DeVonte’s attorney, wrote in a press release emailed to The Star. “Justice for everyone involved means acknowledging the facts and dismissing this case once and for all.”
The defense argued the case should be dismissed due to the San Marcos Police Department’s (SMPD) handling of evidence. According to Sergi, SMPD lost several pieces of evidence, such as interview recordings, cellphone data and surveillance footage. Sergi believes some of the missing evidence would prove DeVonte’s innocence.
The prosecution acknowledged that some of the evidence was destroyed due to computer upgrades SMPD received in 2018. The prosecution also said some of the cellphone data was corrupted and they were still trying to access the full data.
According to Sergi, one of the pieces of evidence missing includes copies of phone data from a man who claimed to have evidence that someone other than DeVonte or Gray claimed responsibility for the murder.
Some of the evidence from the phone data contains an iMessage conversation between two individuals, none of whom were charged in this case, discussing a group from Cibolo, Texas they believed were responsible for the murder. Part of the conversation was included in the filing for the motion to dismiss.
“Don’t [expletive] with nobody in that circle them [expletive] will set anybody up all them savage [expletive] strapped don’t sell them [expletive] foreal,” the first person wrote. “They killed [Justin Gage] [expletive].”
“No [expletive] way,” the second person wrote.
“Yes [expletive] they was robbing people in San mo for weeks before [Justin Gage] got shot and they were out that night trust me … said it was an accident,” the first person wrote.
The defense argued the evidence they received from the phone clearly shows that the missing phone data would have successfully proved DeVonte’s innocence. The defense believed the Hays County District Attorney’s Office and SMPD “intentionally, negligently or recklessly destroyed at least potentially exculpatory evidence.”
The prosecution argued that while some evidence in the case was lost or destroyed, the legal standard for dismissal meant they had to prove “personal animus” or that they had done it not only intentionally, but specifically to damage the defense’s case.
After hearing arguments from both the defense and the prosecution, Boyer ruled that the mishandling of evidence did not warrant the dismissal of the case against DeVonte. Boyer said he did not find the prosecution acted in bad faith.
“I am not going to dismiss the case based on this,” Boyer said.
While the judge did not dismiss the case against DeVonte, Sergi said he granted a spoilation instruction. According to Sergi, that means that jurors will be told that SMPD and the prosecution lost some of the evidence.
Sergi said his next step would be to file a speedy trial motion in DeVonte’s case. If the motion succeeds, DeVonte would have the capital murder case dismissed, if not, he would face a jury trial.
“We’re going to point out each and every time that we’ve been ready for trial,” Sergi said. “This has been over six years. It’s time to give justice to DJ and at the end of the day, to give justice to Mr. Gage.”
Sergi said the defense has already planned what to do in case of a potential conviction in a jury trial.
“We have a lot of appellate points that we preserved so that if the unspeakable, unthinkable happens. There’s some great reasons for appeal,” Sergi said.
Supporters of DeVonte hope his case will be dismissed with the speedy trial motion.
“Watching my son go through this has been heartbreaking. He’s innocent, and it’s been proven over and over again that the evidence doesn’t add up. My only hope is that this nightmare ends so DJ can finally move forward,” Chelesta Amerson, DeVonte’s mother, said in the press release.
DeVonte is also hoping that his charges are dismissed so that he no longer has to live with them hanging over his head.
“I’ve been fighting for my freedom for almost seven years. I didn’t do this, and the evidence shows that,” DeVonte said. “All I want is the chance to live my life without these false accusations hanging over me. It’s time for this to end.”
The next hearing in DeVonte’s case is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 29 in courtroom #7 at the Hays County Government Center.De
