SAN ANTONIO – None of the four suspects arrested in connection with a 14-year-old’s death are being charged with capital murder. Instead, their charges have been downgraded from murder to assault.
“Unfortunately, I don’t have the benefit of viewing all of the evidence in this case,” Karl Alexander, a local defense attorney said. “There are multiple ways in which this can happen. Often people don’t really understand that.”
Alexander is a criminal defense attorney with Chacon, Campbell & Alexander, PLLC, and is not part of this case.
On April 16, Simon Cuevas left San Antonio Independent School District’s Brewer Academy at dismissal with a group of students. Minutes after leaving campus, authorities said he was beaten, shot and killed at the corner of Elmendorf Street and Merida Street.
Surveillance video showed a group of five people following Cuevas as he left school. After Cuevas was beaten and shot, everyone ran from the area.
All five people were arrested, and all originally charged with capital murder.
However, all of the teens’ charges were downgraded to third-degree felony charge of injury to a child with bodily injury.
Fernando Flores and Andrew Cantu, both 18 years old, have not been sentenced.
Two teen brothers, 14 and 15 years old, were sentenced on Nov. 6 to the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, based on progress and behavior.
Caesar Tijerina, 20, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in August.
“It seems very shocking that someone can be arrested for capital murder and then suddenly a charge that is significantly less serious than that actually gets filed,” Alexander said.
He said this can happen for a number of reasons.
Alexander said there a several factors, including that police might have acted too soon.
“There’s a public safety concern, you have to react,” Alexander said. “You have to do something; you have to make an arrest and get someone off the street. And then as the investigation unfolds, you realize that ‘well, perhaps we jumped to a conclusion, and it wasn’t quite the charge we thought it was.’”
Or, Alexander said, there is flaw in the evidence.
“That doesn’t allow the district attorney’s office to be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that it’s an intentional and knowing killing,” Alexander said.
Another factor: Maybe no one talked.
“If no one talked and they have nothing to demonstrate that everybody knew that gun was there, that that gun was going to come out, that’s where you’re going to run into a stumbling block,” Alexander said.
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