As the old saying goes, the wheels of justice turn slowly. Likewise, so do the wheels of injustice, as a self-defense case out of Waco, Texas, recently proved.
This week, the McLennan County District Attorney’s Office dismissed murder charges against two Houston men involved in the self-defense incident at a party near the Baylor University campus, finally determining it was a justifiable homicide. While that was good news to Calvin Nichols Jr., it hardly makes up for the 635 days the man spent locked up in jail while the DA’s office slowly dragged its feet over the case.
According to police reports, on the night in question Nichols and his cousin, Jaytron Damon Scott, were invited to a party attended by a number of Baylor students, including football players. According to partygoers, Joseph Craig Thomas Jr. showed up uninvited and began threatening others with a gun, including a female student who asked him to move his car.
He later stuck a gun under the chin of a Baylor football player. And when Scott and Nichols were leaving the party, Thomas began to pistol whip Nichols.
That’s when Scott, acting in defense of his cousin, fired his pistol at Thomas, striking him multiple times and killing him. Murder charges were then filed against Scott and Nichols, a fact that Scott’s attorney, Bryan Cantrell, found unbelievable.
“I don’t know how this case got indicted,” Cantrell told KWTX.com. “This was the clearest self-defense case I have ever seen. And I think the problem is a lot of attorneys and, certainly the people of the community, don’t understand the law of self-defense.”
Cantrell added that since this was never a legitimate murder case, the public shouldn’t be worried about “murderers going free.”
“It scares the public that a murder case got dismissed,” Cantrell said. “This was never a murder case. This was always a justified homicide. In fact, we have the investigating officer at the scene saying six or seven times, ‘Yeah guys, this is a justified homicide here.’”
Abel Reyna, Nichols’ attorney, was also pleased with the outcome, although the time it took left nothing to cheer about.
“We are pleased that the recently obtained evidence supported what we had been arguing on our client’s behalf over the past two-plus years,” Reyna told KWXT.com. “While it’s sad that Calvin was in jail for that period of time awaiting trial, we are pleased the DA’s office made the right decision in light of this evidence.”
The decision to drop the charges vindicated Nichols and Scott, but the time it took the DA’s office to decide to drop those charges is a travesty and a shame. One can only hope prosecutors will be more diligent in the future in trying to see justice served swiftly for those who shouldn’t even be charged.
Texas attorney Emily Taylor, who specializes in defending self-defense and gun-related cases for Walker & Taylor PLLC in Houston as well as for Texas members of U.S. LawShield, says the case serves as a cautionary tale to citizens who are forced to defend themselves.
“Self-defenders need to be aware that self-defense, defense of others and defense of property are affirmative defenses (in Texas). This means the government is free to arrest you, prosecute you and force you to assert your defense to a jury of your peers,” Taylor says. “We all hope the state does the right thing and declines to arrest the self-defender, but that kind of common sense is, unfortunately, increasingly rare.”
Would it be in bad taste to inquire if Joseph Craig Thomas Jr. had a criminal history and one that involved violence?
The bureaucracy of the justice system should scare the shit out of everybody. Even if you have faith in righteous outcomes there’s no telling how long it will take before you get that outcome.
Your fate may very well one day come down to a sheet of paper on some pencil pushers desk that falls behind a file cabinet. Kafka’s Trial may be fiction but it’s accurate.
The bureaucracy of the justice system should scare the shit out of everybody.”
Agree that it does, but that is functional in the sense of creating deterrence. Hence the tendency of people to tolerate it as the lesser of evils.
Violated his right to a speedy trial and potentially exceeded their authority or neglected their duty so personally liable for damages…qualified immunity is a conditional thing. Generally only bullies and naive do gooders go into law enforcement, same with the Courts. Now deal with the January 6th prisoners of the Democrat party and RINOs, three years in already.
Sounds like something cackles would do and did. Hopefully a lawsuit is in the works.
TRUMP/VANCE 2024.
I’ve had several defense incidents in my life. I’ve been hauled to the police station. I’ve also been asked to just come by later and give a statement and not been transported to the police station automatically. I’ve been questioned and held in a room but it was never more than a few hours (although on one I was held for about 6 hours). Never got charged with a crime and never formally arrested. I only got sued once (as in made it to a court room) over my defense (by the family of one of the bad guys I shot) and that was dismissed because in my state ya can’t sue the defending person if its been ‘adjudicated’ (determined by a judge or the DA) to have been valid legal self-defense. Through all of those, the one constant was the lawyer I got through a ‘self-defense insurance’ I initially had years ago then from USCCA for the rest.
The legal jungle nightmare can be a lot worse when you don’t have a decent lawyer.
So my experience did not involve being in jail for two years for valid legal self-defense and I am in no way trying to equate my experience with what this innocent person suffered for his incarceration.
But I’m going to say something, and sure people have their own opinions… and that something is … when you need to pull that firearm out of the holster to use it to save your life or the life of another make sure you can also be prepared to pull that lawyer out too.
You aren’t of a colored complexion at a college party. I’m amazed you’re not going off topic🙄
No, not of a “colored complexion at a college party”.
This guy should have never been charged. But there is one thing, where it says “…the recently obtained evidence…”, wondering exactly what that was.
I mean, looking back at the history of the case and doing some research it was pretty much clear it was valid legal defense. So I’m wondering what that “recently obtained evidence” was.
Civil rights lawsuit. Now. This was not a speedy trial at all.
And very likely malicious prosecution. And racism.
Howard University?
That explains why there are no photos of the people involved. Of course even Americans of African descent have a right to self defense.
This is why one should if at all possible, just Shoot, Shovel and Shut Up.
Wrong university name, wrong city, wrong state.
Why won’t my comments post?
maybe went to moderation, in that case it will usually appear later (but some times it doesn’t so not sure why that is)
or…
you got caught in that weird thing where it acts like you posted but it doesnt actually post and disappears never to be seen again. I’ve had that happen a few times over the last few days.
Donald Trump comments on report alleging President Biden committed impeachable offenses. (now we need to find our how much Kamala got from her handlers in China, and where exactly that money went under Walz governorship)