August 23, 2017

Dallas man's capital murder conviction reversed after court finds evidence was withheld

An appellate court has reversed the capital murder conviction of a Dallas man accused of killing two brothers at a nightclub in 2013.

The 5th Court of Appeals in Dallas found that a Dallas County prosecutor did not turn over two eyewitness statements to the defense and did not disclose evidence that questioned the integrity of an eyewitness.

In the opinion, Justice Ada Brown wrote that "the evidence is legally insufficient to support his conviction for capital murder."

Jerome Deamus, 29, was convicted in September 2015 and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the slayings of Christopher and Cecil Ferguson.

He will face a new trial in Dallas County.

Deamus, known as "Big Daddy," is accused of killing the two brothers after an argument on May 26, 2013, at Club Copa in the 500 block of South Riverfront Boulevard.

Cecil Ferguson, 39, was shot in the chest and died at the club. His brother, 21-year-old Christopher Ferguson, was shot several times and later died at a hospital.

The case relied heavily on eyewitness testimony.

Deamus' appeal alleges that the prosecutor did not turn over all witness statements as required in a pre-trial order.

"The State next asserts that, even if the prosecutor violated the order, she did not do so willfully because she believed her actions were proper. We disagree," Brown wrote in the appeals court opinion.

The nightclub owner was a witness in the case. He told police that he did not witness the shooting but later testified that he saw Deamus shoot Cecil Ferguson.

Though the police report did not show that the nightclub owner told detectives he had seen the shooting, he told the prosecutor what he had seen. The appeal argues that those statements should have been given to the defense.

The Dallas County district attorney's office didn't comment on whether the prosecutor has been reprimanded. They argued that the prosecutor did not violate the pre-trial order.

"The court of appeals disagreed with our arguments. We are going to try the case," said First Assistant District Attorney Michael Snipes.
Court records show that the shooting was partially captured by a surveillance camera at the nightclub.

The grainy video shows Christopher Ferguson talking to people on a patio before punching one of them. The other people flee, and Ferguson is seen lying on the ground, records show.

His brother's body was found near the patio door into the club.

A witness told police that Ferguson and Deamus had gotten into an argument earlier in the night after Deamus accidentally knocked a drink out of Ferguson's hand. That witness also told investigators that Deamus approached Ferguson about an hour later. That's when Ferguson punched Deamus.

But that witness didn't see Deamus with a gun, court records show.

During the 2015 trial, that witness said he couldn't figure out how Deamus "got off a face shot stumbling back after he had been hit," court records show.

Deamus was charged with capital murder because police believed he intentionally shot both brothers. During a police interview, Deamus denied shooting anyone but later said that he shot Christopher Ferguson after the man punched him. Before the interview finished, Deamus again denied shooting anyone.

The appeals court found that no one could show that Deamus had a gun at the time of the shooting.

"In addition, it also appeared the State did not have a single eye-witness who could place appellant on the patio with a gun in his hand at the time of the shooting," Brown wrote in the appeals court opinion.

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/cour...dence-withheld