A Texarkana appellate court issued an opinion Wednesday upholding the capital murder conviction of one of four men accused in the shooting death of a father killed as he waited for his children's school bus.
Anthony Wilson Jr., 21, was found guilty of capital murder by a Bowie County jury in December. As the state did not seek the death penalty, Wilson was automatically sentenced to life without parole by 102nd District Judge Bobby Lockhart for his role in the March 29, 2016, death of Casey Smith.
On appeal, Wilson complained that the instructions read to the jury before they began deliberations were flawed and may have led the jury to convict Wilson of capital murder rather than of a lesser offense. The 6th District Court of Appeals in Texarkana issued an opinion Wednesday that rejects Wilson's argument and affirms his conviction for capital murder.
Smith, 28, was parked in front of a house in the 2400 block of Mamie Street, where he routinely waited for the school bus carrying his three stepdaughters, according to witness testimony heard Wednesday and Thursday. Unbeknownst to Smith, Wilson, who had armed himself, and co-defendant Marshall Vallejos, 23, had caught sight of him as he drove past a short time earlier on South Lake Drive in Texarkana, Texas, and into the parking lot of the Dollar General store.
Wilson and Vallejos had been riding around and smoking marijuana for a couple of hours with Jailon Gamble, 20, and Jaquelle Rogers, 22, in Gamble's silver Hyundai. Gamble and Rogers both testified that Wilson, who was the only one of the men acquainted with Smith, believed Smith would have money and wanted to rob him.
When a chance encounter with Vallejos' mother at Dollar General store led Wilson and Vallejos to scratch their plan to rob Smith in the parking lot, Wilson noticed Smith's white Chevrolet Tahoe parked on Mamie Street nearby and hatched a plan. Wilson intended to ask Smith for a light as Wilson walked up holding a marijuana cigarette. Wilson approached Smith's driver's side, and Vallejos went to the passenger side.
Gamble testified that he never got out of his car as he sat in a field near Mamie Street. Rogers testified he walked down a trail a short distance to watch events transpire but began to run as soon as he heard the sound of gunshots.
Wilson shot Smith at least four times with a .380-caliber semi-automatic pistol, with several of the shots fired into Smith's back. Vallejos shot Smith once in the face with a .357 revolver. Smith perished in moments as one of the .380-caliber bullets passed through his aorta.
Capital murder charges remain pending against Rogers and Gamble. Vallejos pleaded guilty to felony murder in March 2017 and is serving a sentence of life with parole possible.
Wilson is being held in the Allred Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice near Wichita Falls, Texas.