TEXARKANA, Texas - Two 17-year-old defendants accused of killing a husband and father during a home invasion earlier this month are too young for the death penalty, a prosecutor said Wednesday.
Daveon Demonta Woods and Cameron Keishaun Ware appeared for consecutive hearings Wednesday morning before 202nd District Judge John Tidwell in a first-floor courtroom of the Bi-State Justice Building in downtown Texarkana. Tidwell appointed Texarkana lawyer Jeff Harrelson to represent Woods and Texarkana lawyer Butch Dunbar to represent Ware.
First Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp said at the hearing that Texas law does not permit the assessment of the death penalty for defendants found guilty of committing capital murder before age 18. Woods will mark his 18th birthday next week and Ware's next birthday is in mid-May.
Under Texas law, capital murder is punishable by death or life without the possibility of parole for defendants 18 and above. Crisp said Texas law prescribes an automatic punishment of life with parole possible for defendants under 18.
Both teens are accused in the Nov. 9 shooting death of 29-year-old Craig Garner. Garner and his wife were reportedly awakened by the sound of their apartment door being kicked in during the first hour of Nov. 9, according to a probable cause affidavit. Garner's wife told police she heard Garner exclaim shortly before hearing several gunshots.
Texarkana, Texas, Police Department Spokesman Shaun Vaughn previously said that investigators believe Woods and Ware mistakenly kicked in the Garner family's door at the River Crossing Apartments on College Drive in Texarkana, Texas, and that their intended target lived elsewhere.
According to the affidavit, Woods and Ware approached three people sitting in a car at the Pecan Ridge Apartments on 15th Street in Texarkana, Texas, and offered to pay them for a ride to River Crossing Apartments. The driver and two passengers allegedly told investigators that when they arrived at River Crossing, Woods got out of the car, went to an apartment and knocked but came back to the car when the knock went unanswered.
"Woods came back to the vehicle and indicated that he was about to 'rob' the apartment," the affidavit states. "The witnesses all advised they did not want to participate."
Woods allegedly pointed a handgun at one of the car's occupants' heads and warned them not to leave. Woods allegedly took a pair of yellow Vans shoes which were in the car and put them on before walking up the stairs toward the Garner family's apartment with Ware.
As Woods and Ware approached the apartment, the passengers in the car allegedly fled on foot while the driver sped away in the car.
Texarkana, Texas, police were dispatched to the Garner family apartment at approximately 1:20 a.m. The apartment door was completely broken off its hinges and sitting in the doorway inside the unit. Garner was found lying face down, suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. He died later at a local hospital.
Recovered at the scene were shell casings for guns of two different calibers. Three casings were allegedly from 380 caliber bullets and one casing was from a 40 caliber bullet.
Garner's wife reported that when the noise woke her and her husband, he went to investigate and she went to their two children, ages 2- and 4 years, where they slept together in a different bedroom. The wife allegedly reported she "shielded" her children until she believed it was safe to check on her husband.
In addition to the capital murder charge he faces in connection with Garner's death, Woods faces a charge of aggravated robbery in an unrelated case. According to a probable cause affidavit in that case, Woods allegedly robbed two men at gunpoint Oct. 17 at the Pecan Ridge Apartments of their cash, clothing and phones. Pecan Ridge is the same complex from which Woods and Ware allegedly traveled immediately prior to the shooting Nov. 9 at River Crossing.
The affidavit in Woods' robbery case alleges he uses the street name "Shoota" and that he is a member of the MOB street gang, the initials for which standing for "Money Over B*****s."
At the time of his arrest, Woods was serving a 10-year deferred adjudication probation for burglary of a habitation which began in June and stemmed from an arrest in May, court records show. Woods pleaded guilty to the offense and could have avoided a final felony conviction had he successfully completed the probation.
Officials with the Bowie County Community Supervision and Corrections Department filed a motion last week seeking to set aside the order deferring a finding of guilt in Woods' burglary case. Woods faces two to 20 years if his probation is revoked in the burglary case. He faces five to 99 years or life if found guilty of aggravated robbery.
Tidwell scheduled pretrial hearings for mid-December for both Woods and Ware. Neither man has been formally indicted. Bowie County's grand jury is expected to meet next month.
Bail is set at $1 million for both Woods and Ware on the charge of capital murder. Woods' bail in the robbery case is set at $100,000. Both defendants are being held in the Bowie County jail.