2023-01-19 Thomas

Appellant, D.L.T.,1 appeals the juvenile court’s waiver of jurisdiction and transfer
of this case to a criminal district court. See TEX. FAM. CODE ANN. § 54.02.2 D.L.T. asserts
that the juvenile court abused its discretion when it waived jurisdiction and transferred the
proceedings to district court for criminal prosecution because the evidence is insufficient
to support the juvenile court’s finding of probable cause due to D.L.T.’s claim to have
acted in self-defense. We affirm the waiver of jurisdiction and order of transfer.

BACKGROUND

When D.L.T. was fifteen years old, he was referred to the juvenile court for the
offenses of murder and manslaughter. In its second amended petition, the State asked
the juvenile court to waive its jurisdiction and transfer D.L.T.’s case to criminal district
court. See § 54.02. The petition alleged that D.L.T. (1) intentionally and knowingly
caused the death of Deandre Graham by discharging a firearm in his direction (murder)
and (2) recklessly caused Graham’s death by discharging a firearm in his direction
(manslaughter).

As required by section 54.02(d), the juvenile court ordered a complete diagnostic
study, social evaluation, and full investigation of D.L.T., his circumstances, and the
circumstances of the alleged offense, including a psychological evaluation. See
§ 54.02(d). After the evaluations were complete, the juvenile court conducted an
evidentiary hearing on the State’s motion to transfer,
3 and received the following testimony.

On the morning of March 30, 2022, Amarillo Police Lieutenant Norman Fisher
responded to a shooting at an Amarillo apartment complex. When Fisher arrived, he
discovered that a man identified as Deandre Graham had been shot twice in the upper
torso and was deceased. The suspect, D.L.T., had left the scene. During his
investigation, Fisher spoke with Chrystyne Sims, the mother of one of Graham’s children.
Sims and her children lived in the apartment where Graham was shot. According to Sims,
Graham lived in a different apartment in the same complex.

Sims’s daughter, A.S., and D.L.T. had been to Graham’s apartment several hours
before the shooting. D.L.T. was looking for a place to spend the night because his aunt
had kicked him out of her home. A.S. and D.L.T. left Graham’s apartment briefly. When
they returned, D.L.T. discovered that a handgun he had in his backpack was missing.
A.S., her sister, H.S., and D.L.T. searched for the gun. After locating the gun in Graham’s
apartment, D.L.T., A.S., and H.S. returned to Sims’s apartment. D.L.T. was upset that
Graham had taken his gun and he decided to go back to Graham’s apartment. While at
Graham’s apartment this time, D.L.T. disabled Graham’s security cameras before
returning to Sims’s apartment to sleep.

Between 4:00 and 5:00 a.m., Sims received a phone call from Graham that he was
coming to her apartment. Graham was upset that D.L.T. had tampered with his security
cameras and he wanted D.L.T. to fix the cameras. Immediately before Graham arrived,
Sims woke up D.L.T. and told him that Graham was coming over. When Graham knocked
on Sims’s door, she told D.L.T. to hide. D.L.T. took his handgun from underneath his
pillow and hid in the bathtub. Sims opened the door and told Graham that D.L.T. was not
there, but Graham pushed past her and headed into the bedroom area. Sims told Graham
that D.L.T. had a gun to which Graham responded, “I don’t give a f***. He’s going to fix
my s***.” Sims heard a gunshot4 and saw D.L.T. jump over Graham’s body and run out
of the apartment. Prior to the gunshots, neither Sims nor A.S. heard any arguing or signs
of a physical struggle between D.L.T. and Graham. Graham was unarmed at the time he
was shot. The autopsy determined that Graham died from a gunshot wound to the chest.

Two days after the shooting, D.L.T. turned himself in to the police claiming he acted
in self-defense. In his psychological evaluation, D.L.T. told Dr. Schneider that he heard
Graham banging on the apartment door and knew that Graham forced himself into the
apartment. Graham opened the bathroom door where D.L.T. was hiding in the bathtub.
As Graham pulled the shower curtain back, he grabbed D.L.T.’s shirt and was pulling on
it when D.L.T. shot Graham. After the second shot, Graham stopped pulling on D.L.T.’s
shirt and fell. Sims told D.L.T. to leave the apartment and he left.

Potter County juvenile probation officer Aaron Brummer evaluated D.L.T.’s case
and testified to his history in the juvenile system. In March of 2021, D.L.T. was
adjudicated for the offenses of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and evading arrest in
a motor vehicle. He was placed on probation and assigned to the Constructive Living
Unit, a residential treatment program provided by the Youth Center of the High Plains, for
nine months. After D.L.T. was released from the residential program, his probation was
modified and he was discharged to his mother’s residence. Two months later, D.L.T.’s
probation was again modified due to a physical altercation between D.L.T. and his
mother. D.L.T began living with his aunt in early 2022. D.L.T. was still on juvenile
probation when he shot and killed Graham. According to Brummer, D.L.T. will age out of
the juvenile system in twenty months. Brummer has worked with D.L.T. the last two years
and, during that time, D.L.T.’s misbehavior has escalated. D.L.T. has been referred to
juvenile probation for eleven alleged offenses in Potter County, including six felonies.
Brummer opined that the juvenile justice system does not have adequate rehabilitative
resources to offer D.L.T. Brummer agreed with the psychological evaluation that D.L.T.
is defiant and has anti-social behaviors that manifest a desire to defy authority. Both
Brummer and Dr. Schneider recommended that D.L.T. be certified as an adult.

Following the hearing, the juvenile court judge determined probable cause existed
to believe D.L.T. committed the offenses of murder and manslaughter as alleged, made
written findings under section 54.02(f), and signed a waiver of jurisdiction and order of
transfer to criminal district court. See § 54.02(h). D.L.T. timely filed this accelerated
appeal of the juvenile court’s waiver of jurisdiction and order of transfer. See
§ 56.01(c)(1)(A), (h).

By his appeal, D.L.T. challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support the
probable cause finding that he committed murder or manslaughter, and contends the
juvenile court abused its discretion when it waived its jurisdiction and transferred the
proceedings to district court for criminal prosecution.