WACO, Texas — The McLennan County District Attorney's Office has announced it has dropped murder charges against two men in the case of a shooting in Waco in 2022.
According to the DA's Office, charges were dropped against Jaytron Scott and Calvin Nichols after an "extensive investigation and review of evidence" by multiple prosecutors and investigators in cooperation with the Waco Police Department and both Scott and Nichols' lawyers.
The DA's Office stated the evidence "could not overcome a claim of self-defense/defense of others beyond a reasonable doubt", and thus the only "legal and ethical option" was to dismiss the charges.
Waco Police Officers reportedly responded to a disturbance along South 2nd Street on April 3, 2022. When officers arrived, they reportedly found Joseph Craig Thomas Jr. dead at the scene, having been shot multiple times.
According to police, the shooting was captured on a nearby doorbell camera, which showed Thomas "aggressively" pointing a gun at people on the porch of the home and threatening to shoot them.
Thomas then physically assaulted Calvin Nichols, who was standing near the porch, said the DA's Office. Jaytron Scott, Nichol's cousin, reportedly saw the assault and that Thomas had a gun, and shot Thomas multiple times in defense of Nichols, according to the DA's Office.
After reviewing the evidence, the District Attorney's Office said the defense-of-others claim could not be disproven, and the charges against Nichols and Scott were dropped.
"Our ethical and legal obligation is to not prosecute a case when a legitimate question exists about whether a defendant is guilty," said Assistant District Attorney Will Hix in a statement. "An exhaustive review of this case’s evidence made clear that seeking a conviction would violate our oath to do justice.”
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