DALLAS — Attorneys are pushing for a new capital murder trial for a man sentenced to life in prison after they learned his case was among those reviewed for missing Dallas police evidence. This is the second known plea for a court to rehear a case — indicating such legal moves could be a trend amid widespread evidence preservation issues.
In the motion filed Wednesday, lawyers for Da’Kerrick Hamilton, 30, argue his trial lawyers could have asked for a delay to investigate the missing evidence had they known about it. A similar court request was filed in another case that same day.
Dallas police are reviewing about 450 murders and capital murders for missing evidence. In early March, The Dallas Morning News broke the story about the audit amid other police storage and evidence issues. Of the initial cases reviewed, Hamilton’s is one of 14 homicides determined to have deleted evidence, according to records obtained by The News this week under the Texas Public Information Act.
DA John Creuzot declined to comment on the new motion in a written statement.
In response to questions from The News about a similar motion reported Wednesday, Creuzot reiterated that the “review process is ongoing and continues to develop … not just day to day but often hour to hour.”
“Our office continues to take this situation very seriously to ensure the rights of all involved parties are kept intact, however, as this is a developing situation so are the protocols and processes we are instituting on our end,” the statement read. “We are moving forward the very best way we know how with the information we have.”
Hamilton was convicted of capital murder and sentenced March 3 to life in prison without parole for the shooting death of 27-year-old Desjuan Holmes. Hamilton abducted Holmes at gunpoint, then shot him multiple times at Thurgood Marshall Park, where his body was found Sept. 10, 2019, police said. A second man, Michael Taylor, pleaded guilty March 7 to aggravated assault in the case, according to court records.
Hamilton is also one of two people charged with capital murder in the Aug. 24, 2019, slayings of Jennifer Hernandez and Kenneth Wesley. That charge was not among the first batch of cases reviewed for deleted evidence as of Feb. 25. The district attorney’s office said it was dismissed “without prejudice” because of his capital murder conviction.
Hamilton’s appellate lawyer says in the court filing that his trial attorneys weren’t told about lost evidence and do not know what the missing files would have shown. The motion notes Hamilton’s defense lawyers learned of the missing evidence through The News’ reporting.
Creuzot said his staff is researching how the information didn’t get communicated to Hamilton’s trial lawyers.
Police officials have repeatedly declined to comment on the findings of their ongoing review, instead referring to past statements that the audit will be thorough and complete. No timeline for completion is set.
The first known motion for a new trial was filed for Jordan Rodgers, a 19-year-old man convicted of aggravated assault in connection with the drive-by shooting of 79-year-old Gloria Roque.
Rodgers was standing trial in February when Creuzot said his office learned about the 14 cases.
A top police official has said evidence was deleted because of human error, such as detectives not saving them quickly enough in case files or because of officers improperly labeling the videos. Others may have been deleted because of deficiencies in DPD’s processes, he said.
The status of hundreds of other homicide cases being audited by police remains unclear.
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