Another Amarillo Teen Will Face Murder Charge As Adult
A juvenile who was 15 at the time of his arrest for the fatal shooting of a 30-year-old man will have his case handled in District Court, rather than a juvenile court.
The teen is charged with murder and manslaughter in connection with the March 30, 2022 slaying of Deandre Graham at the Axiom apartments, located at 1500 Bell St.
According to recent court documents, D.L.T (as the juvenile is identified in court documents) accompanied a friend to the Deandre Graham's apartment several hours before the shooting. After a short time, the pair left the apartment and D.L.T. discovered that his handgun he kept in his backpack was missing. Graham was assumed to be the culprit.
Upset at having his gun stolen, the juvenile slipped into Graham's apartment, disabled his security cameras, then returned to his friend (who lived in another unit in the same complex).
When Graham discovered his security system had been tampered with, he came to the apartment where he knew D.L.T. would be. He was allowed into the apartment and was immediately shot twice in the upper torso by the juvenile, who then fled.
Graham was unarmed at the time and there was allegedly no confrontation or verbal exchange before D.L.T fired his weapon.
Shortly after D.L.T. was taken into custody, Potter County officials filed a motion to transfer of proceedings from juvenile court to district court. The motion was granted. An appeal was made to the 7th Court of Appeals, who affirmed the original decision in an opinion released on January 19.
The Potter County proceedings against D.L.T. bear uncanny parallels to that of Randall County's recent capital murder indictment of 15-year-old Chris Knight in connection with the double slaying of his father and his father's girlfriend.
The decision to certify the juvenile as an adult was based on his escalating and lengthy criminal history. According to court documents, the teen had been referred to juvenile probation for "eleven alleged offenses in Potter county, including six felonies". D.L.T. was also on probation at the time of Graham's death.