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A Bell County jury in Texas found Caysen Allison not guilty of murder but convicted him of criminally negligent homicide.
After hearing closing arguments from both the prosecution and defense, jurors received their instructions Monday and began deliberating. They reached the verdict on Tuesday afternoon.
Allison faced charges ranging from murder to manslaughter to criminally negligent homicide, in descending order of severity, according to the Killeen Daily Journal. The judge instructed jurors that if they do not convict him on the highest charge of murder, they must consider the lesser charges in order until reaching a verdict of either guilty or not guilty.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, prosecutors said Allison, then 18, stabbed Jose Luis “Joe” Ramirez Jr., 18, multiple times during a fight involving several students on May 18, 2022, at Belton High School in Belton.
Police arrested Allison shortly after the incident and found a folding knife near his home, covered in what appeared to be blood.
The incident involved Allison, Ramirez, and four other boys inside the bathroom on the morning in question. Ramirez had previously confronted Allison during an after-prom party after accusing Allison of behaving aggressively toward a friend’s date. The pair agreed to fight at a later time but bumped into each other in the bathroom beforehand.
Ramirez allegedly said that if they were going to fight, they should go ahead and fight in the bathroom, according to witness testimony.Witnesses said the bathroom brawl was not planned and that Allison said he did not want to fight before Ramirez threw a punch at him. Allison then stabbed Ramirez multiple times, including in the chest, arms and buttocks.
The trial commenced on April 14 and included testimony from multiple witnesses, among them investigators who outlined their interactions with Allison after the incident, according to KCENTV.
Following the verdict, Allison’s lawyer, Zachary Boyd, said that the conviction meant that Allison never intended to kill Ramirez.
“They saw a young man scared, injured, reacting in a sudden violent encounter others initiated,” Boyd said.
Boyd added that Allison now faces a possible 6 months to two years in a state jail facility,
“The jury had to consider whether or not the state proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Caysen did not act in self-defense, and they wholly failed to do so. And let’s not forget the shadow cast by the investigation itself, the failure to Mirandese Caysen at the arrest, the minimization of Caysen Allison’s rights under miranda at the beginning of his interrogation.”
Allison remains free on bail while awaiting sentencing. Check back for updates.
[Feature Photos: Joe Ramirez/Handout; Caysen Allison/Benton County PD]
