Capital-murder cases tied to the 2019 killing of El Paso rapper Terrance Lamont Kinard Jr. have dramatically thinned out, with prosecutors dropping charges against seven of the 11 people once accused. Four defendants remain on the hook and are expected to move toward trial.
Kinard, who performed under the name T. Kizer Tha Dummy, was shot and killed shortly before midnight on Jan. 26, 2019, near Mount Whitney Drive in Northeast El Paso. What started as a sweeping capital-murder case built around alleged retaliation and organized-crime activity has now narrowed to four remaining defendants: Deyone Quartaril Bridges, Jacob Alexander Willis, Bryanna Lovett and Joshua Cecil Davis.
Prosecutors moved in 2025 to dismiss the capital-murder indictments against seven defendants after determining they could not reasonably secure convictions, according to the El Paso Times. Those cleared of capital murder counts are David Lee Moore, Marcus Kaleb Moore, Jeremiah D. Perkins, Savannah Mariyah Smith, Juan Manuel Noria, Obadiah John President and Miguel Aquino Ferrer.
KVIA and other local outlets have followed the sprawling investigation from the early days, when as many as 11 people were arrested in connection with the killing. Much of what the public first learned came from a 2020 Crime Stoppers "Crime Files" episode. Davis was one of the later arrests; court records show he was booked into the El Paso County Jail in January 2024 after being taken into custody out of state.
Who still faces trial
The four defendants still facing capital-murder charges are Bridges, Willis, Lovett and Davis, according to the El Paso Times. Their cases are now moving on slightly different tracks.
Willis had a status hearing set for March 20. Lovett is scheduled to go to trial on May 11. Bridges has multiple court dates in September 2026, including a trial setting. Davis’s defense attorney told the paper that Davis’s criminal case is effectively paused while a civil-commitment process is resolved.
Sealed testimony and scarce public filings
For anyone outside the courtroom trying to follow along, the paper trail is thin. Detailed affidavits have not been made public, and grand-jury testimony remains sealed, limiting what reporters and residents can independently verify.
As noted by KVIA, detectives have relied in part on witness accounts aired on the Crime Stoppers segment. Kinard’s father has repeatedly urged anyone with additional information to come forward. That combination of sealed records and televised tips has made it harder for the public to fully scrutinize how the remaining capital-murder cases are unfolding.
Legal stakes and what comes next
In Texas, capital murder is the most serious homicide charge on the books and can carry the harshest penalties available, including life in prison or death when the state seeks capital punishment. A statutory overview is available in Texas Penal Code §19.03.
From here, judges and lawyers will work through pretrial hearings, evidence disputes and potential plea negotiations, with key dates stretching into 2026. Whether prosecutors can secure convictions against Bridges, Willis, Lovett and Davis will depend on what evidence ultimately makes it into the record and whether any plea deals are struck before juries are seated.
For Kinard’s family and for investigators who have spent years on the case, the hope remains the same: that more witnesses will step forward and help fill in the gaps that still surround the night the rapper was killed.
