CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Amethyst Silva was an 11-year-old girl killed on New Year's Day, 2023. The men Corpus Christi Police suspect may be responsible have now been indicted over a year and four months later.
However, the charges aren't what the Silva family was expecting.
“Yes, I'm upset. I hope they set an example of these two. That way, the people of Corpus Christi can go out and celebrate every holiday that comes out without having to worry about a gun,” Rob Silva, Amethyst's father, said.
Amethyst was celebrating the New Year with her family outside the Allure Apartment Complex off Middlecoff Road. As midnight arrived, the peak of the excitement, she was hit with a gunshot.
According to the indictments, Deonis Poindexter and Jacob Leal were firing celebratory gunshots close to the apartment complex in the direction of Amethyst and her family. A couple of days after Amethyst died, the two men were arrested on a charge of deadly conduct, discharging a firearm.
They were each indicted on that lone charge, a third-degree felony.
“I had already come to terms with myself to accept, without finding Amethyst’s bullet, you really can’t do much," Rob said.
Amethyst’s family thought the two men could be charged with murder or a higher charge, but a lack of evidence has prevented that.
No one has been able to recover the bullet that killed Amethyst.
“If we had that projectile, we could take it provided it wasn’t too damaged and have ballistic experts look at the projectile, compare it with test fired bullets through the weapons that we do have,” Jimmy Granberry said, Nueces County District Attorney.
Granberry said that’s why an indictment didn’t come down for over a year. Federal investigators even got involved to help look for the missing bullet.
The charge of deadly conduct discharging a firearm carries a potential penalty of two to 10 years.
Granberry said Poindexter and Leal will also be indicted on another charge in relation to discharging a firearm in a city of more than 200,000 people. That penalty is up to 1 year in prison. It's likely the two men will be arrested after that indictment.
Rob has been upset that Poindexter and Leal have been out free since they bonded out of jail soon after being arrested in January 2023. He's hoping for justice for Amethyst through the court process.
“I’m going to go ahead and leave this in Jimmy Granberry’s hands and his team. And I'm just going to hope that they do what they need to do and serve justice for my daughter.”
Granberry's hoping the public can learn from this.
“I'd like the public to quit shooting damn guns up in the air in celebratory fashion. What goes up has got to come down…" Granberry said. "Firecrackers are illegal for God’s sake, why in the world are you going to go out and shoot a pistol up in the air? Please stop because it could be your child next.”
According to online records, Leal has waived his arraignment. No other court dates have been scheduled yet. Poindexter is scheduled for arraignment on April 24 at 1:30 p.m. in the 148 District Court.
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