Tyler

By CASEY KNAUPP
Staff Writer

Christopher Ervin was not the only man assaulted after a Robert E. Lee High School football game on Sept. 8 — “the whole parking lot was basically under attack,” a Tyler police detective testified Wednesday.

Detective Chris Miller, a gang intelligence officer, and Tyler police officer James Turner testified that several witnesses told them Antonio “Pauley” Ates and a group of other gang members assaulted Ervin after they beat a REL student.

Ates, 17, is on trial for engaging in organized criminal activity for allegedly causing serious bodily injury to Ervin and committing the offense as a member of the Tyler gang “Westside Crips Rolling Sixties.”

Ervin, a disabled Army veteran, testified he took his 15-year-old daughter to the game Sept. 8 and, as they were trying to leave the parking lot in his van, a group of people blocked the exit. Ervin tapped on his horn, then opened his door, stepped out and told them to move so he could leave. One of the group said an expletive to Ervin and the victim said he told the teenager he didn’t need to be talking like that. Ervin said he told the boy that as an adult, and not to start a fight.

The group of people circled around Ervin and, “all of a sudden, I don’t remember, someone knocked me out,” he said. Ervin’s daughter ran to her father and laid on top of him to protect him from the fight, witnesses said.

“If it wasn’t for my daughter laying on me I probably would have died,” he said. “My daughter saved my life … She’s my hero.”

His daughter’s arm was fractured by the group when she tried to shield her father, he said.

When asked about his injuries, Ervin said his eyes were swollen shut, the back of his head was split open, he suffered bad headaches and couldn’t walk or stand. Ervin said he couldn’t focus for three or four days and people told him he was talking strangely but that he doesn’t remember.

When shown a picture of himself in the hospital, Ervin broke down and said he couldn’t look at it. “It looks like death,” he said.

He didn’t realize until later that he couldn’t smell or taste. Ervin loved Italian food and his grandmother’s cooking, but doesn’t eat much anymore and has lost 32 pounds, he said.

After the incident, REL high school students harassed his daughter because the boys were in jail. He said she has since moved to a different high school.

Two high school boys testified they saw the attack on Ervin.

A 15-year-old student said he remembers talking to an officer that night, telling him “Pauley” was also involved in the attack. He identified “Pauley” as Ates in court. He testified he heard it was “Pauley,” but he didn’t know Ates and he didn’t personally see him that night.

A 16-year-old student testified he saw a lot of people stomping Ervin. He testified he told police “Pauley” and others were involved because that’s what the other boy told police.

Turner said a woman pointed out Jamichael Amie as being involved and Turner arrested Amie, whose hands had fresh cuts on them, for a probation violation.

Turner said Roderick Houston was arrested that night for disorderly conduct and he had blood all over his clothes and shoes.

A teenage girl said she was walking with her relative, Alvin “AJ” Gordon, when a group of boys ran up behind him and one boy hit him in the head. After he fell to the ground, she said a group of 15 to 20 boys hit and kicked him. She said she recognized “Pauley” Ates, and two others she knew hitting him. “I saw Antonio (Ates) stomping on my cousin,” she said.

She said she told police that the same group of boys who beat Gordon began beating another man after the attack.

The girl said she was scared to testify because she still had to live here and deal with problems that might come her way because she was defending her kin. She received a phone call at 2 a.m. Wednesday from someone threatening her and her family if she testified, she said.

The girl said she knew “Pauley” from school and when they first met, he “asked me if I wanted to get jumped and role with the sixties,” which to her meant she could become part of the gang if she had sex with Ates and his fellow gang members.

She said she told a woman who was Ates’ former attorney that she might be mistaken about Ates beating her cousin because her friends told her she should and she was being threatened.

Gordon testified he was walking to his vehicle when he got hit from behind. He said he tried to crawl away but he got stomped on, hit his head on the concrete and blacked out. Gordon’s eye was swollen, his elbow was cut and his back was hurt, he said.

An 18-year-old girl testified she saw Gordon get attacked.

She said she knows Ates and she saw him at the football game, then again later in the parking lot with her brother, Jerrell Amie, her cousin, Jamichael Amie, and others who have been charged in the incident. She said she saw some of the boys involved in the assaults but said Jerrell Amie and Jamichael Amie were not assaulting Gordon but were watching the attack. She said she didn’t see Ates hit or kick the victims.

She said she told Detective Miller the truth but didn’t tell him Ates was involved.

A 16-year-old girl testified she didn’t know who “Pauley” or Ates was. Then she testified she talked to Miller about “Pauley” and identified him as Ates in the courtroom. She said she didn’t see Ates with the boys who jumped Ervin.

She said she knew she told Miller the same group of boys who jumped Gordon jumped Ervin and that group involved “Pauley.” Then she testified she did not see Ates hit Ervin.

The jurors listened to the recorded interviews Miller conducted with the two girls.

The 18-year-old girl told him a group of gang members stomped Ervin; she named several of the boys, including Ates.

The 16-year-old told Miller that she knew “Pauley” was involved with the other gang members in beating Gordon and Ervin.

Miller said the Westside Crips have a history of committing crimes and use intimidation to threaten witnesses from testifying. Miller said that, in his opinion, Ates was a member of the Westside Crips.

Miller said he wasn’t surprised the two girls he interviewed testified they didn’t remember telling him about Ates’ involvement because they have to go to school and live in the same neighborhood as the defendant. “I’m sure they fear for their lives,” he said.

Miller said several of the defendants in the case explained they were close to the beating because they were trying to help Ervin. But, he said, no one tried to help the victim.

He said there was a bigger picture of that night than Ervin’s and Gordon’s assaults. He said witnesses described a group of people going around attacking people and, although police only confirmed two assaults, they heard there were assaults before and after those two beatings.

Miller said anonymous callers told them several more names than the people charged, but police had to narrow it down and establish probable cause before they arrested anyone.

“I firmly believe (Ates) was involved” Miller said.

Montrell High, 18, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 25 years in prison; De’Marquis Martez Lollar, 17, and Jerrell Lamar Amie pleaded guilty and were sentenced to 15 years; Jamichael Re’Shard Amie, 19, Earnest Porter, 17, and Rodney Eugene Houston, 20, pleaded guilty and were sentenced to 20 years; a juvenile has been committed to the Texas Youth Commission for the offense and James “Baby James” Jones, 17, is awaiting trial.

Former Tyler Independent School District Police Officer David Talamantes and TISD Officer Andrew Whitfield testified about their dealings with Ates on the REL campus. Each officer gave several incidents that led them to believe Ates was a member of the Westside Crips.

The trial in 241st District Judge Jack Skeen Jr’s court resumes today.