Man acquitted in deadly stabbing

After spending more than three years in jail awaiting trial, a Houston man walked free last week when a jury found him not guilty in the killing of a homeless man at a Galleria-area bus stop.

Andre Roy was charged with capital murder in 2016 after he was caught on camera stabbing to death 61year-old Franklin Medina. But he always said the man he knifed had attacked him first — and last week a jury believed him, finding that the slaying was an act of selfdefense.

“It took a while to get there, but finally somebody listened,” said defense attorney Jonathan Stephenson, who handled the case along with Robert Loper. “Nobody listened to Andre from the beginning, but the jury did. It’s a shame it took that long.”

When his client heard the jury’s verdict on Friday, Stephenson said, his response was “a little different” from what he expected.

“I’ve been saying this for three and a half years!” Roy said.

The Harris County District Attorney’s Office on Sunday did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Before he was picked up for the murder charge, Roy had a smattering of low-level convictions, ranging from trespassing to marijuana possession to a minor assault. He had a history of mental illness and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress, his attorney said.

Previously he’d been attacked — and once shot — while waiting at bus stops, and the defense team argued that those prior incidents could have heightened his perception of what constituted a threat.

On the evening of Feb. 11, 2016, Roy was on Post Oak near the bus stop by Neiman Marcus when he got into an altercation with Medina around 9:15 p.m. Afterward, police said Roy attacked the older man while trying to rob him.

A passerby spotted the confrontation and intervened, holding Roy down until authorities arrived. He later told police the dying man said Roy was trying to take his bag.

Yet Roy consistently maintained that Medina had attacked him unprovoked, and security footage caught him backing up before the dispute. Though two witness saw Roy stab Medina, Stephenson said they didn’t see the exchange beforehand.

“From the minute that the police arrived and from the minute that the independent witnesses arrived on scene, Andre always said, ‘He hit me first. I didn’t want to do it,’ ” Stephenson said.