US gymnast Simone Biles is arguably the poster girl of the country’s gymnastics with seven Olympic medals, including five gold. That makes her one of the greatest gymnasts of all time.
She has such an inspiring legacy, so the world was shocked when in 2019, her brother Tevin Biles-Thomas was arrested and accused of murder, voluntary manslaughter, felonious assault and perjury at a New Year’s Party in Cleveland.
Apparently, a shooting occurred after a fight broke out when a group of men showed up uninvited and were asked to leave. The horrifying incident left three men – 19-year-old DelVaunte Johnson, 21-year-old Toshaun Banks and 23-year-old DeVaughn Gibson – dead.
In June 2021, Tevin Biles-Thomas was acquitted of the murder charges after the judge determined that prosecutors did not present enough evidence to convict him of a triple murder in the New Year’s Eve party in 2018.
Defense lawyers had sought the judge’s ruling, which also acquitted him of voluntary manslaughter and felonious assault charges. They said there was no forensic evidence connecting him to the killings. Also no witnesses had testified that they saw him shoot.
Biles-Thomas has maintained his innocence. After the acquittal, his attorney Joe Patituce spoke to Cleveland.com:
Biles-Thomas’ first trial ended up in a mistrial after jurors said that they read legal paperwork that was inadvertently included in evidence given to them to review. His acquittal came just weeks before his younger sister Simone Biles competed at the Tokyo Olympics.
What did Simone Biles say about the tragic incident?
Simone Biles and her three siblings, including older brother Tevin Biles-Thomas, were often in and out foster care as children, as their mother wasn’t able to care for them. Eventually, Simone and her younger sister Adria were legally adopted by their maternal grandfather and his second wife, while the older siblings were adopted by their mother’s aunt.
Tevin Biles-Thomas was in the US Army infantry and had obtained the rank of specialist. He served in the military for three years before his arrest and was deployed to Korea. He was arrested at Fort Stewart, the base where he was stationed in Georgia at the time.
Simone Biles took to social media to share her ‘sincere condolences’ to ‘everyone affected’ by the tragic incident and said that she was still ‘processing’ the news of her brother’s arrest.
Regarding the real culprits of the tragey at the New Years Party, the murders are still at large after a judge determined that there was not enough evidence to hold Biles-Thomas responsible for the murders. That included testimony from people who said they identified the shooter based on clothing but did not see the face of the shooter.
