HOUSTON – The trial begins Monday for the man accused of killing 11-year-old Josue Flores while he was walking home from school in northeast Houston in May 2016.
Jury selection took place on Thursday in downtown Houston ahead of the trial.
The case has taken several turns over the years.
What happened?
Investigators said the 11-year-old boy was stabbed more than 20 times as he was walking home from Marshall Middle School on May 17, 2016.
Authorities named two suspects, both of whom have since been released. The first was cleared by his alibi.
The second, Andre Jackson, a former Marine, was released in July 2017 after his arrest when investigators said DNA evidence made it impossible to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he is responsible for the crime.
But in June 2019, District Attorney Kim Ogg announced that Jackson was indicted in the case. He was arrested for the second time and charged in the case after investigators said they received new test results on DNA evidence in Josue’s murder.
KPRC learned that the evidence tested for Flores’ DNA was a jacket seized from Jackson’s home after his first arrest.
Court documents filed by HPD revealed that a judge granted Jackson’s request for HPD to return belongings seized in 2016. HPD agreed to return two cellphones and a purple spray paint can, but wrote that “clothing items seized from the defendant continue to be needed as evidence in the investigation.”
“To return those items now would materially interfere with the ongoing investigation into the death of Josue Flores,” the documents continued.
The jacket was retested in Florida after the HPD Cold Case Unit “learned about new technology.” The FBI helped pay for the new, advanced DNA testing.
Jackson has denied involvement in Flores’ death.
A little more than a year after Josue’s death, a law bearing his name was passed. The Josue Flores Act provides funding for transportation of children who live within walking distance to schools in dangerous neighborhoods.
On Monday, opening statements will begin in the murder trial.
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