CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Shortly after 29-year-old Deonis Poindexter and 43-year-old Jacob Leal were arrested for deadly conduct in connection with the shooting death of 11-year-old Amethyst Silva, officials believed those charges would soon be upgraded.
More than a year later, the deadly conduct charge stands, and Nueces County District Attorney Jimmy Granberry said a second charge could be forthcoming.
However, that charge -- discharging a firearm -- is a only Class A misdemeanor.
"If we had the projectile, we would have more options, even up to -- and including -- felony murder," Nueces County District Attorney Jimmy Granberry said Thursday. "Without having that projectile, we can't tie it to which gun it was that fired it or even that it was one of those two gentlemen's guns. Bullet could've come from a different direction. Could have been fired from somebody else."
"Ame," as she was known to loved ones, was killed when a bullet hit her shortly after midnight New Year's Day while outside celebrating with her family at home. Officials arrested the men the next day, after Granberry said they were found with guns used to fire off celebratory shots.
Granberry said the shot that killed Amethyst was a "through-and-through," and the bullet was never found.
"Without having that projectile, we can't prove that it came from one of those two firearms," he said. "And so without that, we don't have negligence or recklessness, because we can't tie it to the weapon. We can put the weapons in the gentlemen's hands, but we can't put a projectile in the barrel of that gun."
Robert Silva, Amethyst's father, said he understands why a murder charge isn't an option in this case.
"It was something that I accepted a long time ago, knowing, without the bullet, that it's gonna be hard to actually stick (a murder charge)," he said. "But I'm hoping with what we have, that somebody's gonna be responsible for what happened to my daughter."
Silva and his son were at Thursday's Ben Mostafa Memorial Walk on Thursday evening in shirts with #JusticeforAmethyst printed on the front.
Granberry inherited the case in October after being appointed to replace Mark A. Gonzalez as Nueces County District Attorney, 10 months after Amethyst was killed. Several months later, he said he met a San Antonio ATF agent who told him about the agency's detection dogs that had been successful in uncovering evidence in months-old cases.
In an effort to strengthen the case, one of these dogs was taken to the scene in January. It was unable to find the bullet.
"We found places of interest for the dog," he said. "She didn't actually alert, but spent a long time there so we marked those, went back with a metal detector and worked those over. We found lots of nails and beer caps, but we didn't find a projectile.
"So we've done everything that we can conceivably think of, if anybody can think of something else, I'm open to suggestions, but we are where we are, and these are the charges that we can legitimately lay."
So after much soul-searching, he said, his office will pursue charges it feels it can justify and can win.
"We're not going to sling things against the wall in my office," he said. "We're not going to file a case unless we believe we can prove it beyond all reasonable doubt."
The deadly conduct charge carries a sentence of between 2-10 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine. The discharging a firearm charge carries a sentence of up to one year and a $4,000 fine. Silva said he hopes the men receive the maximum penalties their charges allow.
"She had her whole life ahead of her, and for these guys to do 10 years is unimaginable," he said.
Granberry said he intends to use the case to send a message about firing guns for improper reasons, like "making noise" on holidays such as New Year's Eve or the Fourth of July.
"This is every father's nightmare and every mother's nightmare, that you go outside to do something fun with your kids and have it end in this kind of tragedy," he said. "There are reasons that we have laws against shooting guns in city limits. Guns kill. It's not something to take lightly or use lightly. Guns should be used for self-defense or safe sporting activities, not after a 6-pack of beer on New Year's Eve."
Silva also hopes the case's outcome makes people think of Amethyst and other kids just trying to have fun before reaching for a gun on a holiday.
"Let's just hope that they set an example of these two guys," he said. "So that way the city of Corpus Christi can go out and enjoy a holiday without any gun-firing. Unfortunately for us, it's just a little too late."
Multi-skilled journalist Brandon Schaff contributed to this story.