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John Joseph Gutierrez -
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Not part of an April Fool’s Day joke on April 1, John Joseph Gutierrez, the accused shooter that evaded law enforcement for an extended period of time following the 2023 Easter weekend murder of Houston father Javoris Potier at a trail ride in Cheek attended by hundreds, appeared in court to ask for freedom to attend children’s ball games. Jefferson County 252nd District Court Judge Raquel West took the request seriously, allowing Gutierrez off house arrest to attend his son’s Little League games and work for his father’s concrete company at various locales while the trial is set off indefinitely.
Previously released on a bond reduced from $1 million to $600,000 and ordered to house arrest, West allowed Gutierrez to work for Gutierrez Concrete, limiting the indicted murderer to Harris and Galveston counties for work purposes, and additionally heard a request from defense attorney Ryan Gertz for further freedoms.
“Before this, he was the coach of the team and, of course, he won’t be coaching now,” Gertz said. “We request that he would be able to go to some of the games, if at all possible.”
West determined Gutierrez could attend 12 of his son’s Little League games between now and May 15, but warned the defendant not to be out of the house for any other reasons. Gutierrez would be subject to show proof of reasons to be out and about, upon request, subject to bond revocation if not satisfactory to the court.
More than six months of investigation finally led detectives to Gutierrez, resulting in the Nov. 29, 2023, felony indictments related to Potier’s murder, charging Gutierrez and his girlfriend, 21-year-old Joelicia Wade of Texas City.
Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to the shooting at 1:15 a.m., fighting through a rowdy, uncooperative crowd, to learn of two shooting victims. One victim was treated and released from the hospital; Potier was transported to St. Elizabeth Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
Months of public pleas for tips resulted in spotty intel that eventually revealed what investigators believe happened: Potier intervened in a fight between Galveston County females before being shot.
An eyewitness reported that, immediately after hearing the gunshot, they saw a Hispanic male, later identified as Gutierrez, running away from Potier holding a pistol in his hand.
“Potier looked towards Gutierrez and stated, ‘Why’d you shoot me, man,’” according to the witness’ statement.
Another eyewitness confirmed seeing Gutierrez with a firearm just after the shooting and described it as a tan-colored Glock pistol.
Detective Nathan Staggs with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office later learned that Gutierrez was in a romantic relationship with Wade, one of the females involved in the fight and, according to Staggs, Potier was attempting to court Wade, as well.
According to Staggs, Wade and her sister Echerica Wade were interviewed separately, and both allegedly gave false statements to investigators to conceal Gutierrez’s identity, his relationship with Joelicia Wade, and how the couple fled the scene together after the shooting, along with two of his close associates.
Gutierrez was later interviewed and allegedly made false statements about being near the shooting and being in possession of a firearm, listing three other individuals who were with him to corroborate his alibi.
After obtaining a search warrant and subpoena, the investigation found that Gutierrez solicited three individuals to give false testimony on multiple occasions after the shooting and was in communication with them after their interviews with investigators. When later questioned under oath during grand jury proceedings, these three individuals all recanted previous testimony and confirmed Gutierrez requested they lie to investigators to corroborate his alibi.
The two individuals who left the scene with Gutierrez and Joelicia Wade were later identified and questioned. After initial false statements, they later recanted their testimony, as well, and confirmed they rode together with Gutierrez and Joelicia Wade immediately after the shooting.
Detectives also discovered several deleted photos of a tan Glock 19x handgun from Gutierrez’s phone, and a weapon trace confirmed, in July 2021, Gutierrez purchased the firearm that matched ballistics taken from the projectile that killed Potier.
Under sworn testimony, one of the associates who rode home with Gutierrez after the shooting also revealed during grand jury questioning that, during the drive home from the event, Gutierrez rolled the window down and threw a tan-colored handgun out of the window, and, after disposing of the handgun, Gutierrez was on the phone with an unknown person stating that he just had a shootout at the trail ride and he had to throw the gun.
Joelicia Evette Wade was indicted on aggravated perjury, a third-degree felony offense. According to the probable cause affidavit, on Aug. 30, 2023, Wade appeared before a Jefferson County grand jury and, during questioning, denied riding home with Gutierrez the night of the murder.
“We are still working through discovery and there’s some complexity to the case,” Gutierrez defense attorney Gertz said during the April 1 hearing, requesting the case be set off for announcement until May 13.