Tetens thinks he has a fool proof go to cowardly recipe to fk people and get away with it, it’s call “recusals”, he recused himself on Hoffman, Par, Malachi and others. Just pushed those cases right to someone else and letting those folks deal with it (badly).
Why bother having this guy if all he does is take up for law enforcement and push cases off to other counties?
If the case doesn’t involve a child and a penis his office really isn’t interested. Juries, rightfully so, convict alleged child molesters “just in case”, they know this and are having fun convicting people while financial crimes and other crimes go unchecked.
Nice to ruin the life of an INNOCENT YOUNG man, Josh doesn’t care, he’s DA, making more money than he ever made before in his life. Having a big time, and, some say, he is following Abel Reyna in some bad habits. We all know he drinks.
Lawyers in Waco, start looking and encouraging one another to run against this pitiful excuse for an attorney, Tetens has TWO, HB 2715’s filed against him SO FAR. Tick tock more coming.
TETENS deserves to be removed.
We are so sorry that this happened to Malachi Wright, any attorney with the BALLS to represent him, please contact him, or Harry.
H
Ex-La Vega football star Malachi Wright trying to pick up the pieces of his life after murder case dropped
Published: Sep. 10, 2026 at 4:46 PM CDT|Updated: 16 hours ago
WACO, Texas (KWTX) – Malachi Wright says he has every reason to be angry, bitter and disillusioned with the criminal justice system in McLennan County.
Wright was a star wide receiver at La Vega High School, was awarded a football scholarship to Trinity Valley Community College and was on a course that he thought might lead to a Division I football scholarship and a possible shot at the NFL.
But those hopes and dreams were dashed when Waco police charged him and his close friend, Elijah Marquise Thompson, with murder in the June 2020 shooting death of Tyrese Carroll in the Whataburger parking lot at 1101 N. Valley Mills Drive.
When a Waco judge increased his initial bond from $250,000 to $500,000 after he was told Wright had local gang ties, Wright spent the next 1,502 days in the McLennan County Jail before the murder charge against him was dismissed.
While Thompson pleaded guilty and was sentenced to seven years in prison, Wright insists he was wrongfully charged in the murder and falsely branded a gang member. What Wright calls the false accusations and unjust four-year incarceration have caused him depression, anxiety attacks, financial hardship and embarrassment.
Almost two years after the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office dismissed the murder charge, Wright, 25, said he wants his story told in an effort to clear his name and as a cautionary tale to others falsely accused.
Before his arrest, Wright says he would go to high school games and people would look admiringly at him as the most valuable player in the 2018 state championship game in which he caught touchdown passes of 90 and 61 yards as his La Vega Pirates beat Liberty Hill.
Now, Wright says, he feels the stares from doubters who wonder if he is a murderer.
“I was a high school football star,” Wright said. “When I go to a game now they say, ‘I wonder if he really did it.’”
McLennan County District Attorney Josh Tetens recused his office because a family member of either Thompson or Wright consulted with Tetens’ office while Tetens was still in private practice. Tetens initially transferred the case to the Falls County District Attorney’s Office in September 2023, but District Attorney Jody Gilliam handed the case over to the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office in June 2024 after the complex case proved too taxing for her small staff.
Most case dismissal notices include checked boxes indicating the case is being dismissed “because of insufficient evidence” or “in the interest of justice.”
The Dec. 4, 2024, dismissal notice in Wright’s case goes on for two pages and lists in great detail the lengths to which the Dallas County DA’s Office went before deciding to cut Wright loose.
While Wright declined to discuss the incident or say if he was present when Carroll was killed, the Dallas County DA said Wright told detectives he was at the scene but not involved in the shooting. The dismissal notices said Thompson admitted shooting Carroll but said he did so in self-defense and that Wright had no involvement in the death.
The motion said “numerous witnesses” were at the scene but “most chose not to become involved and never came forward as witnesses.” Two witnesses who spoke to detectives have since been killed, the motion says.
One witness, identified only by initials, told authorities Wright was “one of the shooters” but gave inconsistent statements. However, when Dallas County Assistant District Attorney Jason Hermus with him in prison “in an attempt to resolve the inconsistencies and ascertain the facts of what happened,” he refused to cooperate and asked to return to his cell.
Another witness initially implicated Wright in the shooting. However, when contacted by Hermus, she said she was at the scene but did not see the shooting and based her statement about Wright’s involvement on what another witness told her. That witness, who was in jail, would not speak to Hermus on advice of counsel.
“Due to the passage of time and the demise of some witnesses, and the refusal of other witnesses to cooperate in any prosecution effort, and the recantation of other witnesses from their initial statement implicating the Defendant, the State is unable at this time to proceed on this case against the Defendant,” the dismissal motion states.
Now Wright, who has four young children, has started a power washing business in Central Texas. He still is angry and depressed about his ordeal, but said he is trying to pick up the pieces of his life and put it all behind him for the sake of his children and those he hopes to mentor on the football field.
“I want our youth to understand that your name matters,” Wright said. “Your future matters. Your freedom matters. And when people in positions of authority make decisions that affect someone’s life, there has to be accountability.
“I would say don’t let nothing define your character. No police officer, no family member, no slur, anything negative, don’t let it define your character. Whatever goes on, I know it might be hard, but I feel like you should get up and just keep going and make the best out of your situation,” Wright said.
Wright said he still has a lot of questions about the quality of the Waco police investigation and how he came to be arrested.
Waco police spokesperson Cierra Shipley said in a statement the department is committed to conducting thorough investigations and making arrests based on probable cause.
“We understand the importance of allowing the criminal justice system to work in its entirety and respect the decisions made by prosecutors and judges,” Shipley said.
Wright said he continues to suffer anxiety attacks at unexpected moments while he is trying his best to move on.
“I went through a lot of mental crises, mental stuff within myself because of past situations. It lingers because of my business. I’m a young business owner. It is kind of hard when I’m trying to get a contact with someone and then they go look up my name on Google and they see me playing football but they see me slurred for this and this and this.
“But now, they don’t got it on the news that I am innocent and that I fought the case to beat the case to prove my innocence. I am here to prove my innocence again and show I am innocent so I can keep moving on with my life,” he said.
Had Wright been convicted, sent to prison and then exonerated, he would be eligible for $80,000 in payments from the state for each year served in wrongful imprisonment under what is known as the Tim Cole Act.
Because he spent his time in jail before his case was dismissed, Wright is entitled to no compensation for the four years he was incarcerated.
“What about all the time I spent in jail, and my family, and my future? And what about all I had going on and who I was and what I had? What about me? I had a full-ride scholarship, I wasn’t just anybody. What about me?”
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