January 17, 2026: Edward has a docket call hearing on January 22 for both new indictments the DA charged in November, four months after Edward surrendered. Both charges fail to allege an offense; as a result, Edward filed a Motion to Set Aside The Indictment on both of them. The hearing on Jan 22 is a status call for this. Briefly:
One indictment, filed in November, reads: Statute: Bail-Jumping and Failure to Appear: Edward James failed to comply with bond terms on July 8, 2025. This is legally impossible. First, failing to comply with bond terms is not able to be criminalized under this statute. Bond terms are a compliance issue. In order for this indictment to stand, the State has to name the date of the court appearance, proof that notice that was provided to Edward, and proof that he knowingly and intentionally failed to appear. Edward's bond was revoked on February 3, 2025; there were no bond terms to comply with on July 8, 2025. Further, there was no court date to appear anywhere on July 8. July 8 is when the mandate was issued which meant the conviction was officially upheld and it was time to begin his sentence. The mandate requires the State to then demand his return with a capias warrant or a required date to appear in court. However, Edward surrendered July 24 and the State didn't even begin to act on the mandate until after they got word that Edward had surrendered. Their capias warrant for the mandate was issued July 29. He was already incarcerated at that time, so he never failed to appear anywhere. Their math ain't mathin'.
The other indictment, filed in November, reads: Statute: Tampering with Ankle Monitor: Edward James knowingly intentionally tampered with his ankle monitor on February 3, 2025. This also alleges no offense that criminalizes it according to the statute. The indictment must allege the means and manner of tampering, it cannot just conclude "tampered." There is an innocent explanation for the ankle monitor (that will come to light when we can speak about it), and where innocent explanations exist, the means and manner must be alleged (how was it tampered with?). In addition, the crime must prove intent to evade, which Edward never did. He continued to file appeals with the TCCA. If anyone wanted to find him, he was at home, exactly where the Potter County Sheriff knew him to be. From Feb 3 to the day he surrendered on July 24, nobody ever attempted to see Edward, knock on his door, or serve a warrant. ----------------------------------------------------------
January 12, 2026: KDFA News10 Amarillo filed a Motion to Dismiss the Defamation Lawsuit -- see Edward's Response to Motion to Dismiss. We are confident his case will survive past the "Motion to Dismiss" hurdle. ----------------------------------------------------------
This week, newly obtained records confirm that Becca was interviewed by law enforcement in connection with a 2019 homicide investigation—a fact that was never disclosed to Edward’s defense before trial.
This development is significant. In a sworn statement provided to his defense attorney in 2022, Edward stated that he overheard Becca and Geoff discussing a fabricated version of events involving a shooting, and later witnessed Becca relay that false account to law enforcement by phone. At the time, Edward believed the incident involved shots fired. We have now identified the exact investigation—and it involved a homicide.
Why does this matter? Edward’s core defense was that Becca had a demonstrated history of protecting Geoff and lying to law enforcement to do so. The newly identified police records directly support that defense theory. Public records also show that Geoff was on probation during this period, giving Becca a strong motive to shield him from serious consequences. Just five months after this incident, Becca accused Edward of assault.
The State was placed on notice three separate times over four years to disclose any police records involving Becca or alternate suspects. Those records were not turned over. Defense counsel did not pursue them. Under long-standing constitutional law, the suppression of material impeachment evidence violates due process. This matters because Becca’s credibility was the case. There were no eyewitnesses. No one could place her at Edward's residence. The verdict depended almost entirely on her word—later reinforced by unsourced Facebook messages that appeared years after the alleged incident and were disclosed only days before trial.
When a conviction rests on a single witness, undisclosed evidence bearing on that witness’s credibility makes the verdict unreliable. A conviction obtained without full disclosure of critical impeachment evidence cannot stand. These newly confirmed records fundamentally undermine confidence in the verdict and strongly support overturning Edward’s conviction.
------------------------------------------------------- December 31, 2026: Happy New Year -- In one of our several requests for Amarillo PD records involving Becca or Geoff, the APD did release 4 police reports involving Becca; however, they withheld several others and sent the request to the Attorney General for a ruling. One of the reports we DID receive involve Becca this past September, 2025, calling the police for "shots fired" in her home where she lives with her recent male roommate, Seth. The police narrative says both Becca and Seth were intoxicated / under the influence, that a fight started because Becca assaulted a "meth-head" friend at the home, and that Becca changed her story several times. The police state in their report that they found Becca's statements to be suspicious / skeptical. The other reports were when she accused Edward, one where her debit card was stolen, and another where she called the police because a car hit her handlebars while riding her bike; she needed no treatment, was not injured, and did not see the license plate of the car.
The APD withheld several other police reports: what information is contained in those? It will take 45-60 days to hear from the AG.
------------------------------------------------------- Update December 28, 2025: We have filed three more narrow requests for police records involving Becca and / or Geoff. The APD continues to seek Attorney General rulings. The latest request we filed asked simply for the record of Becca being interviewed in the 2019 "justified homicide", which may be the incident she covered for Geoff by lying to the police and DA. We requested that the APD put in writing that no records exist if none exist of Becca tied to this incident. If they send that to AG for review, then we know she was involved. That is due by December 30, 2025. (SEE UPDATE ABOVE- IT'S CONFIRMED)
Although the judge granted Edward's motion to subpoena the APD, Randall, and Potter County DA's office, the judge sent the decision denying a new trial to the TCCA with no records attached (and they would have been)- so we can only conclude she has not yet received them. This is confusing because she would not have granted the motion if she didn't see it had merit; yet she denied all relief before reviewing those records. -------------------------------------------------------- Update December 25, 2025: Merry Christmas -- the trial court judge has forwarded the Habeas to the TCCA. In what might be a routine practice, the court decided to adopt the State's conclusions verbatim that all claims are denied; however, they gave no explanation about the "facts they found" and did not reference the record at all. The judge also issued subpoenas on Dec 12th to the APD and Randall and Potter County to disclose to her any and all police contact involving Becca and Geoff, and the court has not yet received those records. This means the findings are based on an incomplete record that the court itself initiated.
---------------------------------------------- Update December 12, 2025: Edward filed a Motion to Subpoena the APD, Randall, and Potter County DA Offices for records involving Becca and Geoff. The judge granted the motion and issued the subpoenas. --------------------------------------------- Update: December 2, 2025: Edward filed a Supplement to his Petition for New Trial strengthening his Brady and Strickland claims: 1. Becca was definitely interviewed by police and the DA in some shooting incident with Geoff Jackson (the alternate suspect) in 2019. Under the Michael Morton Act, the State was required to disclose this to the defense. It did not. In his Supplement, Edward asks for the court to perform a private, in-camera review of all police interviews involving Becca to confirm. If confirmed, this failure of the State to disclose this information constitutes a Brady violation. 2. We located a 2023 email from Edward’s attorney to the prosecutor showing extreme, inappropriate deference. In it, counsel promises that he would “never accuse the State of withholding anything,” effectively abandoning his duty to challenge the prosecution. This is a complete collapse of adversarial testing, violates the Sixth Amendment, and satisfies Strickland’s deficiency prong for vacating the conviction. 3. Edward added a sentencing error to the filing: Affidavits from his wife and mother show Edward's trial counsel told them they could not contradict the prosecutor now that the jury rendered their verdict, even though they believed the prosecutor's claims were false. They were instructed to support the verdict and agree with the prosecutor or else the jury would punish Edward with the maximum 10 years in prison. This deprived the jury of truthful mitigation evidence and violated Edward's right to effective counsel. A defense attorney is not legally allowed to coerce a witness to give false testimony. Update: 11/27/2025: Happy Thanksgiving -- we have uncovered what could possibly be proof that Becca was involved in and covered for Geoff in a shooting/homicide incident that was never disclosed to Edward's trial counsel. After filing a records request under Public Information Act, the APD has declined to provide the basic names of people interviewed and has sought a ruling from the Attorney General on it.Click here for details.
Update 11/20/2025: *NEW* supplement to New Trial Petition: We discovered three requests (not one) to the State over the course of 4 years to turn over all evidence. This is a major issue in the State’s Discovery Notice: 1. On 11/25/2020, the State acknowledges received a Discovery 39.14 request from defense. 2. On 9/3/2022, the State acknowledges a second Discovery 39.14 request from defense. 3. On 3/23/2023, the State acknowledges a third Discovery 39.14 request form defense.
This means the State was placed on formal 39.14 notice as early as 2020, nearly four years before trial. Under the Michael Morton Act, even a generic 39.14 request requires the State to disclose all digital evidence, all impeachment material, all witness statements, all officer notes, and all records in which the complaining witness appears. Yet the case file contains no First or Second 39.14 Motion, only trial counsel’s motion dated 3/23/2024.
The State therefore had multiple opportunities—at least two in 2020—to provide the evidence required by law but instead withheld digital materials from 2020 until six days before trial in what some call "ambush" disclosure. That timeline, combined with the missing discovery motions, is extremely telling. We are preparing to add this as a supplemental issue as well. Update 11/18/2025: Photos of Edward and family added on Photos tab
Update 11/14/2025: More evidence added supporting the credibility issues of Becca and her roommate on the Evidence tab that warrant a new trial.
Update 11/12/2025: Edward's wife asked KDFA for correction or retraction on the false and misleading statements made by KDFA. The requested evidence of falsity, which she then provided. A further response from KDFA is pending. Update 11/10/2025: Article and news story seen on Channel 10 Amarillo KDFA -- the story contained false and misleading information. He did NOT "avoid many attempts by law enforcement" to serve the arrest warrant. He was never contacted or approached by law enforcement prior to his voluntary surrender to the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office on July 24, 2025, and there is no record of such. He did NOT refuse to serve his prison sentence, he voluntarily surrendered when the appellate mandate was issued, fully complying with Texas law. He did not "get caught"...he was always at home in New Jersey, where the Amarillo judge allowed him to be on bond, and he reported to his local county sheriff's office on behalf of Texas when the Texas mandate was issued to begin his sentence. We requested a correction of the reporter's inaccuracies (see Defamation Exhibits link)
Update 11/8/2025: After 3 months in Ocean County, Edward's extradition hearing took place on October 22, 2025. Edward had already decided to waive extradition and continue the fight in Texas. After Edward signed the waiver for extradition, he was transported on October 31, 2025. The Habeas Corpus has been filed in Potter County District Court, pending Judge Dee Johnson's review in December. If she finds that his ineffective assistance of counsel deprived him of a fair trial, she recommends a new one be granted. She sends that to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, and they almost always follow the trial court judge's recommendation. Check back for updates on that; the judge will ask Edward's trial counsel for an affidavit answering the claims against him.
Currently, he is in Potter County jail waiting for the Habeas Corpus to be reviewed for the granting of a new trial. He is okay and his faith is getting him through. The most important thing to do now is to share this website with the Potter County community so they can learn how fundamentally unfair the entire process was for Edward and that he deserves a new trial. It is not the judge's fault; it was a jury trial. It's not the jury's fault; they could only go with what was presented. They didn't know the truth because it was never presented to them. Our God-given right, protected by our Constitution, is the right to effective counsel, which he did not have. The Habeas Corpus outlines it explicitly!
