BELL COUNTY, Texas (KXXV) — Court proceedings started slow Wednesday morning in the murder trial of Caysen Allison. Allison is accused of stabbing and murdering former Belton High classmate Joe Ramirez in 2022.
A witness spoke on the stand for more than an hour and a half on Wednesday. The witness, a friend of Joe Ramirez, was in the bathroom at the time of the fight.
The majority of the answers to the questions he was asked were, “I don’t know” or “I don’t remember”. At one point the defense asked him if he was so traumatized that he "blocked everything out”, and the witness answered, "yes".
Another witness to take the stand was in the bathroom during the fight and claims he didn’t know any of the students in the bathroom. He was just in there to use the bathroom and get out. He testified that on his way out of the bathroom, "the door was not locked”. This comes after the defense previously said on Tuesday that “the lock on the door in the boys' bathroom plays a pivotal role in this investigation.”
Joe’s brother Joshua Rios also took the stand Wednesday morning. He testified that on the Saturday before the fight, at an after- prom party, he witnessed Caysen being “inappropriate” with Joshua’s date from afar. That’s where he said Joe stepped in and there was a verbal altercation.
After this, Joshua testified, he was later added to a Snapchat group chat that contained the details of a fight. He says there was a message from Caysen telling Joe the two would fight in West Temple Park in the woods, also sending a screenshot of the location. But Joshua also testified that Joe didn’t want to fight Caysen at the park.
Joshua testified that on the morning of May 3, 2022, he learned about an argument in the parking lot between Caysen and Joe. But later he headed to the bathroom to meet Joe like he says they always do after first period. He says he had no knowledge of a fight because the fight was still in the planning stages.
After Joe took the first swing on Caysen, the video shows Joshua lunging towards Caysen’s friend. Joshua claims the reasoning behind that is because he saw Caysen’s friend take off his backpack and appear to head towards Joe.
After the two one-on-one fights and Joe ran out of the bathroom, Joshua testified he saw blood all over the bathroom and asked Caysen if he stabbed Joe.
He then said quote, “He stands there with a knife, looks at me, and bolts out of the bathroom.”
During Joshua’s testimony, several times the defense asked for a mistrial, but those requests were denied by the judge.
Joshua Rios was the last to take the stand. The trial is set to continue Thursday at 9 a.m.
Witness testimony from day two of the trial can be found in our previous coverage.
Opening arguments from day one of the trial can be found in our previous coverage
