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Dallas County jury acquits man of capital murder in death of former OU football player

Du’Vonta Lampkin, 25, was found dead from a gunshot wound to the chest in May 2022.

A man was acquitted of capital murder last week in the death of a former University of Oklahoma football player, according to court records.

A Dallas County jury found John Williams not guilty Friday in the fatal shooting of 25-year-old Du’Vonta Lampkin. Williams, 33, previously stood trial in June, but a state district judge declared a mistrial as testimony began, court records show.

Lampkin played in 15 games for the Oklahoma Sooners as a defensive tackle from 2015 to 2017. He signed with the Tennessee Titans as an undrafted free agent in 2018.

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Heath Harris, Williams’ defense attorney, said his client was a “fall guy” for Antwan Franklin and Erick Garcia, who each face a capital murder charge. Authorities allege in an arrest-warrant affidavit that Franklin was the one who set up the fatal robbery of Lampkin.

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A spokeswoman for the Dallas County district attorney’s office declined to comment.

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Police were called about 10 p.m. on May 5, 2022, to an apartment in the 500 block of South Ervay Street, where they found Lampkin dead from a gunshot wound to the chest.

Nearly a day passed before his body was found. Friends went to the downtown Dallas apartment to check on Lampkin after failing to reach him by phone, police said at the time.

The apartment was an Airbnb rental Lampkin was staying in while waiting to move, police have said. He was due to check out the day after the slaying.

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Franklin told Garcia in social media messages from the early hours of May 5 that Lampkin was “intoxicated and unconscious” and Garcia needed to rob Lampkin, according to the police report narrative. Franklin assured Garcia that Lampkin was “friendly” and didn’t have a gun, the affidavit says.

TCU Horned Frogs quarterback Kenny Hill (7) spins away from Oklahoma Sooners defensive...
TCU Horned Frogs quarterback Kenny Hill (7) spins away from Oklahoma Sooners defensive tackle Du'Vonta Lampkin (57) in the first half of the Big XII Championship game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Saturday, December 2, 2017. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News)(Tom Fox / Staff Photographer)

Franklin and Lampkin were captured on surveillance footage in front of the apartment building about 1:40 a.m. Franklin appears to “discreetly wave” to Garcia and another person to “come on,” according to the affidavit.

Garcia and the other person then went inside the apartment building, looked for Lampkin’s unit and hid in a stairwell, officials wrote. Garcia messaged Franklin that he was “waiting”; Franklin replied “coming” and “don’t do it til he at door,” the affidavit says.

Police said Garcia and the other man rushed Lampkin as he walked toward his 5th-floor rental apartment. A minute later, Garcia was seen running back to the stairwell with Lampkin’s backpack “full of money,” according to the affidavit.

Franklin told police Williams was the third person captured on video. Harris, Williams’ lawyer, said he was mistaken for another person in Franklin’s posse. Questions about the integrity of the police investigation arose during trial, Harris said.

Franklin — who previously cut off his ankle monitor and was on the lam — is scheduled to stand trial later this year. Garcia’s trial has not yet been set, court records show. They face an automatic life sentence if convicted.

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