Tag: TCU student

A former TCU student accused of threatening to blow up the Fort Worth university’s campus in 2023 has been found not guilty of assaulting a Tarrant County detention officer after not receiving his lunch on time.

The jury gathered at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the 213th District Court to hear the assault case against Ahmad Peterson-Adeyanju. The 27-year-old defendant has spent time in the Tarrant County Jail since he was arrested Feb. 2, 2023, in connection to his alleged threats against Texas Christian University.

Peterson-Adeyanju still faces several charges, including terroristic threat, in connection with the TCU incident. Those will be taken up during a separate trial, according to defense attorney Eric Nickols.

On June 20, 2023, Peterson-Adeyanju was involved in a fight with detention officer Jimmy Villa and hit him in the head multiple times, according to witnesses and video evidence. His defense attorneys argued he was just trying to defend himself against what he felt was aggression on Villa’s part.

“The question will be, does Ahmad lose his right to self-defense simply because he’s in custody?” defense attorney Tamla Ray asked.

The jury returned the not guilty verdict after about an hour of deliberation. Peterson-Adeyanju did not testify during the trial.

Villa was distributing trays of food to the inmates for lunch. There weren’t enough to go around, and Peterson-Adeyanju and two or three inmates didn’t get one. Villa said that he ordered more, but Peterson-Adeyanju demanded his immediately and became increasingly hostile, according to testimony.

Villa said he tried to restrain him, but Peterson-Adeyanju fought back, and the two ended up on the ground.

Prosecutors said Villa’s use of force to restrain a hostile inmate was justified, but Ray and Nichols argued that Villa had caused the incident by getting too close to Peterson-Adeyanju and pushing him backwards, a move Villa said was intended to create space between them.

Villa told the court he couldn’t work for five months due to injuries he received and required therapy. Peterson-Adeyanju wasn’t injured during the incident.