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Lawsuit filed following dropped murder charges
FOX 26 Reporter Abigail Dye has more in this FOX 26 exclusive report.
HOUSTON - Imagine being locked in a cell for three and a half years, accused of a brutal murder, you had nothing to do with. That’s what Jeffery Archangel claims happened to him.
In February 2017, Javier Flores jumped in front of his mother, Hilda Vazquez, as two armed robbers stuck up the Subway they worked at, according to police.
Police say 18-year-old Flores was shot in the neck while protecting his mom and later died.
The heroic tragedy made national headlines quickly, and Houston Police were tasked with capturing the two masked robbers responsible for Flores’ killing.
Security video released by Houston police showed the same robbers hitting another Subway the same day just after Flores’ killing.
Records show in April 2017, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office charged Jeffery Archangel in the second robbery.
"We got letters in the mail saying I needed to hire representation, because I had a case for aggravated robbery," he said. "I’m not even believing it, I’m like nah this is a mistake."
A month later, on May 5, the DA charged Archangel with capital murder in the killing of Flores, according to records. The next day, Archangel turned himself in alongside Quanell X, claiming he had nothing to do with the robbery or killing.
Archangel was booked into the Harris County Jail, where he stayed until he posted bond nearly four years later in 2021, according to records.
"I was on 24-hour house arrest for another year and a half. Seven days before my trial, they dropped it," he said.
Records show in September 2022, just a week before his trial, the state dropped all charges against Archangel in the case.
The Investigation
The search was on. Our previous reports describe the police searching for "two suspects described as two black males, 16 to 20-years-old, driving a tan or gold 4-door sedan. Police released a composite sketch of the shooting suspect who is described as a black male, 5'10", with a slim build."
The capital murder complaint against Archangel says during the investigation, police got a tip that Derrick Welch was one of the suspects in the murder.
The complaint says that Welch was dating Archangel’s sister and all three of them lived in the same apartment.
When police went to the residence, they located a car which matched the suspect car from the second robbery, according to the document.
It goes on to say when police knocked, Welch answered the door and police found a gun that matched the shell casings from the murder scene.
Police then met with the victim of the second robbery, who identified Archangel as the suspect out of a 6-person photo array, according to the complaint.
The document says when police interviewed Archangel, he denied any involvement. It also says when they interviewed Welch, he claimed Archangel was involved.
According to previous reports, Welch was killed in a shootout in 2018.
The Defense
Archangel was assigned a public defender, Mike Fosher.
"As we gathered more information, we determined that he probably is innocent," he said.
Fosher claims the investigation was unfairly targeted at Archangel.
He says police used a deceiving photo of Jeffery in the photo array shown to the robbery victim.
"When we got the photo spread – at the time, Jeffery was 25-years-old. But the police used a photo spread picture of when he was 16-years-old," said Fosher. "They could have used a more recent picture, like when he was arrested – why didn’t they use that?"
He says the car believed to be the suspect car did not have any DNA belonging to Jeffery inside it.
"Jeffery’s DNA was not in the car, it was Derrick Welch’s," he said.
He says the next ‘Smoking Gun’ in his defense, was Archangel’s hand tattoos.
"He had a lot of tattoos on his right hand," said Fosher.
A photo taken from Archangel’s social media in January 2017 shows the back of his right hand covered in black tattoos.
Fosher says the security video of the second robbery clearly shows the back of the right hands of both suspects.
"You can see the back of their hand, they did not have any tattoos," he said.
Archangel says when he was interrogated in 2017, police showed him the video.
"I’m like that’s not my right hand – there’s no tattoo on that hand," he said. "At that point, I was like take me to jail, you guys aren’t trying to get to the bottom of this obviously."
Fosher says as he gathered all of this information, he realized they would likely win at trial.
"There was no probable cause to arrest Jeffery for that capital murder," he said.
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The Dismissal
Records show in September 2022, just a week before his trial, the state dropped all charges against Archangel in the case.
The reason for dismissal, a missing witness – according to documents.
We reached out to the DA’s office to get clarity on who this witness was, but they replied saying "the document speaks for itself".
The document simply says "missing witness" and does not go on to explain who that could be, or why they are missing.
"We really appreciate the DA’s dismissing the case – which they should have done – but I don’t agree with the reason for the dismissal," said Fosher. "I said this is wrong. This is wrong, you’re covering up for the police."
"I find that offensive that this man sits here today on his dismissal, it says missing witness," said Andino Reynal, Founder & Managing Partner of Reynal Law Firm.
Reynal is now representing Archangel in a civil rights lawsuit.
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The Civil Suit
In September 2024, Archangel and Reynal filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city and the two Houston police officers who investigated the case.
"This is not an isolated circumstance. Unfortunately, officers having tunnel vision, putting the cart before the horse," said Reynal.
"I thought, you know what, this is worth a shot. If nothing else, to allow Skylar to clear his name," he said.
"Skylar Jones" was the musician’s name Archangel used in 2017 when he was making music. He says he was on track to sign a record deal in New York when he was charged.
"I’m 30 now, and the game I wanted to do, it was a young man’s game, and I have to rebrand my person, find out who I want to be, find something that drives me, gives me that same passion," he said.
We reached out to the City of Houston, but they declined to comment on the case. Houston police also declined to comment.
The city has filed four motions to dismiss the civil case, documents saying, "The City moves to dismiss pursuant to rule for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and has also filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to rule for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, Plaintiff’s claims stem from his 2017 arrest and are barred by the two-year statute of limitation."
Archangel says though his life is forever altered, and he struggles to begin again, the true tragedy here is that no one saw justice. Not him, and not Flores.
"On both sides, it was a tragedy, nobody got justice. Nobody. Nobody won. Nobody wins in situation like that. Nobody."
He hopes that his story inspires change within HPD, and gives hope to those in his position.
If any parties involved in this case wish to comment, please reach out to reporter Abigail Dye at abigail.dye@fox.com.