Marijuana Transaction Leads to Double Murder and Life Sentence

CONROE, TX -- On Friday, June 24, 2022, a Montgomery County jury found Waymon Nicholas Jordan, 22, guilty of Capital Murder for causing the death of two individuals during one criminal episode. Following the verdict, the Honorable Patty Maginnis of the 435th District Court assessed the mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

After jury selection on June 21, 2022, prosecutors Kelly Blackburn and Adam McLane presented evidence that on February 12, 2020, at approximately 5:30 p.m., Conroe Police dispatch received an urgent call for hep at the Whistle Stop Café. The caller reported that an unknown assailant had shot her boyfriend and two others. The caller said the shooter entered their vehicle, fired, and fled the scene. The caller indicated that at least two of the victims were not moving.

Officer Jason Tosto of the Conroe Police Department testified that he was conduction a routine follow-up nearby and responded to the Whistle Stop. He responded within minutes. Officer Tosto told the jury that when he arrived, he found the victim's vehicle parked near the end of the River Bend Shopping Center. Officer Tosto testified that he immediately recognized that the driver was severely injured and bleeding heavily from the face.

Inside the car, Officer Tosto found the bodies of Ryan York and Devin Rash. Officer Tosto and other officers began immediate efforts to revive York and Rash, but these efforts were unsuccessful. Later, officers learned that all three young men had been shot in the head at close range with a .22 cal semi-automatic handgun.

The jury heard from Conroe PD detectives Raymond Adams and Ben Mitchell. Detectives Mitchell and Adams told the jury that they initially learned the three victims were meeting with an individual identified as 'Nick Jordan.' Further. 'Nick Jordan' was reportedly driving a 'jacked up white Ford' and using Snapchat to communicate about conducting a marihuana purchase.

Detectives Mitchell and Adams were able to view surveillance video from the location. The video captured a White F250 leaving the River Bend Shopping Center moments before the emergency call came into dispatch. Mitchell and Adams obtained assistance from the Montgomery County Sheriffs RealTime Crime Center. The RealTime Crime Center personnel worked closely and quickly with detectives to identify Waymon Nicholas Jordan as a possible suspect. Within hours of the shootings, undercover units with the Conroe Police Department located the suspect vehicle parked in the driveway of a home rented by Jordan's mother and stepfather in Willis, Texas. With the assistance of the US Marshals, Jordan was himself located at McDonald's in the drive-thru lane.

After receiving his Miranda Warnings, Jordan made several inconsistent statement but ultimately admitted to shooting all three victims. Jordan claimed self-defense. Prosecutor Adam McLane presented evidence from Jordan's cellphone which corroborated witness testimony and surveillance video that Jordan was at the Riverbend Shopping Center at the time of the shooting. Jurors also learned that before driving to the crime scene, Jordan had used his cell phone to research 'how far away can you hear a handgun.' Additionally, prosecutors demonstrated that Jordan traveled to the shopping center earlier in the day and that he requested the victims meet him in a more secluded spot The victims, however, elected to meet in a more public view. After shooting all three young men, Jordan took a few ounces of marijuana and left the scene.

At trial, the defense asked the jury to consider the lesser included offense of Murder and the legal justification of Self Defense. After approximately 2 hours of deliberation, the jury rejected both arguments and convicted Jordan of capital murder.

Assistant District Attorney Kelly Blackburn: 'We will never understand why Waymon Joran felt the need to to do what he did that day, why he planned to people who have never harmed him nor ever intended to harm him. We do, however, have some sense of the pain and suffering he inflicted, and that pain will continue to be felt by the families and friends of his victims, and pain and suffering are immense. We want to thank the men and women of the Conroe Police Department who responded with extraordinary professionalism and care and were able to afford these victims some measure of justice. The City of Conroe and Montgomery County generally should be proud of their excellent work in such difficult circumstances.'

District Attorney Brett Ligon: 'Waymon Jordan took two lives and intended to take three. His actions were senseless and completely unjustified, and they have created a lifetime of pain for so many of the friends and family members of these men brutally murdered in the prime of their lives. For this reason, it is fitting, right, and just that Waymon Jordan spends of his life in the one place where we know he can inflict no further pain on this community.'