Brother of Olympic gymnast Simone Biles is acquitted of murder charges from 2018 shooting

By Rebekah Riess

After a mistrial was declared last month in the murder trial of Tevin Biles-Thomas, the brother of Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles, a judge in Ohio acquitted Biles-Thomas of the charges against him in a retrial on Tuesday, court records show.

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Joan Synenberg granted a Rule 29 motion for judgment of acquittal by the defense for lack of evidence, dismissing Biles-Thomas’ murder charges and acquitting him of voluntary manslaughter and felonious assault charges, court spokesperson Darren Toms said.

Biles-Thomas was arrested in 2019 on charges of murder, voluntary manslaughter, felonious assault and perjury in connection with a New Year’s Eve fatal shooting in Cleveland.

On the night of the shooting, a group of uninvited guests walked into a home and a fight began, Ohio authorities previously said. That fight led to the shooting and multiple people were hit — two of whom died at the scene and a third who later died at a hospital.

Cleveland police had identified Biles-Thomas as the shooter. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

Following the judge’s ruling, a person in the gallery charged towards Biles-Thomas but was stopped by sheriff’s deputies, Toms said, adding that “the Court thanks the Sheriff’s Department for their assistance.”

“This was a horrible tragedy, three families lost three family members and you know, absolutely horrific. So, we understand emotions were running high,” Biles-Thomas attorney, Joe Patituce, said.”But today, Tevin Biles was vindicated, what he’s waited to get for the last two and half years.”

Patituce added that Biles-Thomas has maintained his innocence for the last two and a half years “because he is frankly innocent of these charges and today we were able to see that the state had absolutely no evidence that he was guilty of this offense.”