Former Army captain acquitted of murder in boyfriend's death after serving a year in jail

A former U.S. Army captain was found not guilty of murder by a jury after spending more than a year in jail in connection with the death of her boyfriend, court records show.

Clevy Muchette Nelson-Royster, 30, was acquitted of murder, manslaughter and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon Feb. 29, by a jury in the death of Capt. Malcom Xavier Perry, 27, in an Oct. 11, 2020, fiery crash in far East El Paso, court records show.

El Paso attorney Brock Benjamin said his client's commitment to proving her innocence was a difficult journey for her, but in the end, she was rewarded with a jury finding her not guilty.

"She's ecstatic," Benjamin said. "I mean she deserves a lot of credit. She made some hard decisions. She decided not to testify based upon advice of counsel, but ultimately the client gets to decide whether they're willing to trust the lawyers that's advising them. She also then decided not to ask for a lesser instruction of negligent homicide.

"She made tough decisions and making those two hard decisions paid off very well for her, mainly because of the way the state tried to present it. The state was prosecuting a murder, a specific intent murder, and they didn't have that by any stretch of imagination."

Nelson-Royster could not be reached for comment. She was a U.S. Army captain stationed at Fort Bliss at the time of the fatal crash. She was discharged from the Army about two months after her Oct. 15, 2020, arrest.

"I think she just wants to get this passed her," Benjamin said.

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El Paso District Attorney Bill Hicks said he and his prosecutors still believe Nelson-Royster's actions led to Perry's death.

"Of course it was disappointing, but we respect the jury's decision and whatever the jury does, the jury does," Hicks said. "We respect the jury's decision. Obviously, we think that we had the right person and we believe we still have the right person, but we also respect the jury's decision."

Jury finds Nelson-Royster not guilty of murder

State prosecutors and El Paso Police Department detectives accused Nelson-Royster of soliciting, directing, encouraging and aiding in the fatal crash. She was a passenger in the front seat of her Jeep Wrangler when she and Richard Mustapha Sennessie crashed into Perry's Audi.

Sennessie and Nelson-Royster were accused of chasing Perry's vehicle and running him off the road, which caused Perry's car to rollover and catch fire. Perry called 911 during the chase to report someone was following him and that a Jeep was hitting and bumping into his car, a complaint affidavit states.

"I am going to die," Perry, according to the affidavit, said on the emergency call before crashing and yelling for help.

Sennessie was the driver of Jeep and is facing a murder charge in connection with Perry's death. He claimed to police that Nelson-Royster kept yelling at him to ram Perry's car and that her Jeep had a good bumper. He alleged Nelson-Royster kept grabbing the wheel and honking the horn during the chase, the affidavit states.

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State prosecutors claimed Nelson-Royster and Perry had been fighting, including a confrontation outside in the parking lot at a strip club. They claimed Nelson-Royster planned the crash in an effort to kill Perry.

"(We had) evidence of the fight that they had in the parking lot at a gentleman's club," Hicks said. "The evidence where she was encouraging the driver to get in the car to go after our decedent. All of that information I think was very compelling that she was a party to the offense, that she was encouraging the offense and the chasing after our decedent. I think all of that was very compelling."

The fight in the parking lot was not with Perry, but with strippers who worked at Jaguars strip club, Benjamin said.

"In closing arguments, one of the things that we highlighted is the fact that Malcom walks right by her and she doesn't even look at him and then she gets up and goes after the strippers again," Benjamin said. "It wouldn't be easy by any stretch of imagination. It still would've been a very hard case if one of the strippers died. The DA gets to choose their cases and they did. I don't think that they did it very well."

Nelson-Royster spends more than a year in jail

In the end, a jury found Nelson-Royster not guilty, but it took her serving a year in jail and the end of her career in the U.S. Army.

Nelson-Royster was arrested Oct. 15, 2020, and released after posting bail Dec. 15, 2021, jail records show. She remained out bond until she was found not guilty Feb. 29.

Nelson-Royster will never get reparations for the year she lost in jail, but for now, she is happy to have her name cleared of any wrongdoing, Benjamin said.

"She's very relieved," Benjamin said. "Very relieved. It's not easy to be blamed for something and have to go to trial. Nobody's going to remember she got acquitted, which is a sad thing. All they're going to remember is that she was charged. That's not fair to her. She was found innocent by a jury."

Co-defendant set to go to trial in June

Sennessie is scheduled to go to trial June 24, court records show. He is facing one count each of murder, manslaughter, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and accident involving death.

An April trial date for Sennessie was postponed, court records show. He was arrested Oct. 13, 2020, in connection with Perry's death. He was released from jail May 12, 2021, after posting a $800,000 bond, jail records show.

Sennessie's attorney, Dereck Wyatt, declined to comment.

Hicks is confident his team will be successful in getting a guilty verdict when Sennessie goes to trial.

"It's going to be very important that we explain to the jury what was happening, the details of the car chase and as much as we can about what was happening between the two cars and how it was not an accident that our decedent ran off the road and his car flipped, that he was forced off the road, and how the defendant's car forced him off the road," Hicks said. "I think that's very important evidence."

Aaron Martinez may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com or on Twitter @AMartinezEPT.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Former Army captain found not guilty of murder in boyfriend's death