Avantae Williams: A Five-Star Safety and a Murder Charge

Welcome to The Defense File, where we examine the criminal cases of public figures through the lens of Texas criminal law. Each entry looks at what happened in court, what the defense argued, and what a defendant would have faced, and how they might have been defended, if the same facts had occurred in Texas.

Avantae Williams grew up in DeLand, Florida, and left DeLand High rated by ESPN and Rivals as the top safety in the 2020 recruiting class. He played two seasons at Miami and a final season at Maryland, but his college career was repeatedly interrupted by arrests. In May 2025, back in his hometown, he was charged with second-degree murder after a fatal shooting at a downtown bar. The case is pending and Williams is presumed innocent. This entry looks at how Texas would charge, hold, and defend a case built on these facts, and why his earlier cases could matter even though none of them ended in a felony conviction.

What Happened

The 2021 Miami Case

In the summer of 2021, Miami-Dade police arrested Williams on three counts of aggravated battery on a pregnant person (his ex-girlfriend). Miami removed him from the team. The State Attorney’s Office later dropped the charges and in late August 2021 the university reinstated him on the condition that he meet benchmarks in education, mentorship, and personal development. He was held out of at least the first six games of that season. He played 17 games over two seasons at Miami before transferring to Maryland for 2023, where he appeared in five.

The Orange County Case

In a separate case in Orange County, Williams was charged with burglary, robbery, aggravated battery with a firearm, and petit theft. According to the arrest report, he returned to a woman’s home after an encounter there, accused her of stealing $800, displayed a gun, searched her purse and took $120, and struck her in the face and head with the firearm. The battery charges were dropped, and he pleaded no contest to petit theft. Jail records also show a February 2024 booking on four felony warrants from another county.

The DeLand Shooting

At about 1:30 a.m. on May 3, 2025, a fistfight broke out among several men inside McCabe’s Bar on North Amelia Avenue in downtown DeLand with about 40 people inside. According to police, a man produced a gun and began shooting. Keshod Harris, 32, was shot multiple times in the chest and died at a hospital. A bartender trying to break up the fight was shot in both hands and survived. Police say Williams fled. With the help of New Smyrna Beach police, he was located and arrested, and on May 5 he was booked into the Volusia County jail on a charge of second-degree murder.

Under Florida Statutes Section 782.04, second-degree murder is a first-degree felony punishable by up to life in prison. If the State proves Williams fired a gun that caused a death, Florida’s 10-20-Life statute adds a 25-year mandatory minimum. No trial date or resolution had been publicly reported as of this writing.

How Texas Would See It

The Charge: Murder

In Texas, these facts would be charged as murder under Penal Code Section 19.02: either intentionally or knowingly causing a death, or intending serious bodily injury and committing an act clearly dangerous to human life that causes a death. Murder is a first-degree felony carrying 5 to 99 years or life. It would not be capital murder on these facts, because there is one victim and none of the aggravating circumstances Texas requires. Texas has no 25-year firearm minimum, but a murder conviction is not eligible for judge-ordered probation, and the defendant must serve half the sentence before parole eligibility.

Sudden Passion

Texas has a punishment-stage tool built for killings that grow out of fights. Under Section 19.02(d), if the defendant proves by a preponderance of the evidence that he caused the death under the immediate influence of sudden passion arising from adequate cause, murder drops to a second-degree felony, 2 to 20 years. The passion has to be caused by provocation from the person killed, or someone acting with him, and arise in the moment. The cause has to be one that would commonly produce anger, rage, resentment, or terror in a person of ordinary temper. A bar brawl involving several men is the classic setting for that argument, though the details of who did what to whom will decide it.

Manslaughter as a Lesser Offense

If there is evidence that the shooter acted recklessly rather than intentionally, the jury can be instructed on manslaughter under Section 19.04, a second-degree felony. A shooting in the middle of a crowded, chaotic fight is the kind of fact pattern where the line between intent and recklessness gets litigated.

The Bartender: Transferred Intent

The bartender was not the target, but that would not help the shooter in Texas. Under Section 6.04(b), a person is criminally responsible for a result even if a different person was injured than the one he meant to harm. The bartender’s wounds would support a separate charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a second-degree felony. If the two charges were tried together, Texas would ordinarily require the sentences to run concurrently, the same rule we discussed in the Adarius Hayes entry.

Self-Defense in a Bar Fight

No self-defense claim has been reported in Williams’ case. But in any Texas case like this one, the question would come up. Under Section 9.32, deadly force is justified only when the person reasonably believes it is immediately necessary to protect against another’s use or attempted use of unlawful deadly force, or to prevent certain violent crimes. A fistfight alone usually does not meet that standard, although a jury can consider the threat posed by several attackers acting together. The no-duty-to-retreat protection applies only to someone who did not provoke the fight and was not engaged in criminal activity at the time. And fleeing the scene afterward is evidence the State will argue shows consciousness of guilt. We looked at how Florida and Texas treat self-defense claims differently in the Antonio Brown entry.

Bail After Proposition 3

Williams was booked without bond in Florida. In Texas, a constitutional amendment approved by voters in November 2025, Proposition 3, took effect January 1, 2026. It requires judges to deny bail to people charged with murder and certain other violent felonies if, after a hearing, the State proves the person is likely to skip court or poses a clear threat to public safety. A Texas defendant in Williams’ position would face a contested detention hearing, and the defense’s work at that hearing, challenging the evidence of flight risk and danger, could decide whether he spends the next year or more in jail awaiting trial.

The Earlier Cases in Texas Terms

Williams’ earlier cases would look very different under Texas law. Bodily-injury assault on a person the defendant knows is pregnant is a third-degree felony under Section 22.01(b)(8), even with no prior record. The Orange County allegations, taking money at gunpoint, describe aggravated robbery under Section 29.03, a first-degree felony. Instead, one case was dropped and the other ended in a plea to petit theft, which in Texas would be a Class B misdemeanor for $120.

Under Code of Criminal Procedure Article 37.07, Section 3(a)(1), the State can offer evidence of other crimes or bad acts at punishment if it proves them beyond a reasonable doubt, whether or not the defendant was ever charged or convicted. Dropped charges do not disappear. The facts behind them can come back in front of the jury deciding the sentence.

Avantae Williams’ earlier cases all ended without a felony conviction: one dismissed, one pleaded down to petit theft. But a light record is not the same as a clean history, and in a Texas punishment phase the difference matters. The defense of a serious violent case starts with the incident itself, and it also has to account for everything the State might try to prove about the years before it.

How the Defense Plays It

• Reconstruct the fight. With about 40 people in the bar, the timeline of who threw punches, who drew a weapon, and when, has to come from video, physical evidence, and witnesses interviewed early.
• Test the identification. A crowded bar at 1:30 a.m. is a hard place to make a reliable identification. How police identified the shooter is a central question.
• Assess self-defense. Multiple attackers can matter, but provocation, flight, and criminal-activity limits can cut the other way.
• Prepare sudden passion early. It is a punishment issue the defense must prove, and it depends on the same evidence gathered at the start.
• Fight the bail hearing. Under Proposition 3, the State must prove flight risk or danger. That hearing is the first real chance to test its case.
• Contest the extraneous acts. At punishment, the State must prove prior bad acts beyond a reasonable doubt. Dropped charges are not proof.

What This Case Illustrates

Williams’ case shows how Texas murder law sorts a killing that grows out of a fight: murder, sudden passion, manslaughter, or justified self-defense, depending on facts that may take months to establish. It also shows that in Texas, the past can follow a defendant into the punishment phase even when the earlier charges went nowhere. Williams has not been convicted of anything in the DeLand case, and the facts described here are allegations.

Related Reading

• Murder defense in Texas
• Self-defense in Texas
• Aggravated assault charges in Texas
• Antonio Brown: From Stand Your Ground to a Plea Deal
• Adarius Hayes: A Recruit’s Vehicular Homicide Charges

Sources

• Fox 35 Orlando, McCabe’s Bar shooting: DeLand police arrest man in deadly shooting (May 5, 2025).
• Fox 35 Orlando, Avantae Williams, former Miami Hurricanes football player, charged with murder (May 6, 2025).
• The Diamondback, Former Maryland football player Avantae Williams arrested, charged with second-degree murder (May 7, 2025).
• AskFlagler, Ex-college football star charged with DeLand murder (May 2025).
• WPLG Local 10, Miami Hurricanes reinstate Avantae Williams after charges dropped (Aug. 29, 2021).
• ESPN, Miami football reinstates S Avantae Williams, will sit him at least 6 games (Aug. 2021).
• CBS Texas, Texans approve Proposition 3, expanding judges’ power to deny bail (Nov. 2025).
• Florida Statutes Section 782.04 (Murder).
• Texas Penal Code Section 19.02 (Murder) and Code of Criminal Procedure Article 37.07.

Talk to Deandra Grant Law. Deandra Grant Law defends DWI and criminal cases across North and Central Texas from offices in Dallas, Fort Worth, Allen, Denton, Rockwall, and Waco. If you or someone you know is facing a murder or other violent felony charge, call (214) 225-7117 for a free, confidential consultation.

The Defense File is an educational series. It is not legal advice, and it is not a comment on the guilt or innocence of any person. Charges described here are allegations unless a conviction is noted. As of October 19, 2026, the DeLand murder charge against Avantae Williams is pending, and he is presumed innocent.