Murder Trail Outcome

Aransas County Attorney's Office

On March 23, 2026, a jury was selected on the cases The State of Texas vs. Amanda Davis and The State of Texas vs. Jonathan Bolt. The cases were tried together at the request of the Defendants’ attorneys. Jonathan Bolt, 52 years old, was charged with the Murder of Billy Mullins, as the principal or a party, that occurred on March 1, 2023. Amanda Davis, 33 years old, was charged with the Murder of Billy Mullins, as the principal or a party, and tampering with evidence. Billy Mullins was 28 years old at his time of death.

The trial lasted all week, during which Amanda Oster, the Aransas County Attorney, called 11 witnesses, and the defense Attorneys called 7 witnesses. The evidence showed that Billy Mullins and Amanda Davis had a tumultuous, on-again, off-again relationship. In the weeks leading up to the murder, Amanda Davis and Jonathan Bolt also began a romantic relationship.

In the days leading up to the Murder, Bolt sent Davis the following text messages.

2/26/23: “He comes up here im gonna shot him”

2/26/26: “Ever sence you let him start coming around he has done nothing but start shit and act like a fool.. he hasn’t done anything else if he comes up ere imgonna pull the trigger.. im sorry hope your not mad. If I got to igot to”

3/1/23: “What the fuck is he doing… im gonna shot his ass if you don’t tell me something”

33 years-old Amanda Davis and 52 years-old Jonathan Bolt.

On March 1, 2023, in the early morning hours around 3:00 a.m., Billy Mullins left Amanda Davis’s house. Later in the morning, Davis sent Mullins the text: “If you get here by 9:50 & ready I’ll feed you breakfast, any later no can do..” Davis also invited Bolt to come over a couple of hours later. Mullins showed up to Davis’s house later than expected, close to noon. At 12:13 p.m., Davis called 911 stating that a stranger shot Mullins. Deputies arrived at 12:19 p.m., and EMS arrived at 12:24 p.m.; EMS found no signs of life when they arrived to find Mullins shot once in the chest. For the next 2 hours, Davis told police repeatedly that she did not know who shot Mullins, she did not know where the gun was, and that Mullins would never hurt her. During the investigation, the Aransas County Sheriff’s Office Investigators found bloody shoe prints, that matched Davis’s shoes, leading from Mullins’ body, and into the bathroom. When searching the bathroom, Investigators found a bloody hand gun in a drawer next to the toilet.

On March 1, 2023 at 2:40 p.m., Davis began to tell Investigators that she was covering for Bolt. Through multiple subsequent interviews, Davis described that she gave Bolt her gun a few days before the shooting, and that when Mullins arrived at her house that day, Bolt was already inside. Mullins was over to pick up his boat, and Davis painted the word “narcissist” on the side of the boat before he arrived. Davis stated that there were no arguments or threats, but that when Mullins walked towards Bolt, Bolt shot Mullins. After the shooting, Davis hid the gun in the bathroom. Davis repeatedly stated that Mullins was not assaulting her at the time, and that she did not think he would hurt her.

During trial, Bolt testified on his own behalf. He stated that he had known Mullins since he was about 8 years old because Mullins was friends with Bolt’s son. Bolt testified that, on the day of the shooting, Mullins grabbed Davis by the throat, and when Bolt told him to stop, Mullins ran towards him. Bolt stated that he was scared because Mullins was much larger than him and because Mullins had a violent record. The defense then called witnesses to establish that, in 2012, Mullins assaulted a peace officer, and at various times in his life he was arrested for assault.

There was evidence of methamphetamine use by all parties, and at the time of Mullins death, he had recently used a large amount of methamphetamine. Defense attorneys argued that Mullins was violent, scary, that the methamphetamine in his system would have made his behavior worse, and that Bolt had to act in self-defense. Davis’s defense attorney stated that she hid the gun because she was scared and not thinking straight, but that she was not intentionally tampering with evidence.

On March 27, 2026, after the jury deliberated, they found Jonathan Bolt guilty of Murder, and Amanda Davis guilty of the lesser included offense of Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon and Tampering with Evidence. The jury determined that Amanda Davis’s actions as a party to the murder were reckless, and that is what led to the conviction for Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon instead of Murder.

Judge Joel Johnson, a retired visiting judge, was assigned to oversee the trial, and the Defendants elected for the Judge to assess punishment. Judge Johnson stated that there were some mitigating facts presented at trial, and he sentenced Jonathan Bolt to 25 years in prison. As for her part in the murder, Judge Johnson sentenced Amanda Davis to 12 years on the Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon charge, 5 years on the Tampering charge, and ordered that the sentences run concurrently. Each of the defendants will have to serve at least half of their sentence before they are eligible for parole.

Amanda Oster and the Aransas County Attorney’s Office would like to thank the Sheriff’s Office for all of their hard work on this investigation and trial. We would also like to thank the jury for their time and dedication to reaching a verdict.

Sentencing at Trial:

If a case proceeds to trial, the defendant chooses if the Judge or Jury assesses punishment.

Sentencing from a Judge or Jury can be harder to predict, and the defendant can receive a longer or shorter sentence than they would have in a plea agreement.

Recklessly:

A person acts “recklessly,” or is reckless, with respect to circumstances surrounding their conduct or the result of their conduct when they are aware of but consciously disregard a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the circumstances exist or the result will occur. The risk must be of such a nature and degree that its disregard constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that an ordinary person would exercise under all the circumstances viewed from the actor’s standpoint.

Parties:

A person is criminally responsible as a party to an offense if the offense is committed by his own conduct, or by the conduct of another for which he is criminally responsible, or by both. Each party to an offense may be charged with the commission of the offense.

A person is criminally responsible for an offense committed by the conduct of another if acting with intent to promote or assist the commission of the offense, he solicits, encourages, directs, aids or attempts to aid the person who commits the offense.