Court-appointed defense attorney Tom Clegg said he was surprised when he met his client Christopher Ervin — accused of plotting, with his younger brother, to kill their parents — calling him "remarkably composed" and well-mannered.
“That’s how he was raised,” chimed in Stacey Butts, a longtime friend of the family. She said she’s still in shock over the allegations against Christopher and Cameron Ervin, who on Friday waived their probable cause hearing.
“No one would look at this family and expect something like this to happen,” said her husband, Derrick Butts.
Christopher and Cameron Ervin are each charged with two counts of felony aggravated assault along with two felony counts of first degree arson. Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter said the brothers cut a gas line last Saturday morning, drugged their parents with Xanax, placed a candle in their fireplace and waited outside two hours for an explosion that never happened.
Prosecutors say they returned inside, beat their mother, Yvonne Ervin, with a rifle and repeatedly stabbed their father, Zachary Ervin, who was released from the hospital Thursday. Neither parent attended Friday’s hearing.
“There is an incredible disconnect between the allegations and the individual I talked to,” Clegg said.
He conceded there was “more than sufficient evidence” for the case to move forward. It will now move to superior court, where a grand jury will decide whether to indict. Clegg said he is unlikely to seek bail since his client lived with the parents he allegedly tried to kill.
The brothers’ motive remains a mystery.
"I guess they want … insurance money. I'm not sure," Yvonne Ervin told a 911 operator in a frantic call for help.
In interviews with investigators, the brothers hinted at a “bad home life,” Porter told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He added no such evidence has surfaced.
Derrick Butts said the family had “no issues.”
“If you call a troubled home life having everything you ever wanted, then I’ll take that trouble any day,” he said.
Still, he and his wife spoke highly of the Ervin brothers.
“They’re a great set of kids,” Stacey Butts said.
Christopher Ervin aspired to be an attorney, Clegg said, and was attending Georgia State University — his third college — majoring in political science. The former star football player had recently served in the Air Force before being discharged with “entry level separation,” Clegg said. “Apparently there were anxiety issues.”
Clegg said he waived the probable cause hearing due the extensive media coverage this case has received.
"I don't want the specifics of these allegations to be repeated ad nauseam," he said, adding it was "premature" to determine whether he would seek a separate trial for his client.
Cameron Ervin graduated from Shiloh High School earlier this year. Stacey Butts said she didn’t know whether he had enrolled in a college.
The brothers face up to 70 years in prison if convicted.
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