Selection of jury done; trial date set
Billy Joel Tracy faces possible death penalty over prison guard’s murder
NEW BOSTON, Texas—Jury selection in the case of a Texas prison inmate facing the death penalty in the 2015 fatal beating of a correctional officer at the Barry Telford Unit in New Boston is finished.
Nine men and three women will decide if Billy Joel Tracy, 39, is guilty of capital murder in the July 2015, death of 47-year-old Timothy Davison. Two women were chosen to serve as alternates in the event one of the 12 jurors is unable.
The lengthy process of selecting a jury began with premliminary qualification and jury questionnaires in August, which resulted in a 331-member pool of Bowie County citizens from which the jurors would come. Beginning Sept. 13, eight prospective jurors reported most weekdays for individual questioning from 102nd District Judge Bobby Lockhart, the state and defense.
When the second of the two alternates was chosen Tuesday, the selection process ended. Opening statements and testimony are tentatively scheduled to begin Oct. 23 at the Bowie County Courthouse in New Boston.
“I was excited that they were able to get a jury selected in the time they did,” said Bowie County District Attorney Jerry Rochelle. “The DA’s office worked tirelessly to be as efficient and effective as possible to see that it was done.”
Tracy has objected to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s plans to house him at the Telford Unit during his trial, complaining that his physical safety is at risk and that he doesn’t trust Telford staff to serve him untainted meals. TDCJ’s website shows Tracy’s unit of assignment as Telford.
Tracy is accused of beating Davison to death the morning of July 15, 2015, during a routine walk from a prison day room back to Tracy’s one-man cell in administrative segregation. Tracy, who had allegedly packed all of his personal belongings before walking out of his cell for an hour of recreation, attacked Davison after slipping his left hand free of its cuff. After knocking the officer to the floor, Tracy allegedly grabbed Davison’s metal tray slot bar and used it to pummel him.
If Tracy’s jury convicts him of capital murder, the trial will enter a second phase during which both sides will present testimony concerning the punishment Tracy should receive: death by lethal injection or life without the possibility of parole.
The last time a death sentence was pronounced in Bowie County was in March 2001. James Scott Porter was already serving time for murder when he killed a fellow inmate at the Telford Unit with a shank and a rock in May 2000. He was executed Jan. 4, 2005.
Tracy’s prison history began in 1995 when he was sentenced to a three-year term for retaliation in Tarrant County, Texas. Three years later, Tracy was sentenced to life with parole possible, plus 20 years for burglary, aggravated assault and assault on a public servant in Rockwall County, Texas. In 2005, Tracy received an additional 45-year term for stabbing a guard with a homemade weapon at a TDCJ unit in Amarillo, Texas. Tracy was sentenced to 10 years in 2009 for attacking a guard at a TDCJ unit in Abilene, Texas.
Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp is leading the prosecution. Tracy is represented by Mac Cobb of Mount Pleasant, Texas, and Jeff Harrelson of Texarkana.