Ex-deputy waives jury in trial over fatal shooting,

Daniel Willis charged with murder in 2014 shooting death.

The fate of former Bastrop County deputy Daniel Willis, who is charged with murder in the 2014 shooting death of a woman, will be in the hands of a judge in his retrial next month after Willis opted to waive his right to a jury.

A defense attorney for Willis filed a waiver, agreed upon with the prosecution, in Bastrop County District Court on Friday afternoon.

It stated that Willis’ second trial will now be heard and decided by Visiting State District Judge Albert McCaig.

“We have faith that the judge that heard the case the first time will perceive the facts and the evidence favorably to (Willis),” said Robert McCabe, a defense attorney for Willis. “Obviously, if we didn’t think we would win we wouldn’t have chosen that option.”

The filing stated that the parties can withdraw the waiver at any time if circumstances change.

The bench trial will stay in Bastrop County instead of moving to Montgomery County, where it was moved after Willis’ attorneys successfully argued that media coverage of his first trial in September 2015 would make it dif- ficult to find an impartial jury in Bastrop County.

Jury selection was set for March 24, with the trial expected to get underway March 28, but it is unclear whether the schedule will change.

On Feb. 16, 2014, then-deputy Willis was responding to a domestic disturbance call at a home in Bastrop County when a dispatcher alerted him that someone inside the house had a gun and was loading it.

Willis retrieved an AR-15 assault weapon from his patrol vehicle and shot Yvette Smith, 47, as she opened the front door of the home on Zimmerman Avenue near Camp Swift.

Officials found Smith was unarmed.

A Bastrop County jury could not reach a verdict in September following nearly 20 hours of deliberation and McCaig declared a mistrial.

Even with the change of venue, McCabe said he thinks there would have been a high risk of another hung jury because of the polarizing nature of relations with law enforcement across the country.

“The nice thing with a trial by judge is we will have finality,” McCabe said. “We will have a verdict one way or the other at the conclusion of the evidence.”