Murder trial begins with look at 2 victims
Prosecutors flipped through image after image of a homeless woman dead atop the steps near the downtown chancery.
Across the courtroom, her accused killer appeared to quietly wipe away tears.
It was the opening of Lucky Ward’s death penalty trial, which otherwise began Monday with few frills as jurors heard a brief opening statement and initial testimony in the deaths of Carlos Rodriguez and Reita Long. The 55-year-old had waited for his day in court for almost 10 years while locked up in the Harris County Jail, where guards have labeled him one of their most dangerous inmates.
“Lucky Ward is the man who killed those two people,” prosecutor Colleen Barnett told the jury. “Just for the joy of it.”
Barnett set the stage for a trial expected to last through March, introducing the two victims who, she said, were already vulnerable to violence.
Long was a mother and teacher. She had hit hard times and lived on the streets when she
couldn’t find a place to crash, the prosecutor said.
The other victim, a hairdresser, has been described in court as a transgender woman whose birth name was Carlos Rodriguez. Her friends knew her as “Charlie.”
Rodriguez and Long were both found dead at separate scenes within a few weeks of each other in September 2010. Long was discovered near the chancery with a bra tightly wrapped twice around her neck, a trauma that medical examiners have described as worse than a suspended hanging, Barnett said. Rodriguez was found naked and covered by blankets in a North Side home, strangled by an unknown ligature.
By spring 2011, grand juries indicted Ward with capital murder in both killings. Court records listed him as homeless.
His attorneys waived their opening statements Monday but entered a not guilty plea for Ward. Tall and wearing a blue suit when he walked into Judge Chuck Silverman’s court with shackles around his ankles, Ward wore shaded glasses for most of the day.
Members of the sheriff’s office’s emergency response team were present for extra security, but they were not visible to the jurors.
The first witness to testify at the trial was a Houston crime scene unit officer who took photos and collected evidence at both scenes. Most of his account went uncontested, but one of Ward’s lawyers, Jimmy Ortiz, questioned why the officer didn’t collect or take photos of certain pieces of evidence.
The officer said he was told the house was frequently visited by many people, making it a “DNA nightmare.” He mostly focused on items that looked related to the scene or appeared fresh, such as Rodriguez’s blankets and a Busch beer can, he said.
Several of Rodriguez’s friends also testified, saying she had just broken up with a long-term boyfriend. She had brought several men home after nights out, they said.
If convicted, Ward faces a life sentence without parole or the death penalty.