NEW BOSTON, Texas-A Texas prison inmate accused of beating a Barry Telford Unit guard to death last year was asked at a hearing Friday if he wants to represent himself.
Tracy is represented by Mac Cobb of Mount Pleasant, Texas, and Jeff Harrelson of Texarkana, and the court has approved an investigator and mitigation expert for the defense team at state expense. However, Tracy continues to file motions and pen letters to Lockhart without his lawyers' input.
"I'm going to look you in the eye right now and ask you a question," Lockhart said to Tracy at the beginning of Friday's hearing. "Do you want to represent yourself?"
Tracy quickly responded.
"I have no intention of representing myself," he replied. "But I do want us (Tracy and his lawyers) to be on the same page."
Tracy has filed motions complaining that the state has refused to return personal property, including a hot pot, noodles and a typewriter, since he was transferred from Telford after allegedly beating Davison to death with a tray slot bar. The typewriter is being held as evidence and the food items have been disposed of because of their age, according to prior court discussions.
Tracy has also filed motions requesting a speedy trial, and in a letter he penned last month to Lockhart, he complains about Cobb. Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp said her office is concerned Tracy might be plotting for his appeal in the event of a conviction.
"(District Attorney Jerry) Rochelle wants me to put on the record that the state is ready for trial. We were ready at the last trial setting and we're ready now," Crisp said.
Rochelle asked Lockhart if the court wants the state to respond to Tracy's filings or if the state is only required to respond to motions filed by his lawyers.
"I think he's laying land mines for you," Crisp said of the defense team. "I think he's setting up a claim of ineffective (assistance of counsel) for down the road."
Also discussed at Friday's hearing was Tracy's request for copies of the documents the state has provided to the defense. At earlier pre-trial meetings, the state has handed over boxes containing thousands of pages of evidence and reports. Crisp said it is not uncommon for inmates to have "stacks" of papers in their cells concerning their cases. Inmates are not allowed to have computers or other devices capable of reading electronic media, such as might be stored on a flash drive. Lockhart said he has no intention of ordering TDC to alter its policies to accommodate Tracy's desire for copies of court records. Crisp said she does not object to Tracy having the material so long as sensitive information, such as a witnesses' personal information, is redacted.
The case is scheduled for jury selection in September 2017. Tracy allegedly slipped a hand free of its cuff and grabbed a metal tray slot bar from Davison, which officers use to manipulate the opening in cell doors, wielding it like a baseball bat to strike him again and again in full view of multiple prison surveillance cameras. Davison was transporting Tracy back to his cell in administrative segregation following an hour of recreation when the inmate allegedly attacked.
Tracy has a long history of violence both in and out of prison. Tracy's prison history began in 1995 when he was just 18 and sentenced to a three-year term for retaliation in Tarrant County, Texas. Three years later, Tracy was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole, 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.
Lockhart scheduled Tracy's next pre-trial hearing for December.