NEW BOSTON, Texas-A Texarkana teen accused of capital murder in the January death of a toddler will face a jury the week after Thanksgiving.
Clifford James Gayton Jr., 19, appeared Friday morning with Texarkana lawyer Josh Potter for a pretrial hearing before 102nd District Judge Bobby Lockhart. Gayton is accused of beating his former girlfriend's 2-year-old son, Da'Corian Wright, to death Jan. 29. Gayton allegedly caused injuries to the boy's younger sister as well.
Because the state is not seeking the death penalty, Gayton faces life without the possibility of parole if convicted of capital murder. Jury selection was scheduled to begin Nov. 1. However, Gayton's lawyer, Josh Potter of Texarkana, was granted a continuance over objections from Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp at a hearing Friday before Lockhart.
"The amount of people involved and amount of work we've put in to have these witnesses here is extraordinary," Crisp said. "The medical examiner is working the week of Thanksgiving to take the following week off and said she has scheduled that as her holiday time with her family. The police department has been on notice for months, and many of those officers pulled out of a homicide conference that week at my
request."
Crisp said that Potter has been a "gentleman" in his dealings with the state in preparing for the case but that a continuance means dozens of witnesses subpoenaed to appear the week of Nov. 1 must be contacted by the state and many will need to rearrange their schedules again.
Potter apologized but said he needs more time to prepare in light of names recently added as witnesses for the
state.
Lockhart granted Potter's request but made it clear it would be the last
delay.
"We're picking a jury Nov. 29, ready or not," Lockhart
said.
Also discussed at Friday's hearing is the state's intent to introduce testimony to the jury that Gayton was using synthetic marijuana the day Da'Corian was found lifeless in his bed and cold to the touch. Crisp said testimony concerning alleged domestic violence by Gayton might come in during the trial's guilt or innocence phase if the "door is
opened."
Gayton has been in jail since his arrest a couple of days after Da'Corian's body showed he had suffered blunt-force trauma severe enough to tear internal organs. Crisp said she believes testimony from officers who went to arrest Gayton at a residence on Elizabeth Street on a capital murder warrant and found him hiding in a bathroom cabinet is admissible. Lockhart
agreed.
Gayton faces an additional two to ten years in prison if found guilty of injuring Da'Corian's 1-year-old
sister.
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