NEW BOSTON, Texas-The state rested its case Tuesday in the capital murder trial of Billy Joel Tracy, a Texas prison inmate facing a possible death sentence for fatally beating a correctional officer in July 2015 at the Barry Telford Unit in New Boston.
Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp rested for the state after calling Timothy Davison's niece, Renda DiBrizzi, who spoke lovingly of her uncle as she struggled to fight back her tears.
"He was very quiet, soft spoken, and very humble, just kind," DiBrizzi said.
DiBrizzi said Davison, 47, cherished the time he spent with his two daughters, who were 17 and 9 and living in Illinois at the time of his murder July 15, 2015. Davison was living in Illinois in 2014 with his aging mother because her worsening dementia made it unsafe for her to live alone. The home exploded in the fall of 2014 from a gas leak, DiBrizzi said.
DiBrizzi said her grandmother perished in the blast and that her Uncle Tim, who'd been blown out of the house by the explosion, felt guilty about his mother's death.
"He lost everything. He had nothing, just his name," DiBrizzi said. "He always thought he should have done something more to save her. We were told later there was nothing he could have done."
With no place to live and all of his possessions destroyed, Timothy Davison moved in with his brother, Ken Davison, in Simms, Texas, in September 2014, DiBrizzi said. DiBrizzi said her dad did not ask his brother to pay rent or help with the bills because Timothy Davison sent every penny he earned to the mother of his children for their care. Ken Davison, who teaches trade classes to inmates at the Telford Unit, helped his brother acquire a job at the prison as a correctional officer.
Timothy Davison had been working for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for about eight months when Tracy, 39, slipped a hand free of his cuffs and attacked. Tracy grabbed Timothy Davison's metal tray slot bar and used it like a hammer to pummel him into unconsciousness before tossing his motionless body down a flight of stairs and dousing him with the officer's pepper spray. Timothy Davison was pronounced dead a few hours later at a Texarkana hospital.
A Bowie County jury of nine men and three women found Tracy guilty of capital murder Oct. 27. Since the punishment phase of Tracy's trial was convened Nov. 1 by 102nd District Judge Bobby Lockhart, the jury has heard testimony from dozens of witnesses about Tracy's numerous prior acts of violence in and out of prison.
Officers who had contact with Tracy while he was housed at the Hughes Unit in Gatesville, Texas, testified Tuesday. Tracy was transferred from Hughes to Telford in April 2014 after alert officers uncovered Tracy's role in a conspiracy to escape.
"He was very manipulative, very intelligent. He was one of the smartest inmates I've ever been around. He was always looking for a way to get the upper hand," testified Hughes Unit Sgt. Russell Wiseart.
Wiseart said Tracy and two other inmates being housed in administrative segregation were frequently arranging to have their hour of recreation at the same time in two yards which are side by side. The spaces resemble large outdoor cages. Wiseart and Major Andrea Lozada testified that Tracy and his co-conspirators had convinced other inmates on their row to decline their recreation times so that at least two of the three would-be escapees were in the side by side yards at the same time.
Wiseart testified that he alerted his superiors and a plan was set in place to find out what the inmates were planning. Lozada said that because two of the inmates were conversing in Spanish, an officer who spoke the language was placed in an area which made eavesdropping possible. When the Hughes staff realized Tracy and the two other men were planning an escape, officers "suited up" and removed the inmates from their cells so thorough searches for contraband could be conducted.
Inside Tracy's cell, between legal folders which had been glued together, officers discovered a grinding wheel. Also found secreted in Tracy's cell were sandpaper, a saw blade with a homemade handle, nail clippers and string.
Lozada testified that officers discovered bars which had been sawed through after inspecting the top of the outdoor cage, under questioning from Assistant District Attorney Lauren Richards. The bars had been cut at angles so they would not fall inward if pulled and efforts had been taken to conceal the marks made on the bars. After the escape attempt was revealed, the three inmates were shipped to different units. Tracy was moved from Hughes to Telford in January 2014.
Hughes Unit staff members testified Tracy kept books about psychology and sociology in his cell which seemed in contrast to the magazines and comic books more typically read by inmates.
Correctional Officer Johnny Jackson said Tracy was often polite and talkative.
"He was trying to get us to let our guard down," Jackson said. "He was fine until he got caught doing something."
Correctional Officer Kimberly Adams said she escorted Tracy many times and once asked him if he felt remorse for stabbing Officer Katie Stanley at the Clements Unit in 2005.
"He said he 'wished the b**** would've died,'" Adams testified. "He said they were messing with his property."
Stanley suffered myriad injuries including a collapsed lung which required she be on a ventilator for three days. In a photo shown to the jury last week, the tread of Tracy's shoe could be seen outlined on Stanley's forehead.
Hughes Unit Sgt. Michael Kluck testified that Tracy is an "expert manipulator."
"He would try to engage you in small talk. He was an expert liar too. If you were from Dallas, he was from Dallas. Anything to try to establish a common bond with you," Kluck said. "On average he'd put on a calm face but if things were not going his way, he'd blow up."
Crisp and Richards have asked nearly all of the TDCJ witnesses who've testified if they ever saw evidence that Tracy suffered from a serious medical or psychological condition. All testified Tracy appeared to be in excellent physical shape and in full command of his mental faculties.
After Crisp rested the state's case, Lockhart put the jury in a recess until Thursday morning. The state and Tracy's defense team, Mac Cobb of Mount Pleasant and Jeff Harrelson of Texarkana, are scheduled to address issues concerning defense experts Wednesday afternoon.
Thursday morning the defense is expected to begin presenting evidence in support of its position that Tracy should receive a sentence of life without parole rather than death by lethal injection. Crisp has said in pretrial hearings that she expects to challenge the qualifications of defense experts and may challenge the science and data on which they base their testimony. That could mean long periods of time when the jury is out of the courtroom during the defense's case.
Once the defense rests, the state may call rebuttal witnesses, including an expert of its own to refute any testimony found objectionable by defense witnesses.
Once both sides have closed, Lockhart will instruct the jury on the law they must follow in their deliberations. The jury must consider two special issues: does Tracy present a future danger to society and are there factors which warrant a sentence of life without parole in lieu of death?
The trial is expected to continue into next week.