NEW BOSTON, Texas-Nine people have been selected to serve as members of the jury which will decide the fate of a Texas prison inmate facing a possible death sentence in the 2015 beating death of a correctional officer at the Barry Telford Unit in New Boston.
The lengthy process of selecting a jury in the capital murder trial of Billy Joel Tracy, 39, began with preliminary qualification and jury questionnaires in August. Since Sept. 13, eight of the 331 members of Tracy's jury pool have reported each weekday for individual questioning by the court, prosecution and defense.
As of Friday, six men and three women have been seated as jurors. The process will resume Tuesday morning before 102nd District Judge Bobby Lockhart at the Bowie County courthouse in New Boston and will continue until 12 jurors and two alternates have been chosen.
Opening statements and testimony are tentatively scheduled to begin Oct. 23.
Tracy, 39, is accused of beating 47-year-old Timothy Davison to death the morning of July 15, 2015, during a routine walk from a prison day room back to Tracy's one-man cell in administrative segregation. Tracy, who had allegedly packed all of his personal belongings before walking out of his cell for an hour of recreation, attacked Davison after slipping his left hand free of its cuff. After knocking the officer to the floor, Tracy allegedly grabbed Davison's metal tray slot bar and used it to pummel him.
If Tracy's jury convicts him of capital murder, the trial will enter a second phase during which both sides will present testimony concerning the punishment Tracy should receive: death by lethal injection or life without the possibility of parole.
Tracy's prison history began in 1995 when he was sentenced to a three-year term for retaliation in Tarrant County, Texas. Three years later, Tracy was sentenced to life with parole possible, 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.
Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp is leading the prosecution. Tracy is represented by Mac Cobb of Mount Pleasant, Texas, and Jeff Harrelson of Texarkana.
Tracy will be held at the Telford Unit during the trial, which is expected to last two to three weeks.