No verdict yet in trial on murder

Travon Walker
Travon Walker

NEW BOSTON, Texas-A Bowie County jury deliberated for a little more than two hours Thursday before being placed in an evening recess in the case of a husband accused of inadvertently shooting his wife while aiming at someone else.

At issue is whether Travon Walker, 27, fired the bullet that struck 23-year-old Kaitlin Lee in the head as she stood in an alley near the scene of a fistfight in the roadway of Apache Trail in Texarkana, Texas. Witnesses at trial testified that Murquan Neal and Chris Shavers, who have children with the same woman, agreed to meet and fight on Apache Trail the night of Jan. 30, 2018.

Neal and Shavers testified that Shavers had a gun with him when he and Neal met that night and that Shavers handed the pistol to Walker, his close friend, shortly before blows were exchanged. Shavers and others testified that Walker fired one shot into the air that sent a large crowd running in all directions. Neal testified that after hearing the first shot, he turned to see Walker fire several additional shots.

A man who lives on nearby Cheyenne Place discovered Lee suffering a seizure as a result of a single gunshot wound to the head. She was quickly transported via ambulance to a local hospital where she died in the early hours of Jan. 31, 2018.

Shavers and another witness testified that Shavers retrieved his pistol from Walker's apartment on the night of Jan. 30, 2018, hours after the shooting. The gun was recovered during the day of Jan. 31, 2018, from Shavers' home on Ann Street from under a mattress in Shavers' bedroom by Texarkana, Texas, police, Crime Scene Detective Marc Sillivan testified.

A Texas Department of Public Safety firearms expert testified Thursday that the bullet that killed Lee was fired from Shavers' gun. At issue in the case was who fired the weapon.

Assistant District Attorney Katie Carter argued that Walker was clearly the shooter.

Carter pointed to testimony Neal offered Wednesday during which he stated he was helping his grandmother to safety when he turned and saw Walker firing repeatedly. Carter reminded the jury of the testimony of an Apache Trail resident who had just pulled into his driveway after a day of work at Texarkana Tank Car when the bullets began to fly. That resident testified that he saw a man helping an older woman and another man down the street firing a pistol.

Texarkana defense lawyer Josh Potter hypothesized that Walker could have handed the gun back to Shavers at the end of his fight with Neal and that Shavers or someone else could have pulled the trigger releasing the bullet that would end Lee's life.

The jury was placed in recess shortly after 6:30 p.m. by 5th District Judge Bill Miller with instructions to return to court Friday morning to continue considering the case. If found guilty of murder, the trial will enter a punishment phase. Walker faces five to 99 years or life if convicted.

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