BELL COUNTY, Texas — It's been more than nine years since Marvin Guy allegedly shot and killed Killeen police detective Charles "Chuck" Dinwiddie during a no-knock warrant on May 9, 2014.
Guy has been represented by several lawyers, which delayed his trial. Jury selection began on Monday, Oct. 30 for the trial of Guy, who is charged with capital murder.
A Bell County Justice Center courtroom was filled to the brim with potential jurors. The jurors who are selected will decide whether Guy will spend the rest of his life in prison or walk as a free man.
Dinwiddie was killed in the line of duty on May 9, 2014, while serving a no-knock warrant for Guy on drug charges. In 2021, Killeen City Council officially put an end to the controversial no-knock warrant policy in the city.
6 News spoke with legal analyst Liz Mitchell about the delays and what the main challenges of the trial will be.
Mitchell says one of the main challenges will be finding 12 fair and impartial people.
"You're going to have to find 12 jurors that can put the other cases around the nation aside and any negative connotations that they may have regarding no-knock warrants, and just look at this case in a vacuum," Mitchell said. "Did the officers do everything that they were supposed to do? Did they follow all of the procedures? Did they announce as they were entering the home, 'Killeen police officers'? What were the protocols taken to alert the individual that they were, in fact, police? Once those things are shown, then we still have to find 12 people that can follow the law, and that's a challenge."
"I think that the delay of this trial has probably benefited the defendant, in all honesty, because of the change of climate and atmosphere regarding no-knock warrants," said Mitchell, "But this isn't a retroactive thing, that they're gonna say, 'Oh, now we no longer use no-knock warrants, so at the time we were wrong.' No, they were abiding within the laws and the parameters of their police department at the time that they were executing that search warrant."
Texas also has a Castle law, which is important to note when looking into this case.
"We tell people that you can stand your ground," Mitchell said. "It's a self-defense law, in which a person's home is their castle. They have a right to use reasonable force to protect themselves. However, a huge exception to that is if someone is engaging in illegal activity. If you are dealing drugs out of your residence, you are no longer entitled to the Castle exception."
Cost is another challenge in the case.
"Nine years is an incredibly long time to wait," Mitchell said. "The taxpayers of Bell County foot the bill to feed and house the defendant in county jail the entire time that he's awaiting trial."
The nine-year delay will also bring forward another issue, keeping tabs on witnesses and calling them to testify.
"The case becomes increasingly more difficult for the State to prove. The burden rests on the State beyond a reasonable doubt," Mitchell added. "Thus, they must bring forward all of the witnesses to prove the case, which means they've been responsible for keeping track of every single person they need to prove this case over nine years. That's all fine and good if you have witnesses who want to participate in this type of proceeding, but not everybody wants to testify, especially in a capital murder trial. Some of these people might be in and out of jail, so the State has to keep tabs on everyone over nine years of changes, of address changes and of telephone numbers."
But it's all to make sure both sides are able to get a fair and impartial trial. That's partly why Guy has been represented by more than 10 different attorneys.
"The judge is trying to protect the record for appeal," Mitchell said. "If at some point, the defendant says, 'I want a new counsel, I'm unable to effectively prepare for this trial with the attorney that's been appointed to me or I don't feel like I'm getting effective representation' that could be carving out an issue for appeal. The judge really has to kind of balance the defendant's appellate rights with the ability to get this case to trial in a speedy manner."
The jury selection process is expected to wrap up by the end of the week. Testimony is expected to start on Nov. 6, and the trial is expected to be completed by Nov. 21.
6 News will be in the courtroom with all the coverage.
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