WACO, Texas — Former Waco attorney Seth Sutton's criminal trial began Aug. 15 at 9 a.m. at the 19th Judicial District Court in Waco, TX.
Both Sutton and another Waco attorney, Chelsea Tijerina, were charged with criminal solicitation of capital murder in 2020.
Sutton was indicted in August 2020, alongside the late Tijerina, for an alleged plot to kill Marcus Daniel Beaudin, Tijerina's ex-husband.
In day one of the Sutton trial, the judge informed the jury this trial would be long and complex because there are a lot of moving parts with many people involved.
Two witnesses took the stand. One of them was an undercover officer who began his investigation into Red Mouse Cult MC, a motorcycle club based out of Waco.
The name of the operation was 'Operation Might Mouse' and the undercover officer was involved in the operation from December 2019 to May 2020. Sutton was the president of the club at this time.
The officer was involved to collect information on the motorcycle club and learn if the club had been involved in gang-related activity.
The officer built relationships with club members throughout his investigation. The relationship that stood out the most was the one he made with Sutton.
The operation was ended by the officer's supervisors in early May 2020 due to the lack of resources and funds, but the officer decided to ignore his supervisors and proceed with the investigation.
"I was in too deep and didn't want to leave abruptly," the officer told the jury. "I didn't want to look suspicious."
The officer says he ended up joining the Red Mouse club on May 13, 2020, despite his supervisors' orders, and Sutton began to trust him.
This is when the officer says Sutton told him about a relative who had been molested by Beaudin. Because of this, the officer says Sutton told him about the three ways he wanted to kill Beaudin.
The two options Sutton strongly considered were to befriend Beaudin, get him intoxicated, then shoot him, or to shoot Beaudin when driving and then stage it as a road rage accident.
Text messages between the two of them were shown to the jury insinuating Sutton and the officer had more to talk about regarding the way they would decide to kill Beaudin.
This is when the officer says their initial operation took a hard turn right.
The officer told his supervisors what Sutton told him. While his supervisors were upset he proceeded with the investigation, they decided to have the officer wear a microphone and camera to capture Sutton.
The officer says he met with Sutton and Tijerina at their home to talk about how they planned to kill Beaudin.
Video of Sutton and the officer's conversation was played for the jury.
In the video, Sutton and the officer can be heard forming a plan to kill Beaudin. The officer can be heard saying the plan needed to be thought out, a gun needed to be purchased and how they needed to learn Beaudin's daily routine. Sutton can be heard agreeing with the officer and they both agreed this plan would take place in a few weeks.
Not long after this conversation, both Sutton and Tijerina were arrested Friday, May 22, and charged with criminal solicitation of capital murder.
At least 30 witnesses are expected to take the stand in this trial.
Trial will resume Aug. 16.