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Attorneys Ask Judge To Delay Trial Of Accused Cop Killer Marvin Louis Guy


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Attorneys ask judge to delay trial of accused cop killer

 

Lawyers file motion to move trial start date from June 1 to February at the earliest

 

 

 

BELTON — The man accused of shooting and killing a Killeen police officer last year may not see the inside of a court room until early 2016.

 

Lawyers for Marvin Louis Guy filed a motion Tuesday asking Bell County 27th District Court Judge John Gauntt to delay Guy’s capital murder trial from June 1 until February at the earliest.

 

Guy, 49, is accused of fatally shooting Killeen Police Detective Charles “Chuck” Dinwiddie on May 9. According to police, Guy opened fire on Dinwiddie and other members of the department’s SWAT team who were attempting to serve a “no-knock” narcotics warrant at Guy’s Killeen apartment. Dinwiddie was hit in the face and died May 11.

 

Guy was charged with capital murder in connection with Dinwiddie’s death and three counts of attempted capital murder for allegedly firing on three other officers during the shootout.

 

In September, Bell County District Attorney Henry Garza announced he would seek the death penalty in the case.

 

According to the motion filed Tuesday, Guy’s court-appointed defense team said it needed more time to work on his case, and would not be able to provide a competent defense for Guy should the trial begin June 1.

 

“It is unusual for a case where the state is seeking the death penalty to go to trial in less than a year,” said Michelle Tuegel, one of Guy’s defense lawyers.

 

Guy’s attorneys hope to use some of the time to explore the possibility Guy may have an intellectual disability. The court document stated Guy’s defense team is reviewing school records from Guy’s hometown of Gary, Ind., which indicated he was in special education classes.

 

In addition, Guy’s attorneys asked for additional time to review the massive collection of evidence provided to them by the prosecution. It includes thousands of pages of documents, more than 2,000 images, and hundreds of hours of video footage and witness interviews.

 

“We have been working our way through the discovery for months and we have still not completed the review of all this information,” the motion read.

 

While Guy’s defense team seeks more time to build his defense, letters from Guy himself appear to indicate he is not satisfied with his representation.

 

Guy has written at least eight letters from Bell County Jail to the court. In an August letter, he asked that two of his attorneys, Michael White and Russell Hunt Sr., be dismissed from the case.

 

Guy claimed Hunt, a veteran death penalty defense attorney, made “vindictive” and “unprofessional” comments to him.

 

“(Hunt) stated when I asked to diversify a jury, ‘Oh so I guess you want a black judge and a black jury, too’,” Guy wrote.

 

Gauntt denied Guy’s request to drop his defense team in September.

 

Hunt was unavailable for comment Tuesday, and Tuegel said she was unable to comment directly on Guy’s claims because of attorney-client privilege.

 

“In any case where our client is African-American, we are very sensitive to those issues,” she said.

 

As of Tuesday afternoon, Gauntt had not ruled on the defense motion to delay Guy’s trial.

http://kdhnews.com/news/crime/attorneys-ask-judge-to-delay-trial-of-accused-cop-killer/article_fdb5306c-d260-11e4-8398-a7d305bd61af.html

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