Texas Tech Student Accused of Killing PD Officer on Campus

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  • mvillepirate20

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    A Texas Tech student was taken to the campus PD station after evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia were found during a dorm room welfare check. He is accused of having pulled out a handgun after arriving there and shooting the campus PD officer in the head, killing him, and then fleeing. Campus was locked down until he was found and taken back into custody.

    Texas Tech student accused of killing officer is caught, police say | Fox News

    This could have been a drug charge, possibly handled by the University depending on severity. It's now a murder charge with aggravated circumstances, potentially a capital murder charge. They already knew who he was. Where and how was he going to flee? I'm also wondering how he managed to have a concealed handgun when detained and taken to the campus PD station. Not all press reports are 100% accurate and there's a remote possibility he grabbed one from an officer. That will undoubtedly be reviewed in great detail.

    As this was in Texas, he's very likely a future Death Row resident.
    What a maroon.

    John
    So sad for the officers family
     

    printcraft

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    Court appearance on 20 Nov 2020 to try to set a date for trial. At least publicly this appears to have been unsuccessful.
    https://www.everythinglubbock.com/n...eath-penalty-case-against-daniels-in-lubbock/


    Hollis's attorney is Chip Lewis from Houston, who is also the defense attorney for Robert Durst who is also facing trial for murder in California. Lewis told the Texas judge that he cannot participate in a murder trial other than Durst's without the permission of the Judge in the Durst trial. Durst's trial started last spring but was postponed indefinitely because of Covid...or more accurately, because of California's response to the Covid problem. The Durst trial is expected to last several months so even if it started in January 2021, Lewis would not be able to represent Hollis until late next year.


    Hollis's trial has also at least partly been delayed by the Texas court system going into trial hibernation, along with the mental evaluations and all the other baggage that goes with a capital trial.


    It seems to me that the answer is that Lewis needs to choose which client he is going to represent, or maybe have that chosen for him. Or maybe everyone is better off if Daniels is just sitting in jail waiting. I dunno, it's been more than three years already.

    https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/speedy_trial

    I wonder if this covid **** could cause a problem going forward here?
     

    Alamo

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    I missed this article last November.

    It notes at the end that the officers wife filed a multi million dollar lawsuit against the defendant a year ago. The defendant did not reply in court, so the judge in the civil case awarded a default judgment of more than $120 million.


    I can’t find anything more current on this case. I know that the case that the defense lawyer has with Robert Durst was postponed from last year until March, and then again until July 2021, so I’m assuming that the case against Daniels will not move forward before the end of the year.
     

    BugI02

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    There was an incident in central Ohio, that got some ink on INGO, where a little angel that was found passed out in his car was taken to a local hospital by paramedics. He was in custody of a suburban police dept [Westerville]

    Westerville police Chief Charles Chandler said Monday that officers had been called in the morning to a report of a man "passed out in a vehicle." Officers called for paramedics, who transported the man to St. Ann's for evaluation and treatment. Officers accompanied the ambulance to the hospital.

    That man, now known to be Jackson, was found to have warrants out for his arrest related to pending charges of domestic violence, resisting arrest, falsification and assault in Franklin County Municipal Court, as well as a pending felony case on charges of possession of drugs and having weapons while under disability, meaning a person with a felony conviction who had possessed a firearm illegally.
    He was later found to have been carrying a firearm 'between his legs' according to reports. You would think this might have made him move oddly, but between being NARCANned awake and taken to the ER via stretcher it might not have been noticeable. He certainly was not thoroughly patted down, and when CPD arrived to take custody of him due to his wants and warrants he decided to put up a fight and got in an exchange of gunfire with police and hospital security, which he did not survive

    This is the man who was 'a good man who just needed help' according to a relative



    3ccc3632-0ad0-4828-bc56-cd6458f2225c_1920x1080.jpg

    So, I'm not sure how to parse the theory attributed to Kut. He IS black, obviously was NOT searched carefully by police but did wind up taking a dirt nap
     

    Alamo

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    Another hearing just last Friday, 22nd April, to discuss scheduling of the capital murder trial of Daniel Hollis.

    Recall that his lawyer, chip Lewis, was also one of the lawyers for Robert Durst out in California, whose trial took precedence. Durst was convicted last year, finally, but before they could get into appeals he had the presence of mind to die of natural causes in January. So apparently Chip is now freed up? But still don’t know when trial for Hollis will occur.
     

    Alamo

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    I located Lubbock courts online records but all it shows is that there is a steady trickle of motions and orders. Nothing substantive is listed online, not even what a title for the motion or order, just the date and the fact that a motion or order was entered into record.

    The wheels of justice are grinding exceedingly fine, it appears. This is a death penalty case, and looking at the list of inmates on death row in Texas, it doesn't appear unusual for 5 years to go by between arrest and conviction in a DP case.
     

    Alamo

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    Updated:
    A trial started on Monday and Daniels short-circuited it by pleading guilty to capital murder before the jury was brought in. So jury was seated and moved straight to penalty phase. Apparently not a plea deal the prosecution is still seeking a death sentence.

    Strikes me as very unusual.

    From what I gather from the news articles His lawyers are indirectly blaming the parents and everybody else for not realizing what a drug-addled psychological mess their son qwas, but now he’s grown up and has a clear mind, and is taking responsibility, and so on … So don’t give him the death penalty..

     
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    Alamo

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    This reporter is tweeting summaries of trial testimony:

    It appears that Daniels was patted down twice when he was arrested, once by one officer, and then again by the officer who was later killed (East). The states attorney pointed out during a body cam video that Daniels was allowed to sit on a couch in a common area of the dorm, near his room which was being searched by two officers, and asked the officer if the couch had been searched (no). Officer East was by himself while guarding Daniels. Before the two officers on into the room, there’s a video that shows that East had his back to Daniels a couple times while Daniels was sitting on the couch. I guess the implication is that Daniels could have earlier stashed his gun in the couch and then retrieved it while sitting there, but after being patted down for weapons.
     
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    Alamo

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    Yikes.
    Reviewed the tweets that the reporter covering Daniels trial is putting out.

    Officer east drove Daniels from his dorm to the TTU police department. There was a camera in the patrol car recording at least the interior. A gun fell out of Daniel’s pants onto the floor (I think), and Daniels managed to pick it up and put it in the front of his pants and cover it with a shirt, even though his hands were handcuffed behind his back.

    Officer east heard the thump, and asked Daniels what was going on, Daniels just told him it was a handcuffs, and there was no problem. East told him to sit back, but did not realize what the noise really was. He then took him out of the car to the booking room, and took off the handcuffs, which another officer had testified was customary with individuals who were cooperating.

    Apparently, there was a camera in the booking room, and shows Daniels shooting officer East. This video was shown in the court room, but the audience could not see it, only the jury, judge, lawyers, and defendant.

    However, the audio could be heard in the court room, and everybody heard Daniels ask Officer East if he had a family, and then asks how many children. East answered. Then everyone hears the gunshot. The prosecution stopped the video and had the detective who’s on the stand repeat the question and answer for the jury.

    I’m guessing that video just bought Daniels a dose of pentobarbital.
     

    Alamo

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    Daniels himself testified today. According to him the handgun was on his person the whole time and both officers who patted him down simply missed it.

    He said he had tucked it into his waistband, and when one of the officers started patting down his legs it pulled on his pants, and the gun slipped down into his crotch. Later, it actually fell down his pants leg and out, but that was when he was in the backseat of a patrol car being taken to the station. He managed to get it off the floor and put it in the front of his pants despite being handcuffed.

    Daniel killed one of those officers, but the other is still alive. I can’t imagine how terrible he must feel to know that he missed that gun and his fellow officer was killed.
     

    Alamo

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    Final arguments today. The defenses presentation was basically Hollis was a depressed, screwed up kid who treated himself with way too much Xanax and weed, and a few other drugs, and his parents and others didn’t realize or get him the treatment he needed. And the five years since he’s been a model prisoner, and therefore is not a future threat
     

    Alamo

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    To sentence him to death the jury had to unanimously find both that he would be a future threat and that there are no mitigating circumstances.

    Well, I thought the video of him shooting officer east in the back of the head after asking about his kids would push them over to the death penalty. However the DA really didn’t have any other evidence that he would be violent in the future. He’s been locked up for five years and apparently has a spotless record as a prisoner, and nothing violent prior to that day. I believe it was part of his own testimony to the jury that he thought a death sentence or life in prison that either one would be a just sentence for him. His attorneys did a pretty good job of demonstrating that at the time he killed Officer East he was a psychological mess amped up on Xanax and other drugs, that many saw the warning signs, but didn’t act on them with any vigor, but that since then he has pretty much been a straight arrow, at least, as much as you can be in jail.
     

    Alamo

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    Stat that popped out during trial:
    There are 1112 inmates serving life without parole for capital murder. Now 1113.

    The TDCJ website shows 186 on death row.
     
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