The murder trial for one of two people accused of killing Fort Worth Police Officer Garrett Hull is on hold after the defendant says he swallowed razor blades.
The Tarrant County District Attorney's Office confirmed to NBC 5 Tuesday afternoon that defendant Timothy Huff "swallowed razor blades" and was taken to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth.
Huff complained of chest pains Tuesday morning, according to the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office, and was taken to JPS for evaluation. It was there that he admitted to staff that he "accidentally swallowed a razor blade."
The sheriff's office said inmates in the general population are allowed safety razors for shaving but offered no further information about how the blade ended up inside the defendant's mouth where it was then swallowed.
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The DA's office said Huff will be monitored for two or three days to see if he passes the blades.
The district attorney's office said Judge George Gallagher learned of the incident in open court, but not in the presence of the jury. Gallagher rescheduled the capital murder trial to begin next Monday, June 6.
CAPITAL MURDER TRIAL IN DEATH OF FORT WORTH OFFICER TO BEGIN MONDAY
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Timothy Huff is charged with capital murder in the death of Fort Worth officer Garrett Hull who was killed during a gun battle in 2018 during an investigation into a string of robberies.
Investigators suspect Huff, Dacion Steptoe and Samuel Mayfield were responsible for 17 robberies in the area and that they had been targeting Latino bars in and around Fort Worth under the belief that Latino victims would be less likely to report a robbery to authorities.
Joel Fitzgerald, who was chief of police in Fort Worth at the time, said a group of undercover and uniform officers identified the three men as suspects and were watching them as they entered Los Vaqueros Sports Bar on Sept. 14, 2018.
Fitzgerald added then that the officers were wary of endangering bystanders and waited for the three men to leave the bar before confronting them. When the men were outside and around the corner police tried to arrest them and that's when the gun battle began.
Hull was shot in the head in the exchange. Instead of waiting for an ambulance, officers decided to rush Hull to the hospital in a police car.
Dacion Steptoe, the man believed to have fired the shot that killed Hull, was killed in the shootout with police. In the days after the shooting NBC 5 learned Steptoe had been released from prison early and wasn’t sent back when he was arrested twice earlier in the year -- even though he was on parole, according to Tarrant County court records.
Mayfield is also charged with capital murder but has not yet gone to trial.
The start of Huff's trial has been rescheduled for June 6.
