A judge has begun hearing testimony in the retrial of a former Central Texas sheriff's deputy charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a woman on her porch.
The previous trial of former Bastrop County sheriff's deputy Daniel Willis in Bastrop ended in a mistrial when a jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict. This time, his attorney has asked Visiting Judge Albert McCaig to hear the case instead of a jury.
In opening statements, the prosecution called Willis a rogue officer unjustified in his shooting of Yvette Smith. The defense deferred its opening statement but argued in the first trial that Willis believed the 47-year-old former Austin State Hospital nurse was holding an object after a dispatcher warned him that firearms were in the house.
