Judge Wallace Moore calls it Toothbrush
Day, the day the seven man, five
woman jury is sequestered to start
their deliberations on whether Cullen
Davis tried to hire a hitman to kill the
judge in his divorce case.
And Judge Moore today told jurors
that after hearing 10 weeks of testimony
up to seven hours a day, toothbrush
day might be Monday.
Defense lawyers say they plan on calling
only two more brief rebuttal witnesses
tomorrow before finally resting their
case.
And prosecutors say they plan on calling
no more witnesses, meaning that
if there is time preparation of the
charge to the jury, it could start
tomorrow and be continued Saturday if
necessary.
The charge, the court's instructions on
the law and how it applies could be
read to the jury first thing Monday
morning, immediately preceding eight
hours of final arguments for hours to
decide if there were time Monday.
The jury could begin deliberating that
evening, if not Tuesday evening.
Admittedly, a lot of ifs and
a trial known for defying predictions
of timetables.
An example defense lawyers say they
could but probably won't ask
for a continuance until three additional
witnesses can be found and subpoenaed
into court.
One is Davis brother, Bill,
whom defense attorneys claim has financed
the conspiracy against their client,
Bill Davis. The secretary, Genevieve
Vallentine, testified today her boss
hasn't been in the office since before
Thanksgiving and she doesn't know where
he is now.
But she has been sending his mail to his
house in Vermont and he's sent back
returned mail.
Bill Hix, The Texas News and Houston.