Trial begins for man accused of seeking hit on judge who gave him 10 years in offender-registry case
A convicted sex offender is on trial in Waco, Texas, for allegedly trying to pay $30,000 to have the judge who presided over his last two trials assassinated.
William Ray Phillips, 64, rejected a pretrial plea deal that would have come with a 30-year prison term, a prosecutor said. If convicted of solicitation of capital murder he could get life, reports the Waco Tribune. Another version of the same Waco Tribune story provides additional details.
Jury selection began Monday in the case, in which Phillips is accused of repeatedly offering to pay for the slaying of 54th State District Judge Matt Johnson. The judge gave Phillips a 10-year term in 2013 for failing to register as a sex offender, KWTX reported at the time.
Phillips, who represented himself in the earlier case, argued that he hadn’t realized he was supposed to register. Although Phillips’ state-court conviction was reversed on appeal in 2011, he was still required to register due to a 2002 child-pornography conviction in federal court, the KWTX article explains. Findlaw provides a copy of the j2011 opinion by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that found the statute of limitations barred the state-court prosecution.
Among the evidence expected to be presented at trial is testimony by an undercover officer to whom Phillips allegedly offered $30,000, after a fellow prison inmate alerted authorities of the claimed threat, and allegations that Phillips also wanted to kill a federal judge and a district attorney, according to KWTX and the newspaper.
The articles don’t include any comment from Phillips or his attorney but note that the defense tried to prevent evidence of Phillips’ claimed desire to kill others from being introduced at trial.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Man charged in murder attempt on judge also wanted to slay DA and federal judge, authorities say”
