Tyler

By CASEY KNAUPP
Staff Writer

Christopher Lee McCuin, accused of kidnapping and killing his girlfriend in January, was given a new defense attorney on Friday.

During a pre-trial hearing, Guy Conine, who was McCuin’s second chair defense attorney, asked to withdraw from the case because he is leaving his private practice and going to work at the Smith County District Attorney’s Office as a prosecutor.

Judge Jack Skeen Jr., of the 241st District Court granted Conine’s request and appointed Tyler defense attorney Brett Harrison to represent McCuin in Conine’s place. Jeff Haas remains lead counsel in the case, which is scheduled for trial April 19, 2009.

McCuin, 26, was indicted in February of capital murder for the Jan. 4 death and mutilation of Jana Shearer, 21, of Whitehouse. Smith County officials have said McCuin is also suspected of possible cannibalism in the case that garnered worldwide attention.

Officials believe McCuin abducted Ms. Shearer from her Whitehouse apartment, put her body in the back seat of his Chevrolet pickup, then drove to his estranged wife’s home on County Road 413, where he stabbed her boyfriend multiple times.

McCuin was also indicted on a charge of burglary of a habitation with the intent to commit aggravated assault for allegedly breaking into the residence and stabbing homeowner William Veasey.

Officials said that after stabbing the man, McCuin ran from police, broke into a Tyler business and then finally went to his mother’s home where he asked her to come look at what he had done.

When McCuin’s mother and her husband approached the truck, they saw Ms. Shearer’s body.

The couple fled the home and contacted police about the same time McCuin himself called the Smith County Sheriff’s office and told the dispatcher he had killed his girlfriend and was cooking parts of her.

McCuin has told investigators that “God told him to do it.” He has not given details as to where the slaying occurred.

McCuin could face life in prison or lethal injection if convicted of capital murder.

Staff Writer Kenneth Dean contributed to this report.