Posted 1:02 am Friday, February 10, 2012
Aggravated Assault Trial Delayed Until Tuesday
By DAYNA WORCHEL
Staff Writer
Staff Writer
The start of a trial for a 28-year-old Tyler man accused of shooting a Smith County deputy in the chest almost a year ago was delayed because a jury was not selected Wednesday, according to information from Judge Jack Skeen Jr.'s office.
Evidence was scheduled to start in the aggravated assault of a public servant trial of Christopher Martin Summerville on Thursday but had been delayed at least twice because of the illness of his attorney, Patrick Davis. The trial is now set to begin on Tuesday.
Skeen also ruled that the jury can hear from prosecutors that the warrant authorities were serving on Summerville on March 24 was for a felony parole revocation offense. Davis had filed a motion on Feb. 3 requesting that prosecutors not tell the jury the warrant was for a parole violation offense.
Summerville is accused of shooting Smith County Deputy Josh Caulkins in the upper chest when Caulkins and others assigned to the U.S. Marshals Joint East Texas Fugitive Task Force went to The Arbors on Chimney Rock apartment complex on Chimney Rock Drive in March to serve an arrest warrant on Summerville, a known sex offender, for a parole violation.
Tyler police spokesman Don Martin said in March that members of the task force were speaking to a woman at an apartment when a shotgun blast struck Caulkins in the upper chest.
The task force members then returned fire before taking three people into custody, including Summerville. Caulkins survived the shooting with some bruising because he was wearing a bullet-proof vest at the time, Martin said.
Summerville pleaded not guilty in July to charges of six counts of aggravated assault of a public servant, engaging in organized criminal activity, unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of a prohibited weapon. He was indicted in October on two additional charges: aggravated robbery and failure to register as a sex offender.
Summerville faces up to life in prison if he is convicted, Smith County District Attorney Matt Bingham said. The defendant is being held in the Smith County Jail on a $7.9 million bond.
