For four days this week, a Dallas County jury heard testimony and was presented evidence in the capital murder trial of Billy Chemirmir, accused of smothering 81-year-old Lu Thi Harris of Dallas in 2018.
What they didn’t hear is that the 48-year-old has been indicted on 18 counts of capital murder in Dallas and Collin counties, accused of smothering elderly women in senior living communities and their private homes. Chemirmir, who used to work as an at-home caregiver, has been linked in police, court and medical examiner records to at least two dozen deaths between 2016 and 2018.
“This case is about stalking, smothering and stealing,” lead prosecutor Glen Fitzmartin told jurors before presenting his case.
Jurors at the Frank Crowley Courts Building near downtown Dallas are only deciding whether Chemirmir should be held accountable in the slaying of Lu Thi Harris, 81, in March 2018. He faces life in prison if convicted of capital murder.
Without jurors present, lawyers also sparred over whether Chemirmir should wear a face mask in the courtroom. Chemirmir wore one throughout the trial, but took it off when witnesses tried to identify him.
The jury was released from deliberations Thursday evening and was set to resume Friday morning.
Here’s what jurors didn’t hear in the trial.
Long list of other deaths
Jurors heard about two murder victims — Harris and Mary Brooks, 88. They saw security camera footage that showed Chemirmir following the women at a Far North Dallas Walmart hours before their deaths.
Prosecutors are generally barred from talking about other charges against a defendant while a jury is still determining the person’s guilt or innocence. But the law allows prosecutors to enter evidence of other crimes if it is needed to prove a person uses the same method each time.
Jurors also saw sales records that showed Chemirmir had been selling jewelry years earlier, but they did not hear about the other indictments and allegations against him during that time.
According to medical examiner records, the alleged killing spree started in April 2016 at Edgemere, an independent living community in North Dallas.
The family of Catherine Probst Sinclair, 87, filed a homicide report at the time because of blood found on her pillow and a missing safe. Her death certificate has been changed to undetermined after Chemirmir’s cellphone records placed him near her apartment at the time. He has not been indicted in her death.
Chemirmir has been indicted in the deaths of Phillys Payne, 91, and Pheobe Perry, 94, who were killed at Edgemere in May and June of 2016.
He was arrested for trespassing at Edgemere and released from jail after 12 days.
Joyce Abramowitz, 82, was killed at The Tradition-Prestonwood shortly after his release. Chemirmir has been indicted in her death and seven others at the upscale living complex: Juanita Purdy, 82; Leah Corken, 83; Margaret White, 86; Norma French, 85; Glenna Day, 87; Doris Gleason, 92; and Doris Wasserman, 90.
The family of Solomon Spring, an 89-year-old man who died in October 2016 at The Tradition-Prestonwood, has sued the community, saying Chemirmir killed him. Chemirmir has not been indicted in Spring’s death.
Chemirmir has also been indicted on two charges of capital murder at private homes in Dallas County in January 2018. Those victims were Rosemary Curtis, 75, and Brooks, 88.
In Collin County, he has been charged in four deaths at Preston Place Retirement Community in Plano: Minnie Campbell, 84; Martha Williams, 80; Miriam Nelson, 81; and Ann Conklin, 82. Civil lawsuits against Preston Place identify three more victims: an unnamed 81-year-old; Diane Delahunty, 79; and Mamie Dell Miya, 93.
Frisco police say they believe Chemirmir killed Marilyn Bixler, 90, at Parkview Frisco senior living community in September 2017, but he has not been indicted in her death. Chemirmir has also been charged in the December 2017 murder of Carolyn MacPhee, 81, who died at a private Plano home.
Though Harris was the final murder victim, Chemirmir has also been charged in two other attacks where the victims survived.
Another attempted murder in Frisco
While most of the elderly victims died, two survived attacks and managed to tell their story to police. Jurors heard recorded testimony from one of those women, who has since died.
Mary Bartel, 91, survived an attack at Preston Place on March 19, 2018. Chemirmir was arrested the next day. Detectives say police saw him throw a jewelry box into a dumpster before arresting him in Bartel’s attack. That jewelry box led them to Harris.
But Chemirmir has also been charged with another attempted murder on a 93-year-old at Parkview Frisco in October 2017.
According to an arrest affidavit, the woman opened the door to a well-dressed man who said he was a maintenance worker. She declined to let him inside, but he forced his way in. The man threw her from her walker and put a pillow over her face.
The man got up, rifled through the apartment and left, according to the affidavit. The woman pushed an emergency alert button and a caretaker came to help her up and called police.
No one was arrested at the time. After the attempt on Bartel, police realized the attacks were similar and charged Chemirimr.
Debate over masking
The debate over masking made its way into the trial Wednesday, when Fitzmartin, the prosecutor, argued outside the jury’s presence that his witnesses would not be able to identify Chemirmir because he wore a face mask to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Because of the pandemic, the judge closed the courtroom to everyone but the attorneys trying the case, the jurors and the defendant, but it was broadcast on the court’s YouTube feed and in the media. Fitzmartin offered to provide Chemirmir a clear plastic face shield.
On Monday, a witness testified that he saw a stranger at Preston Place Retirement Community in Plano days before Bartel’s attack but failed to identify Chemirmir in the courtroom.
“I think it’s on fairness that my witnesses be able to look at him as he looked at the time,” Fitzmartin said. “He’s wearing a mask. That’s what robbers do so they’re not identified.”
Defense lawyers Kobby Warren and Mark Watson objected, arguing that Chemirmir needed to be able to wear his glasses to see and that the face shield made that difficult. Warren also objected to asking Chemirmir to briefly remove his mask if witnesses were asked to identify him in the courtroom.
“I think its prejudicial to force him to do that,” Warren said.
After hearing arguments, State District Judge Raquel “Rocky” Jones left the courtroom and did not announce her decision publicly.
Watson asked the judge to declare a mistrial because the debate was broadcast on the local media livestream. The judge denied the request.
Later, Chemirmir slipped his mask beneath his chin during several witnesses’ testimony when they were asked to identify him.
Staff writer Krista Torralva contributed to this report.
