After a capital murder case ended with a hung jury in November, the retrial of accused serial killer Billy Chemirmir began Monday with more juror hiccups.
One juror went to work instead of court, delaying the start of testimony until early afternoon. Another juror recognized a victim’s relative, raising questions from defense lawyers about his ability to consider the evidence fairly.
After Dallas County sheriff’s deputies retrieved the missing juror, the trial for a man police have said could be one of the state’s more prolific serial killers got underway. Much of the testimony mirrored the evidence from the first trial in November.
Chemirmir, 49, quietly smothered elderly women, making their deaths look unsuspicious, and stole their jewelry, according to police and prosecutors in Dallas and Collin counties. Chemirmir, who was arrested in March 2018, has been indicted on 18 counts of capital murder.
Chemirmir, who wore a clear face shield in court, maintains his innocence and told The Dallas Morning News earlier this year that he is confident he will never be sent to prison.
His first trial in the death of Lu Thi Harris, 81, ended in a mistrial after the jury deadlocked following about 11 hours of deliberations over two days last fall. A lone juror held out, according to notes the jury sent to the judge. This second jury will also hear about her death in March 2018.
About 16 people representing seven other families attended the trial Monday. Police have told all of them that Chemirmir killed their mothers and grandmothers.
One juror said that, when he arrived to the courthouse Monday, he recognized one of those relatives. Shannon Dion, he said, was a member of his church, and he remembered her talking about the case in a news interview.
Dion’s mother was Doris Gleason, who was killed in 2016 at The Tradition-Prestonwood. Gleason’s death will not be mentioned during the trial.
Defense lawyers worried the juror tainted the jury when he told the others that he recognized a woman from the hallway.
“I don’t know how Mr. Chemirmir can get a fair trial if one of the jurors knows about an alleged offense that the other jurors will not know about,” defense lawyer Phillip Hayes argued in court. “Regardless of what he says, I don’t know how any human can put that aside.”
Dion was one of the first people out of the courtroom when the judge took a recess to consider the issue. Dion slumped into a bench in the foyer and held her head in her hands. From her neck, a medallion with a guardian angel — identical to one she says Chemirmir stole — dangled toward the ground.
“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry,” she said.
“There’s nothing you could’ve done,” said MJ Jennings, another woman whose mother police believe was killed by Chemirmir.
Megan Dion, Shannon’s daughter, rubbed her mother’s back. After a moment, Megan Dion took her mother by the arm and walked down the hallway and away from the courtroom.
After the break, State District Judge Raquel “Rocky” Jones questioned the juror and ultimately ruled he would stay on the jury.
“He has been very certain, very clear, that he will be a fair and impartial juror in this case,” Jones said.
But another juror delayed the trial even further after he showed up Monday morning not at the courthouse but at his work.
A bailiff told the judge she called the juror, left voicemails and sent multiple text messages but that he did not respond. The judge ultimately called his employer, who said he was there.
Dallas County sheriff’s deputies picked him up and brought him to the courthouse. He told the judge he’d forgotten about jury duty.
The judge asked if he’d be attentive for the rest of the trial and show up as the trial continues this week. He said he would, and testimony began soon after.
Jury heard similar evidence
The new jury heard much of the same evidence that jurors heard in November, including a taped deposition of Mary Bartel, who survived an attack in the apartment of her Plano retirement community on March 19, 2018.
Chemirmir watched intently, blinking frequently, as prosecutors showed photos of Bartel in the emergency room. Her cheek and chin were red, and her nose was bruised.
Bartel was 91 when she was attacked. She died about two years later of natural causes. Before her death, she gave a deposition with prosecutor Glen Fitzmartin and Hayes, the defense lawyer.
Bartel remained calm and composed as she detailed the attack. She occasionally smiled softly at lawyers in between their questions. She made a few witty remarks that drew light laughter from a few jurors.
Although jurors will determine whether Chemirmir is guilty of killing Harris, much of the testimony Monday centered on Bartel. Several Plano police detectives testified about how they developed Chemirmir as a suspect in the attack on Bartel.
They used suspicious vehicle reports and cell phone data to link Chemirmir to the attack, they told jurors, eventually arresting him the next day.
Plano Detective William Knight testified Monday that he was waiting at Chemirmir’s apartment complex when he saw Chemirmir pull up to a dumpster and toss something heavy inside.
Inside the dumpster, Knight testified, was a red jewelry box with Asian designs that ultimately led police to Harris’ home.
In his opening argument, Fitzmartin said he would also talk about Mary Brooks, who was killed in January 2018 in Richardson. Prosecutors are expected to weave together three women’s stories to prove Chemirmir killed Harris.
Prosecutors are generally barred from talking about other crimes a defendant is accused of while the jury is still tasked with 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.
If convicted, Chemirmir faces an automatic sentence of life in prison without parole because prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty. The trial is expected to last a week.
