A defense motion to have incriminating cell phone records removed from the case of the shooting of Travis County state District Judge Julie Kocurek was denied Friday by U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel.
Kocurek was returning home from a high school football game on Nov. 6, 2015 when the shooter approached her car and opened fire. Kocurek was in the hospital for nearly two months after the attack, and did not return to the bench until late February 2016.
Three men – Chimene Onyeri, Marcellus Burgin and Rasul Scott – have been indicted on federal charges in connection to the attack. Onyeri had a pending case in Kocurek’s court and was facing prison time.
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Defense attorneys said they filed the motion on the grounds that police gained access to the cell phone records of their client and primary suspect, Onyeri, through an alleged unlawful traffic stop.
Wednesday on the witness stand, Onyeri tried to get the records tossed out, disputing an account from a Houston police officer who said he stopped a car Onyeri was riding in for an illegal turn three days after the attack on the judge, according to KVUE's news partner, the Austin-American Statesman.
View the the motion denial here:
The trial is scheduled to begin March 26.
