Another defense attorney tried to leave Marvin Guy defense team

Such motions usually are not opposed by prosecutors, but that was not the case this time.

During a livestreamed hearing on Thursday in the 27th Judicial District Court, after hearing arguments from both sides, Judge John Gauntt denied Booker’s motion to withdraw.

A trial date is set in Guy’s case for May 8.

Guy, 58, was being held in the Bell County Jail on Thursday in lieu of bonds totaling $4 million on four capital felony charges — including $1.5 million on the most serious charge of capital murder of a peace officer. He was booked into jail more than eight and a half years ago, on May 10, 2014.

Guy is accused of shooting KPD Detective Charles “Chuck” Dinwiddie, and other officers, during a no-knock raid on Guy’s residence on Circle M Drive in Killeen on May 9, 2014.

Dinwiddie died in a hospital two days later.

Guy has claimed self-defense, saying that he did not know it was police entering his residence.

NOT ALLOWED TO LEAVE

Booker was hired in April 2022 after Guy fired attorney Mike Ware, Texas A&M law professor and executive director of the Innocence Project of Texas.

During the Thursday hearing, Booker told the court that because the state is no longer seeking the death penalty, she did not feel her services were needed.

“When I joined the team last year, Mr. Guy was facing the death penalty and my specific role was to assist with the litigation of the case,” Booker said. “The state has since decided not to seek the death penalty. He will still have three attorneys and my services are no longer necessary because the state is no longer seeking death.”

The state’s prosecutor argued that Booker’s services are needed because of her role as “counsel of record” and that she should not be allowed to withdraw.

“To allow her to withdraw would unduly delay this case even more,” said Assistant District Attorney Fred Burns during the Thursday hearing. “Ms. Booker is a very smart, capable and experienced defense attorney. These attorneys knew when they were hired, seven years into this case, that they would be (the) last lawyers for Mr. Guy. They’re competent and prepared and they need to try this case.”

Burns said that 75 days remain before the trial date.

“If any of these attorneys withdraw, we’ll be facing a delay of another year and that’s unconscionable,” he said. “In 99.9% of circumstances, the state wouldn’t take a position on a motion like this. But this is the one case in which his attorney of record should have to stay and ride it out.”

At that point, Booker said that she was not the lead attorney, or “first chair,” but the judge disagreed.

“You are the only one of the four defense attorneys who is qualified to sit as first chair in a death penalty case because you’ve been certified by the Texas Supreme Court,” Gauntt said. “That makes you lead attorney. The motion is denied.”

Previous trial dates were rescheduled for a variety of reasons, including unresolved legal motions, a revolving door of defense attorneys and the death penalty itself.

Guy dismissed three teams of defense attorneys over the years until the Grassroots Law Project — which has a national advocacy campaign for Guy — began paying his legal bills last year and a new team was hired.

Another reason for the delay in Guy’s case was the time needed for attorneys to prepare for a death penalty case, a hurdle that was removed earlier this year.

Back in 2014, the Bell County DA’s Office announced that it would seek the most severe punishment for Guy. On Sept. 9, 2022, the state filed a motion to waive the death penalty. Now, if convicted by a jury of capital murder, Guy would be sentenced to life in prison.