SMITH COUNTY, Texas — A lawyer who defended a former Tyler nurse sentenced to death for killing four patients is accused of seeking out sex for payment while the trial was ongoing, according to the arrest warrant.
Phillip Wayne Hayes, 48, of Dallas, was charged with solicitation of prostitution Friday and released the same day on a $2,000 bond, according to Smith County Jail records.
Smith County District Attorney, Jacob says the District Attorney’s office is “aware of the allegations against Mr. Hayes” but cannot comment at this time.
According to an arrest affidavit, Smith County undercover officers posted ads on a website commonly used for human trafficking and prostitution. The document states Hayes began exchanging texts with the undercover officer on Oct. 5, six days into William Davis’ capital murder trial. The exchange lasted for approximately two hours that afternoon. Investigators identified Hayes using his phone number and law enforcement database searches.
Another search showed Hayes owned a 2020 black Land Rover Defender. Police documentation shows Hayes asked for an hour of time for him to pay $110 for sex. After the request, the undercover officer gave him a location to meet around 6 pm. An arrest team saw Hayes’ vehicle come to the location, and he was arrested and transported for an interview.
The trial began Sept. 28 and ended Oct. 27 when Davis was sentenced to death for injecting air into patients’ arterial systems while he was a nurse at Christus Trinity Mother Frances Louis and Peaches Owen Heart Hospital in Tyler, causing them to have brain damage and later die.
Because of Hayes’ involvement as counsel, in the ongoing trial, officers made the decision to get a warrant at a later date.
Thad Davidson, Tyler defense attorney says, “tremendous effort” goes into these multi-million dollar cases, “witnesses are brought in. experts are brought in sometimes from a long ways away and experts are hard to get ahold of and hard to get into. And really hard to get them on the stand because they're experts in demand and it costs a lot of money. It's just a monumental.”
