SMITH COUNTY — Trial dates were postponed to August and September for the three men accused of murder in the shooting death of a Tyler man in November 2017.
Martin Wesley Reynolds Jr., 21 wore a suit and tie and sat shackled and handcuffed at the end of the bench with other inmates awaiting to have their case numbers called. His trial and the trials of the co-defendants in the case were scheduled to begin Tuesday morning in a Smith County court.
Reynolds, Colton Wade Tate and Nathan Ryan Garcia are all charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of 19-year-old Andrew Carpenter.
Tate's case was called first. The case was rescheduled for a Sept. 24 trial by 114th District Court Judge Christi Kennedy.
Tate's trial was continued by the court and reset until Sept. 24.
At least six witnesses in the Tate case were in court and sworn in by Judge Kennedy.
Prosecutors and Garcia's defense attorney also announced they were prepared for trial, but the court said the trial would need to be continued until Sept. 24.
Reynolds' defense attorney anticipated his client's trial would get started on Tuesday. Both sides announced they were ready to proceed with the trial. However, Kennedy announced she would not be able to hear the case on Tuesday and rescheduled the trial for Aug. 20.
At least ten witnesses in the Reynolds trial were in the courtroom and sworn in by the court.
Reynolds previously rejected the state's offer of a 15-year sentence in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for his guilty plea to the first-degree murder charge.
The arrest warrant affidavits said Reynolds and Carpenter got into an argument on the phone. Witnesses told detectives the cellphone was on speaker and Carpenter told Reynolds if he showed up at the residence he was going to put a gun to his head.
The affidavit went on to say that Garcia drove Reynolds from Whitehouse to the residence on Deerwood Drive to confront Carpenter. Detectives also said Tate provided Reynolds a pistol.
