SMITH COUNTY — A Smith County judge has denied a Whitehouse murder suspect's claim that he is being unlawfully jailed.

Judge Christi Kennedy with the 114th District Court denied Martin Wesley Reynolds Jr.'s petition for writ of habeas corpus on Monday saying the claims that he was being denied certain constitutional rights are irrelevant to the laws at work in his case.

In the writ, Reynolds' attorney Thad Davidson said his client was being denied constitutional rights of due process, self-defense and the right to free speech. Reynolds, 22, is charged with first-degree murder in the Nov. 5, 2017, shooting death of Andrew Carpenter, 19, of Tyler.

Davidson filed the petition in August challenging the constitutionality of Reynolds' being in custody and his right to self-defense during the incident that claimed the life of Carpenter and sent Reynolds to the hospital with a gunshot wound to his leg.

In opening statements during Monday's hearing Davidson spoke about the laws that Reynolds is confined under and how those laws are violating his constitutional rights.

Smith County Assistant District Attorney Bryan Jiral countered Davidson's claims and said this hearing wasn't the right time to raise a claim of self-defense.

"Reynolds is confined under Texas Law 19.02, the murder statute," Jiral said. "Everything he (Davidson) has said so far is about Supreme Court cases. There are many facts that will come out in the jury trial. I don't think this is the right time to raise these issues of self-defense."

Davidson claims Reynolds should not have been jailed because he was shot first and then shot Carpenter in the chest when he saw Carpenter was about to shoot him again.

Davidson was allowed to call witnesses, but only called one witness prior to the judge denying the writ.

Davidson's witness said she lived in a house with Carpenter and another person when the incident occurred.

She said she was near Carpenter when he shot Reynolds.

Davidson's witness said she called 911 after the shooting and went to check on Reynolds while she was on the line with a dispatcher.

Kennedy put the court in recess after Jiral objected to Davidson continuing with the questioning.

When court resumed Kennedy said she was denying the writ of habeas corpus because Davidson's claims of his client being denied constitutional rights of due process, self-defense and the right to free speech were not applicable to the laws in which Reynolds was arrested and charged in the shooting death of Carpenter.

Davidson said he was trying to prove up the self-defense claim before the trial begins.

He also said he intends to raise the claims again to prove up the self-defense during the trial.

Kennedy said juries decide if a defendant acted in self-defense.

"That's what will be in the jury charge and something the jury will resolve," she said.

Kennedy cautioned Davidson about appealing the writ. She said an appeal could take several years to be heard in court.

A writ of habeas corpus is a civil lawsuit regarding a criminal case that alleges the petitioner is being wrongfully imprisoned.

Two others face murder charges in the death of Carpenter.

Colton Wade Tate, 22, of Tyler, and Nathan Ryan Garcia, 21, of Whitehouse, also are charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Carpenter.

Tate and Garcia's trials are scheduled to begin Dec. 17, according to Smith County's online criminal records inquiry database.

On June 22, Reynolds 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.

Reynolds' murder trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 12.

Reynolds remained in the Smith County Jail on a $750,000 bond as of Monday evening, according to jail records.