Crabtree and son trial date set - April 29
- Details
- Category: News
- Published on Tuesday, 05 March 2013 10:45
- Written by Super User
BY PHILLIP WILLIAMS
GILMER--A state district judge on Thursday set an April 29 trial date for a former Upshur County commissioner and his adult son who are charged with holding a state game warden at gunpoint, said an attorney for the defendants.
Lloyd Allen Crabtree, 51, and Todd Allen Crabtree, 28, are charged in connection with an Oct. 6 incident in which the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission said Game Warden Shane Bailey was disarmed and detained by two armed men while making a routine check for hunting law violations on private property in Upshur County. No shots were fired.
At a hearing Thursday, 115th District Judge Lauren Parish set the trial date, but has not yet held a hearing on a prosecution motion to try the men jointly, said the Crabtrees' lead attorney, Longview lawyer Clifton (Scrappy) Holmes.
He said the defendants will plead not guilty, but that he hadn't decided whether he will agree to their being tried jointly. Judge Parish set a pre-trial hearing for April 5, Holmes said.
Upshur County District Attorney Billy Byrd, who is prosecuting the cases, was not immediately available for comment.
The elder Crabtree, who left office at year's end after being defeated for reelection last May, is charged with five felonies--three counts of aggravated assault on a peace officer; one count of taking a weapon from a peace officer; and one count of unlawful restraint with a deadly weapon.
Todd Crabtree is charged with one count each of those three offenses.