On March 20, 2018, Billy Chemir – who spotted Harris in a Walmart not far away – drowned the life of the 81-year-old woman, Dallas County prosecutors said in his murder charge this week. “This man, right there, is capable of taking the most innocent objects – the things we put our kids downside down at night so they can have dreams – and he turned them into nightmares,” said Prosecutor Glenn Fitzmartin. . to jurors on Thursday. He was standing a few meters away from the place where Tsemirir was sitting, looking at him and pointing his finger. The Dallas County court took just 45 minutes to convict Tsemirmir of murder. Chemirmir could be one of the state’s most prolific serial killers. Police say they chased elderly women into nursing homes and private homes in Dallas and Colin counties, stealing their jewelry and other valuables. District Judge Raquel “Rocky” Jones sentenced Chemirmir to life in prison without parole because prosecutors chose not to pursue the death penalty. Chemirmir showed no visible reaction to the verdict. She stood in front of the judge with her arms crossed while she was condemning him. Lu Thi Harris (Archive / AP) This was Chemirmir’s second trial for Harris’s death. Chemirmir escaped conviction in November after a jury stalemate after 11 hours of two days of deliberation. A juror refused to step down, according to notes sent to the judge by this jury. This week, jurors also heard about attacks on Mary Brooks on January 30, 2018, her condominium in Dallas and Mary Bartel on March 19, 2018, in her apartment in the retirement community. Bartel survived and assisted police in an investigation that led them to Chemirmir. Brooks’s death was initially thought to have been caused by natural causes, but the medical examiner reversed his decision after Tsemirmir was arrested and Brooks’s jewelry was discovered. Dallas County Attorney John Creuzot renewed his promise Thursday to prosecute Tsemimir for another murder charge over Brooks’s death. “That’s what we said we would do, and I think it’s appropriate,” Creuzot said. After that, the other 11 counts of murder against him in Dallas County are likely to be dropped. Chemirmir, a Kenyan immigrant living in the United States, did not testify. He claimed to be innocent and said The Dallas Morning News earlier this year he was convinced he would never see the inside of a Texas prison. He stroked the arm of one of his lawyers, Mark Watson, on Thursday before being taken back to prison. About 25 relatives representing about 12 families attended the trial and rejoiced at the verdict, sparking cheers after Chemirmir was removed from the courtroom. Creuzot, who helped prosecute the case, sniffed and burst into tears as families huddled and prayed. The jurors declined to comment as they left the courtroom. “They heard the evidence we’ve all been living with for years,” said Mary Jo Jennings, whose mother, Leah Corken, was killed at The Tradition-Prestonwood in August 2016. “I hope this is the first step in healing for all.” the families”. Chemirmir’s lawyers said they had already filed an appeal. “We did not believe that the state had enough evidence to overcome a reasonable doubt. “Obviously the jury disagreed,” said one of Chemir’s lawyers, Kobby Warren, after the trial ended. “We respect the verdict of the jury. I just do not agree with that. “ The new jury heard much of the same jury he heard in November. The case against Chemirmir is occasional, prosecutors said. But they believe all the evidence shows that Chemirmir had a motive for drowning older women and stealing their jewelry to sell for profit. “This idea that the occasional element equates to the weak element is a matter of movies and books … but it is not true,” Croso told jurors at the last debate. Prosecutor John Creuzot (left) and Prosecutor Glen Fitzmartin await a break during the final day of Billy Chemirmir’s retrial on Thursday, April 28, 2022, at the Frank Crowley Courts Building in Dallas. (Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer) Jurors watched videos from a Walmart on Coit and Arapaho streets on three different days, including the day of Harris’s death. That day, March 20, 2018, the video shows Chemirmir and Harris in the store at the same time. Defense attorneys challenged the evidence videos, noting that Harris arrived at Walmart almost 40 minutes before Chemirmir and that the video did not appear to show the two talking to each other. Chemirmir left the parking lot about two minutes before Harris, Warren said. Prosecutors sought to prove that Chemirmir had a motive for selecting victims at Walmart. Surveillance footage from another March day showed Chemirmir standing outside the same Walmart in dark trousers, a white shirt and a blue tie with a phone in his ear, watching the parking lot closely. But a cell phone analyst testified that Chemirmir’s phone showed no record of incoming or outgoing calls during his time wandering around Walmart, implying that he was pretending to be on the phone. Prosecutors also showed Walmart shots from January 30 – the day Mary Brooks was murdered. A silver Nissan Altima was parked next to Brooks’ car, but the driver never got off. The car, which looked like the one Chemirmir drove, left when Brooks did. The video never showed the license plate number or guide. Mary Brooks (Tom Fox / Staff Photographer) During the interrogation of the prosecutors, the mobile phone analyst testified that Chemirmir’s files placed him in the Walmart area at the same time. But defense attorneys have sought to challenge the credibility of cell phone towers and the extent of their coverage. The defense strategy was also similar to the last trial. Warren and his fellow defense attorney Phillip Hayes examined state witnesses more frequently, but as in the first trial, they did not make an opening statement or call witnesses. “In a criminal case, the most important thing the state has to do is prove to everyone that the person they are accusing was on the scene. They can not put him there,” Warren said in his final statement. referring to Harris’s house. Many for the two tests were the same. However, the prosecutors changed the order of the witnesses and did not show any evidence that was an important part of the last trial. The case presented this week was largely chronological, placing witnesses in a series that showed how the investigation evolved from the Bartel attack, the arrest of Tsemirmir, the discovery of Harris’s body, to the re-examination of Brooks’s death. . There were also subtle differences in the way the evidence was presented to jurors, such as when Attorney General Fitzmartin showed a photograph of Harris on a projector. The prosecutor then placed jewelry over Chemirmir’s photograph when he was arrested to show how it matched the items Harris was wearing in the photograph. “All these things are not really things. They are proof. “It’s proof of Billy Chemirmir’s guilt over the death of Lu Thi Harris,” Fitzmartin said in his closing remarks. Prosecutors did not show jurors videos from Chemirmir’s interview with Dallas and Plano police officers the night he was arrested. In this long video watched by the first jury, Chemirmir denied involvement in the deaths of either woman. He remained polite throughout the interview and seemed surprised that he had been charged with murder. He told police he thought he was being questioned on a pending warrant for public intoxication. Chemirmir (left) and defense attorney Phillip Hayes listen to private investigator Tonia Silva on Thursday. (Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer) “I just can not believe it,” said Chemirmir. “Where I come from, our culture, we do not even think about it. … I did not kill anyone.” Prosecutors may not have chosen to play the video in the retrial because it raised suspicions in jurors that Chemirmir was guilty, said Robbie McClung, a defense attorney and former prosecutor not involved in the case. Defense attorneys tried to accept the video, but to no avail. The rules that lawyers must follow prevent the defense from making a statement that is considered self-serving because it deprives the prosecution of its ability to examine the person. “I think that was probably the last fall for them. “I think that hung the jury,” McClung said. “It left some jurors wondering, ‘Could it not have been and we had the wrong person?’ “This was a strategic move,” he said. “The only way he would make his story is if he took a stand.” Prosecutor Glen Fitzmartin protests with the pillow used to drown Lu Thi Harris, 81, on Thursday. (Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer) Tsemirir will remain in Dallas County Jail until the unplanned trial of Brooks’s death. He will then likely be transferred to Collin County, where prosecutors also have five counts against Chemirmir for deaths there. Creuzot said he and Collin County Attorney Greg Willis had agreed that Dallas County would try its case first. After Creuzot said last year he would not seek the death penalty, lawmakers and the families of Chemirmir’s alleged victims called on Willis to do so. The Collin County DA office declined to comment on the cases.
