Texas Man Faces Another Murder Trial 4 Years After Mistrial
GEORGETOWN (AP) — A second capital murder trial is scheduled to begin for a Central Texas man whose case ended in a mistrial four years ago and involved a prosecutor sent to jail for violating a gag order.
The Austin American-Statesman reports the trial of 38-year-old Crispin Harmel is scheduled to begin this week in the 2009 death of 27-year-old Jessika Kalaher in Cedar Park.
Harmel is accused of abducting Kalaher from a Wal-Mart store and taking her to a park where he raped and strangled her.
A mistrial was declared in 2014 over a dispute involving software that prosecutors used to place time stamps on Wal-Mart surveillance video.
The Williamson County district attorney at the time, Jana Duty, was briefly jailed a year later for violating a gag order imposed by a judge.