Initial Hacker trial in May

The long-awaited first capital murder trials of four persons accused of killing Rockdale resident Emily Hacker has been delayed again.

The trial of Killeen resident Nicole Jones was to have started Monday, Jan. 14, in 20th District Court, but Prosecutor Bill Torrey said the trial date is now May 20.

“I believe it will finally be tried then,” Torrey told The Reporter.

DELAYS—It’s the fourth postponement in the initial trial of the four persons who are charged with the Jan. 19, 2017, death of the 34-year-old woman.

Torrey said the first trial will be Jones’, described by a co-defendant in the police affidavits as the initiator of the fatal attack.

Jones, Edward Barry of Caldwell, Ashley Yvonne Wesson-Zawadzke and John Stewart of Caldwell were charged with capital murder.

They were, respectively, 29, 30, 24 and 37 at the times of their arrests in January, 2017.

SEQUENCE—Torrey said Barry’s will be the next trial after Jones.

He said the adjudications of Wesson-Zawadzke and Stewart would be pending the conclusions of the Jones and Barry trials.

Torrey said the most recent delay came about after 17 volumes of jail mail from the defendants were made available to their attorney as well as an estimated 100 hours of the defendants’ telephone conversations.

“They are warned their communications are not private,” Torrey said.

Torrey said Jones’s attorney requested more time and the DA agreed to a continuance.

HISTORY—The initial trial was originally set for Sept. 9, 2017. That was moved to March 19, 2018, with Torrey citing unanalyzed evidence at DPS lab.

But in January, 2018, by mutual consent, the trial was moved to August.

On June 27, defense attorneys went to court and obtained a re-set until January, 2019.

All four defendants remain incarcerated in various Central Texas facilities.

DETAILS—Affidavits in the case were unsealed after four capital murder indictments were returned on Feb. 24, 2017.

The affidavit states one of the co-defendants described the murder to investigators thusly:

“...Jones took the victim in the back room or basement of the residence at 538 Coulter in Rockdale. After a short time, Jones yelled for assistance. The three co-defendants came to Jones’ assistance.

“Jones was sitting on the victim’s chest and was holding victim’s head by a handful of hair and hitting victim with anything Jones could grab in her other hand. A ratchet wrench was described as being used to inflict the fatal blow as well as other hand tools.”

The affidavit also states Barry struck the victim in the face and head with his elbows and Wesson-Zawadzke furnished a roll of duct tape. The duct tape was wrapped around the victim’s mouth and head and her wrists were bound by some type of cord.

It continues, stating the victim was placed into a large white bag with a zipper, by Barry and Stewart. Wesson-Zawadzke helped Jones remove Jones’ bloody clothes and clean her up, as Jones’s hands were hurt and swollen.