Tuesday's Internet Edition, September 07, 2010.
postponed
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The Cameron Herald - Scheduled to begin Monday in Bell County’s 246th District Court, the capital murder trial of Machell Lee Williams Day, 37, of Fairfield, was postponed until Aug. 25 on a technicality.
The jury had already been selected when the court learned that one of Day’s defense attorney’s did not meet requirements to serve as counsel to Day – who is the accused “go-between” in the Dec. 30, 1999 shooting death of Glenn H. “Rocky” Rummel of Fairfield. Authorities have called Rummel’s death a murder-for-hire.
“The rule around here is that two attorneys are appointed for a defendant in a capital murder trial,” Assistant Bell County District Attorney Nelson Barnes told The Cameron Herald. “Along with that, each of the two attorneys must have five or more years experience. In this instance, one of them did and the other didn’t, so the case is being postponed until August.” Defense attorney Buck Harris of Killeen brought on new a new co-counsel, Killeen attorney Frank Holdbrook.
Holdbrook and another Killeen attorney, Lisa Kubala, accompanied Day to court on Monday. However, after selecting a jury for the trial, Barnes said information came to light that indicated that Kubala did not have the necessary five-years experience as a practicing attorney – disqualifying her from acting as Day’s legal counsel.
The jury was dismissed shortly after a 1 p.m. hearing on the matter before 246th District Judge Martha Jane Trudo.
Several state’s witnesses – including Rummel’s mother, Irene Rummel of Cameron and several witnesses from Lincoln, Neb., where Day and the accused shooter in the case, Billy Joe Parrack, 36, were found living together under assumed names – were notified of the new trial date.
Day and Parrack lived briefly in Copperas Cove in the mid-1990s, opening an internet service that soon failed.
The state is not seeking the death penalty for Day. However, if found guilty of capital murder, Day would face a life prison sentence – with a 40-year minimum.
Monday’s postponement was the first in the trial of Day, who has been in the Bell County Jail since July 25,2002.
The postponement also means that Parrack, the accused shooter in the case, could be tried first. His trial is set to begin Aug. 4 in Bell County unless it is postponed again. Parrack’s trial has been postponed at least five times since his arrest in February 2001. Parrack is represented by attorney Steve Lee of Belton.
Charged with capital murder in the Dec. 30, 1999 shooting death of Rummel, Day was arrested July 25, 2002 in Austin after she was named in a sealed indictment returned by a Bell County grand jury a day earlier. The indictment remained sealed until Aug. 3, 2002.
The case has been termed a murder-for-hire since Bell County authorities filed their original affidavit seeking a warrant for the arrest of Parrack.
That affidavit described Day as “Parrack’s girlfriend and the best friend of Rummel’s wife, Denise.” Denise Rummel now lives in Thorndale with the couple’s three children.
Throughout the investigation, the biggest question surrounding the cases against Day and Parrack is – who hired the two to kill Rummel? To date, Authorities have not arrested, nor named a suspect that they believe is responsible for financing the murder scheme.
Rummel, a Cameron native and engineer for TXU in Fairfield, was killed Dec. 30, 1999, in a field in rural Bell County off of Sullivan Road east of Holland, between that community and Academy.
Rummel was in the process of relocating to Temple’s TXU office from Fairfield and had already begun his new job in Temple when he was killed. He had been staying with his mother in Cameron during the work week and traveling back home on weekends to be with his wife and children. His wife and children were to relocate with him to the Temple area after school let out for the summer.
At the time of his death, Rummel was scouting for property to purchase on which he could establish a home for his family. He left work early on Dec. 30, 1999 to investigate a property purchase and had planned to return to Fairfield to celebrate New Year’s with his wife and children.
Authorities have said the murder occurred in a narrow window of opportunity, between 30 and 45 minutes.
While looking over the property, Rummel used a cellular telephone to call his wife in Fairfield. Family members previously told The Herald that call was made between 3:15 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. During the conversation, told his wife he’d have to call her back in about 15 minutes and hung up his phone.
The return phone call never came and by 4 p.m., Bell County authorities were responding to an emergency phone call about a “man down” in rural Bell County. That man was Rummel.
Parrack became the prime suspect in the case in July 2000 when Bell County authorities issued a warrant for his arrest. Parrack and Day were arrested in January 2001 by a Special Weapons and Tactics Team (S.W.A.T.) in Lincoln, Neb. where they were living under assumed names.
Parrack, Day and a third man were taken into custody. Parrack was charged with the crime the next day but Day and the other man were released.
Subsequent to that arrest, Day was arrested on July 25, 2002 by the Austin Police Department as the result of a sealed indictment returned by a Bell County grand jury. The indictment against Day had remained sealed until Aug. 3, 2002. She has remained in the Bell County Jail since that time.
Scheduled to begin Monday in Bell County’s 246th District Court, the capital murder trial of Machell Lee Williams Day, 37, of Fairfield, was postponed until Aug. 25 on a technicality.
The jury had already been selected when the court learned that one of Day’s defense attorney’s did not meet requirements to serve as counsel to Day – who is the accused “go-between” in the Dec. 30, 1999 shooting death of Glenn H. “Rocky” Rummel of Fairfield. Authorities have called Rummel’s death a murder-for-hire.
“The rule around here is that two attorneys are appointed for a defendant in a capital murder trial,” Assistant Bell County District Attorney Nelson Barnes told The Cameron Herald. “Along with that, each of the two attorneys must have five or more years experience. In this instance, one of them did and the other didn’t, so the case is being postponed until August.” Defense attorney Buck Harris of Killeen brought on new a new co-counsel, Killeen attorney Frank Holdbrook.
Holdbrook and another Killeen attorney, Lisa Kubala, accompanied Day to court on Monday. However, after selecting a jury for the trial, Barnes said information came to light that indicated that Kubala did not have the necessary five-years experience as a practicing attorney – disqualifying her from acting as Day’s legal counsel.
The jury was dismissed shortly after a 1 p.m. hearing on the matter before 246th District Judge Martha Jane Trudo.
Several state’s witnesses – including Rummel’s mother, Irene Rummel of Cameron and several witnesses from Lincoln, Neb., where Day and the accused shooter in the case, Billy Joe Parrack, 36, were found living together under assumed names – were notified of the new trial date.
Day and Parrack lived briefly in Copperas Cove in the mid-1990s, opening an internet service that soon failed.
The state is not seeking the death penalty for Day. However, if found guilty of capital murder, Day would face a life prison sentence – with a 40-year minimum.
Monday’s postponement was the first in the trial of Day, who has been in the Bell County Jail since July 25,2002.
The postponement also means that Parrack, the accused shooter in the case, could be tried first. His trial is set to begin Aug. 4 in Bell County unless it is postponed again. Parrack’s trial has been postponed at least five times since his arrest in February 2001. Parrack is represented by attorney Steve Lee of Belton.
Charged with capital murder in the Dec. 30, 1999 shooting death of Rummel, Day was arrested July 25, 2002 in Austin after she was named in a sealed indictment returned by a Bell County grand jury a day earlier. The indictment remained sealed until Aug. 3, 2002.
The case has been termed a murder-for-hire since Bell County authorities filed their original affidavit seeking a warrant for the arrest of Parrack.
That affidavit described Day as “Parrack’s girlfriend and the best friend of Rummel’s wife, Denise.” Denise Rummel now lives in Thorndale with the couple’s three children.
Throughout the investigation, the biggest question surrounding the cases against Day and Parrack is – who hired the two to kill Rummel? To date, Authorities have not arrested, nor named a suspect that they believe is responsible for financing the murder scheme.
Rummel, a Cameron native and engineer for TXU in Fairfield, was killed Dec. 30, 1999, in a field in rural Bell County off of Sullivan Road east of Holland, between that community and Academy.
Rummel was in the process of relocating to Temple’s TXU office from Fairfield and had already begun his new job in Temple when he was killed. He had been staying with his mother in Cameron during the work week and traveling back home on weekends to be with his wife and children. His wife and children were to relocate with him to the Temple area after school let out for the summer.
At the time of his death, Rummel was scouting for property to purchase on which he could establish a home for his family. He left work early on Dec. 30, 1999 to investigate a property purchase and had planned to return to Fairfield to celebrate New Year’s with his wife and children.
Authorities have said the murder occurred in a narrow window of opportunity, between 30 and 45 minutes.
While looking over the property, Rummel used a cellular telephone to call his wife in Fairfield. Family members previously told The Herald that call was made between 3:15 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. During the conversation, told his wife he’d have to call her back in about 15 minutes and hung up his phone.
The return phone call never came and by 4 p.m., Bell County authorities were responding to an emergency phone call about a “man down” in rural Bell County. That man was Rummel.
Parrack became the prime suspect in the case in July 2000 when Bell County authorities issued a warrant for his arrest. Parrack and Day were arrested in January 2001 by a Special Weapons and Tactics Team (S.W.A.T.) in Lincoln, Neb. where they were living under assumed names.
Parrack, Day and a third man were taken into custody. Parrack was charged with the crime the next day but Day and the other man were released.
Subsequent to that arrest, Day was arrested on July 25, 2002 by the Austin Police Department as the result of a sealed indictment returned by a Bell County grand jury. The indictment against Day had remained sealed until Aug. 3, 2002. She has remained in the Bell County Jail since that time.