State rests in Elders' capital murder trial

Apr. 22—The state called no additional witnesses Monday morning and rested in the capital murder trial involving Jerry Don Elders.

Elders, 40, is on trial in the 413th District Court accused of the April 14, 2021, kidnapping and shooting death of Burleson resident Robin Waddell.

If found guilty, Elders faces a penalty of death or life in prison without parole.

Elders that same day allegedly shot Burleson police officer Joshua Lott in the early morning hours after Lott conducted a traffic stop on Elders' vehicle for a defective brake light.

Elders then fled the scene, according to court records, with two passengers in his vehicle but pulled over on the side of John Jones Road a short time later after his vehicle caught fire.

Another passenger in the vehicle, Jeremy Brewer, last week testified that he was riding in the back seat of Elders' vehicle when Lott pulled them over.

"As the cop approached the car, [Elders] said he was going to shoot him," Brewer testified last week.

Once the vehicle caught fire, Brewer said he fled the scene on foot in the opposite direction from Elders and Elders' girlfriend who was also in the vehicle.

Elders, according to court records, made his way on foot to Waddell's property nearby. Upon being discovered and confronted by Waddell he allegedly kidnapped her and stole her truck apparently hoping to flee the area. As the pair passed through Joshua Waddell apparently grabbed the steering wheel of her stolen truck causing the truck to crash through the entrance gate of the Joshua Police Department's back parking lot. Elders at that point allegedly shot Waddell twice, once in the back and another shot that passed through her arm into her aorta.

Elders then fled the scene in Waddell's truck but was located and arrested in Gainesville later that same day.

Waddell traversed the short distance from where she was pushed or escaped from her truck to the back door of the Joshua Police Department. She collapsed near the back door and died shortly after.

Lott, transported to the hospital that same morning, recovered.

Elders's attorneys Bob Gill and Miles Brissette opened their defense on Monday by calling Joshua Police Detective Leigh Sosebee to the stand.

Sosebee, who was on patrol that morning, said she responded to the Joshua Police Department where she witnessed the damaged entrance gate in the middle of the parking lot, an ambulance and medical workers tending to Waddell near the back door of the station.

Sosebee said she found Waddell's drivers license in a black purse laying in the middle of the parking lot.

Sosebee, in answer to questions from Gill, said she put Waddell's purse in her police cruiser for safekeeping but did not take any pictures of the purse on the ground, perform any measurements as to the placement of the purse or place a marker where the purse had been.

Visiting Senior Justice Second Court of Appeals Judge Lee Gabriel last week admonished Sosebee for accessing media coverage of the trial despite Gabriel's strict instructions to Sosebee and other witnesses to refrain from doing so. Gabriel at that time told Sosebee that she may face fines or other punishment for ignoring her orders but has of yet imposed no punishment against Sosebee.

Johnson County Sheriff Office Crime Scene Investigator Kim Burris returned to the stand having already been called several times to testify last week. Burris on Monday discussed a digital recording security system at Waddell's house. Burris, who was subsequently called to Gainesville to the scene where Elders was arrested, testified that she didn't know if the sheriff's office managed to obtain any video footage from the system or even if the system was in working order at the time.

Burris also testified as to items of clothing worn by Waddell that day, which had blood and bullet hole damage.

Lori Waddell, Waddell's daughter-in-law, testified that she and her husband, Waddell's son, live in a house on the same property as Waddell's home.

Lori Waddell said that she encountered a woman on her property that morning when she went outside with her dogs.

The woman, Elder's girlfriend who was in the vehicle with him, appeared to be wet and dirty, Lori Waddell said.

Waddell said she told the woman that she couldn't be here and to leave the property. Waddell said that the girl told her she was trying to get back to County Road 731 upon which Waddell said she told her how to get there.

The girl left the property via the long driveway, Waddell said, but, upon reaching the road, went the opposite direction from what Waddell had told her to go.

Waddell said she only saw the woman that morning and did not see Elders.

Waddell also testified that the video security system in Robin Waddell's house did not work to the best of her knowledge.

Elders attorneys called Burleson resident Aaron Neal to the stand.

Neal testified that he encountered the girl walking down the road that same morning and that she was barefoot and covered in dirt at the time.

Neal said he drove the woman back to the Waddell property by which time police officers had arrived on scene.

Gill questioned Joshua Sgt. Brian O'Heren outside the presence of the jury regarding a report detailing an internal affairs investigation involving Lott.

The report, which came out about a year after Lott was shot, appears unrelated to the shooting incident or Elders' case.

The report, which Gill didn't attempt to place into evidence, raises questions of truthfulness or untruthfulness and/or deception by Lott.

Gabriel, still outside the jury's presence, told Gill that he could ask O'Heren his opinion of Lott's truthfulness or not but could not refer to or go into detail about the report itself as it had not been admitted into evidence.

O'Heren, asked outside the jury's presence, said the report, which he "checked the box on" reflected the opinion of the Burleson Police Department or at least those officers who investigated the matter as to findings of Lott's untruthfulness.

O'Heren said that others conducted the investigation and he signed the form. O'Heren said he had no opinion as to Lott's truthfulness or lack thereof as he had not conducted the investigation.

Assistant District Attorney Christy May objected to Gill's request that O'Heren be allowed to testify in front of the jury and Gabriel agreed.

Gabriel, at about 11:30 a.m., sent jurors, who had been sitting in the jury room for quite some time by that point, to lunch while Elders' attorneys attempted to track down the Burleson police officers who conducted the internal investigation against Lott.

Court reconvened about 1:30 p.m. at which time Brissette asked Burleson Lt. Wes Routson whether, in his opinion, Lott is a truthful or untruthful individual.

Routson answered, "Not truthful."

Routson, in reply to a question from prosecutors, said he formed that opinion some time after the events of April 14, 2021.

No testimony as to the content of the Burleson Police Department's investigation of Lott was offered into evidence.

With that, Elders' attorneys rested.

Assistant District Attorney Stephanie Miller then called Sgt. Charles Layland of the Joshua ISD Police Department as a rebuttal witness.

Layland, a detective with the Johnson County Sheriff's Office at the time of Waddell's murder, testified that the video surveillance security system in her home was not plugged in and captured no footage on the day of her kidnapping.

Brissette countered that the system was clearly plugged in from pictures Burris took at the scene that same day.

Layland said he arrived on scene before Burris and does not recall whether he plugged the system in or, if not him, who did.

When asked why the system was not collected into evidence, Layland said he left the scene before evidence was collected.

With that both sides closed.

Court is scheduled to reconvene Thursday morning at which time both sides will present closing arguments and jurors will begin deliberating Elders' guilt or innocence.

Should they find Elders guilty, the punishment phase of his trial will follow.

Gabriel told jurors that, while it has yet to be decided, they may be sequestered for their deliberation duration.