Judge Mysteriously Halts Delacruz Death Penalty Trial

SAN ANGELO, TX -- Jurors in the capital murder trial of Isidro Delacruz were only in court for four minutes Wednesday before District Judge Ben Woodward sent them home until Monday.

District Judge Ben Woodward told jurors, “This case has been going smoothly. The attorneys have been working well together but we hit a bump in the road.”  Woodward told jurors and the court that they were dismissed until Monday morning at 9 a.m.

Woodward admonished jurors again not to talk about the case with anyone and not to read reports in the media about it either.  

Woodward did not give the jurors a reason why testimony in the punishment phase was suspended until Monday but he did say the delay may go beyond Monday.  

The same jurors convicted Delacruz of capital murder last Thursday in the death of 5-year-old Naiya Villegas on Sept. 2, 2014.  Delacruz was convicted of cutting the little girl’s throat causing her death.

Defense attorneys Will Boyles and Rob Crowie along with prosecuting attorney Allison Palmer met with Judge Woodward in chambers Wednesday morning.  Boyles and Cowie had said in open court earlier in the week that they had expert witnesses from out of town who couldn’t be here until Friday. District Attorney Palmer had told Judge Woodward she had planned to call as witnesses jailers from the Tom Green County Jail and to recall to the stand Tommy Williams who supervises all inmate communications at the jail.  

This is a developing story.  We will update it as new information becomes available.