Heights murder trial: Defense questions credibility of witnesses and law enforcement investigation

BELTON – A Harker Heights Police Department detective investigating a 2022 murder at a city supermarket testified during a trial this week that digital information from several devices – including the deceased person's smartwatch and a key witness' cellphone – was not downloaded during the department's investigation.

A jury of nine men and four women, including an alternate, was selected Monday to decide the murder case against Roger Lee Sanders Jr.

Sanders, 33, was charged in the death of Allen Lee Jones on December 7, 2022. He has pleaded not guilty.

So far, jurors have heard from more than a dozen people on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday as they present the state's case.

According to earlier testimony in the trial, the defendant and Jones appeared to be calmly discussing a sports bet before Jones suddenly struck. Surveillance video from the Harker Heights store shows the two men briefly grappling before Sanders fires a handgun at Jones, who falls to the ground near the gas pumps. Sanders drove off in a vehicle seconds after the shooting and was arrested the next day at his home in Copperas Cove.

He was booked into the Bell County Jail on October 6, 2022, and was ordered held on $300,000 bail Thursday.

The trial is expected to continue Friday in the 264th District Court with Judge Paul LePak presiding.

POLICE STATEMENTS

Detective Yesmarie Burgos-Figueroa was one of the police officers called to the Cefco in the 900 block of Indian Trail on the evening of October 5, 2022. There she found 37-year-old Jones already dead. He had been shot four times with a 9mm pistol.

Burgos-Figueroa testified on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday and was subsequently cross-examined by defense attorney Susan Criss.

“Why did the police remove Jones’ Apple Watch from his wrist that night?” Criss asked.

“Sometimes such watches are connected to a person’s phone so that data such as text messages can be displayed,” Burgos-Figueroa said.

The lawyer asked if any data was downloaded from the watch and the detective said no.

“Isn’t this kind of information important in a murder case?” asked Criss.

“That could be, yes,” said Burgos-Figueroa.

According to a statement Thursday, the department also did not collect data from Victor Heard, a friend of Jones who witnessed the shooting.

Sanders' defense attorney questioned whether police could prove the incident.

“Can you present to the jury any evidence that shows Roger Sanders was not afraid for his life?” Criss asked.

“The video,” Burgos-Figueroa said, adding that Sanders never expressed to her that the shooting was self-defense.

“Is there any evidence of what was going on in his head?” asked Criss.

“I have no idea what was going on in his head,” Burgos-Figueroa said.

When Assistant District Attorney Fred Burns questioned the detective about Criss, he picked up on words that were not said during Sanders' police interview, which took place eight hours after the shooting.

“Did Roger Sanders tell you that he feared for his life…that he fired in self-defense…that he thought Allen had a gun…that he thought Allen was going to beat him to death…anything like that?” Burns asked during a series of questions to which the detective answered “no” each time.

Also Thursday, the jury heard from the medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Jones' body. He said Jones was shot once in the chest, once in the back, once in the buttocks and once in the thigh. Any of the gunshot wounds to Jones' torso would have been fatal.

“These were devastating, severe injuries, especially because both lungs and an artery were hit,” said Dr. Travis Danielson of the Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office.