Jurors spent an hour Wednesday listening intently to the testimony of Margaret Reeves, whose son is accused of murdering her husband three years ago.
Reeves testified on behalf of her youngest son, Michael Shults, but insisted she would not lie for him.
Assistant Ector County District Attorneys Scott Turner and Rikki Earnest are attempting to convince jurors Shults knowingly and intentionally killed Roy Eugene Reeves, 57, on Oct. 28, 2019. Defense attorney Scott Layh is arguing Shults stabbed Reeves 17 times while defending himself and his mother from an abusive alcoholic.
A protective order Margaret Reeves had taken out against her estranged husband had just lapsed and the incident took place shortly after Roy Eugene Reeves showed up at the house he once shared with her on North Lincoln Avenue, Layh told jurors.
Throughout the trial, prosecutors have been referring to the deceased man as “Eugene.” All of the defense witnesses referred to him as “Roy” Wednesday.
A clearly nervous and emotional Reeves told jurors she met her husband through his mother while working at Dunlap’s Department store and they lived together four years before marrying in 2006. They had a good marriage and their blended family got along well with each other until her husband began to drink in 2014 following the loss of his daughter.
His drinking led to the loss of his job, a wrecked truck and an order to pay back $7,000 in unemployment he wasn’t entitled to, Reeves said.
It also led to abuse, she testified.
“He started pushing and shoving, mostly at first,” Reeves said.
The abuse got progressively worse and she decided to file for divorce in September 2019 after her husband was arrested for domestic violence, Reeves said.
Reeves testified she obtained an order of protection from her husband and even though he wasn’t allowed to live in the home they shared on North Lincoln Avenue, she moved out of the home because she remained frightened of him. However, her son, Michael, continued to live in a home on the same property and she continued to give him rides to and from work.
On Oct. 28, 2019, Reeves said she and her son arrived at the home on Lincoln to find cameras and motion detectors had been ripped off both of the homes. Strongly believing her husband had done the damage and would soon return, she called her daughter, Tiffany, and asked her to call 911 while her son went inside.
Reeves told jurors she was starting to back up her SUV to leave when she realized her husband had pulled in and was blocking her with his truck. She got out of her car and asked him why he was there, believing the protective order was still in place and that he’d get into trouble, she said.
He grabbed her upper arms, Reeves sobbed.
“His eyes were all black and he had blue eyes,” Reeves cried. “I knew something was wrong. I couldn’t see the blue in his eyes.”
Her husband maneuvered her between the two vehicles and her son confronted him, demanding she be set free, Reeves said.
Her husband then grabbed her by the waist and trapped her against the truck, she said.
“Roy said ‘I’ve been waiting for you to come out to do this,’” Reeves said, saying she didn’t know what he meant.
Somehow, she managed to break free and she ran screaming to neighbors to call 911, she said.
When she came back across the street, her husband was on the ground, apparently not breathing, Reeves said.
She testified she lifted his shirt to check to see if he was breathing and she saw all of the stab wounds.
Reeves told Layh that despite what prosecutors have insinuated and despite what it looks like on the neighbor’s surveillance videos, she did not pick anything up off the ground or get anything out of her husband’s truck.
Although she didn’t say much to police the night of the incident, Reeves said she later told a detective her husband had left a threatening voicemail where she was staying.
Asked how she feels about her husband now, Reeves sobbed and said “I still love him.”
During his cross-examination of her, Turner pointed out that much of what Reeves testified she told authorities doesn’t exist on body cam or other police recordings. Jurors have also been told there are no recordings of Roy Reeves grabbing Margaret Reeves that night.
Speaking specifically about the black eyes comment, Reeves was adamant she did relay that information to officers.
“I told all of the police who were pointing their guns at me,” she insisted.
She and Turner then got into a long back-and-forth about whether she told officers her husband had grabbed her that night. At first, Reeves insisted she did. Then she said maybe she didn’t, before saying “I told everybody who asked me out there and they didn’t ask me.”
The trial is being presided over by retired Ector County District Court Judge Tryon Lewis.
