It’s been nearly three years ago since he witnessed his neighbor die right in front of him and the memories still haunt him, Daniel Saucedo testified Tuesday.
Tuesday was the second day in Michael Shults’ trial in the 161st Ector County District Court.
Assistant Ector County District Attorneys Scott Turner and Rikki Earnest are attempting to convince jurors Shults knowingly and intentionally killed his stepfather, 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 Eugene Reeves showed up at the house he once shared with her on North Lincoln Avenue, Layh told jurors.
On Tuesday, jurors heard from Saucedo, Texas Department of Public Safety Cpl. Charles Henry, OPD Officer Bill McCloud, OPD Detective Donnie Rocha and a couple of crime scene technicians.
Saucedo, an oi field worker, told jurors he’s lived on North Lincoln Avenue for about 19 years. He didn’t really know Reeves, but he did bring him a six-pack of beer twice over the years after Reeves took it upon himself to mow his lawn, Saucedo said.
On Oct. 28, 2019, Saucedo said he was getting ready to take his son to the ballfield when his dog began barking in an unusual way. After checking out his backyard, Saucedo said he made his way to the front of the house where he began to hear two voices yelling. When he looked out his curtains, he saw Reeves at his house across the street, walking toward the tailgate of Reeves’ Toyota pickup. Almost immediately, Saucedo said he saw Shults join Reeves behind the truck.
“That’s where I saw Mr. Michael, what it looked like to me, punching him in the chest,” Saucedo said.
Reeves reacted by swinging wildly at Shults before collapsing, he said.
Saucedo testified he then saw Shults retreat to his home, which sat behind the Reeves’ house, Saucedo said.
Saucedo told jurors he yelled to his wife to call 911 and he ran across the street to help Reeves, whom he quickly discovered had been stabbed multiple times.
“I was trying to keep him awake, I was trying to keep him talking to me and moving,” Saucedo said.
The details of that day have never left him, he testified.
“Come October it hits me like a freight train,” Saucedo said. “I’ve never seen anything happen like that in front of my eyes.”
During cross-examination from Layh, Saucedo acknowledged he was unaware of many of the details jurors heard about Monday. He did not know that it’s alleged Reeves purposely prevented his estranged wife from leaving the property by blocking her SUV in with his Toyota, that he’d assaulted her or that she’d called 911 prior to the stabbing.
Jurors spent much of Tuesday watching the body cam footage of Henry and McCloud and surveillance footage captured by motion detecting cameras set up at the home directly across the street from the Reeves’ home.
The cameras did not pick up Reeves arriving at the house around 7 p.m. that day.
They began recording when a clearly distraught Margaret Reeves ran across the street from her home screaming for neighbors to call 911. The cameras show, from various angles and at a distance, Reeves sitting on his tailgate, someone walking away and Reeves collapsing to the ground. They also show Margaret Reeves walking back from her neighbor’s, picking something up off the ground near Reeves’ prone body and removing items from his pickup truck.
On the officers’ body cams, Margaret Reeves is heard berating the officers, saying she’s called the authorities multiple times before and they could’ve prevented the stabbing.
She tells the officers her son is in his house and, apparently alarmed at the fact they’ve drawn their weapons, repeatedly tells them he’s not going to hurt them. Shults is seen coming out of his house and being taken into custody at gunpoint without incident after telling the officers the knife is in his pocket.
While the officers try to get basic information from Margaret Reeves, such as people’s names and dates of birth, she alternates between trying to tell her story and trying to get her car keys from her son’s house. She also spends a few minutes on the phone telling someone about the stabbing, telling them that her estranged husband isn’t breathing as paramedics work to save him in the background.
“He threatened us today, both of us,” she said at one point.
“My husband, he’s torturing me. I had to move out of my house,” she said moments later, explaining Reeves is “an alcoholic, bad.”
Margaret Reeves told the officers, “I’ve been trying and trying and trying to get (the protective order) extended. For two years I’ve been waiting on lawyers…everything’s got to be done on computers and I don’t know how.”
Jurors also saw photos of Shults taken within hours of the incident. He had scratches on his head, but no wounds on his hands or arms.
Rocha testified someone would have to get up close in order to stab someone 17 times, but acknowledged under cross-examination, they could easily stab someone while in a headlock.
The trial is being presided over by retired Ector County District Court Judge Tryon Lewis.
