An Odessa defense attorney told jurors during opening statements in a murder trial Monday that the case they’ll be hearing is “about as clear a cut a case” of self-defense as he’s ever seen.
Michael Shults, 40, is accused of stabbing Roy “Eugene” Reeves 17 times on Oct. 28, 2019. Reeves, a father of six and grandfather of nine, was in the process of divorcing Shults’ mother, Margaret, at the time.
Defense attorney Scott Layh described Reeves as an abusive alcoholic who had had several run-ins with police over his treatment of his wife. Assistant Ector County Attorney Scott Turner said Reeves was a “happy drunk.”
Turner told jurors that in October 2019 the Reeves were in the process of going through a divorce and were arguing a great deal over dividing their dogs and property. The Reeves lived in a house in the 1900 block of North Lincoln Avenue and Shults lived in a home to the rear of the property.
Shortly before his death, Eugene Reeves returned home after a protective order taken out by his estranged wife lapsed, saw Shults had placed a lot of cameras around the property and he removed them, Turner said. On the evening of the slaying, he went to the home after receiving a text from Shults.
Throughout the trial, Turner told jurors they’ll hear from a neighbor who saw Shults jabbing at Reeves and Reeves swinging wildly back before staggering toward his truck and collapsing. The witness thought Shults was punching Reeves, but didn’t realize he was actually holding a three-inch long dull, serrated knife, the prosecutor said.
Jurors will also hear from a jail inmate who will testify Shults planned the murder, Turner said. The inmate will testify Shults told him he purposely called Reeves a vulgar name, knowing Reeves would react and he’d be able to claim self-defense.
Layh told jurors there was never such a conversation between Shults and the inmate.
“None of that is true,” Layh said.
The defense attorney told jurors they’ll hear about the multiple visits the police made to the Reeves home because of domestic violence. He blamed a family court attorney for allowing the protective order to lapse.
Jurors will see on home surveillance videos that on the night in question, Reeves pulled into the home’s driveway haphazardly, preventing a scared Margaret Reeves from being able to leave, Layh said. They’ll hear that Eugene Reeves’ blood alcohol level was 0.283, which is more than three times the legal limit to drive.
They’ll also learn that Reeves jumped out of his truck, shook his estranged wife and had her pinned against the truck when his client jumped in to help her, Layh said.
Had his client planned to murder Reeves, Layh said he would’ve used the shotgun he had by his front door. Instead, he used a knife he had on him for work.
In the days prior to Reeves’ death, Reeves had made multiple threats to his estranged wife, Shults and other family members, the defense attorney said.
“This was absolutely in defense of his mom and of himself,” Layh said.
The trial is being presided over by retired Ector County District Court Judge Tryon Lewis in the 161st District Court.
Just prior to opening statements, Lewis had to excuse a juror because she learned over the lunch break one of her children had tested positive for COVID-19. Fearing she may, too, get COVID and spread it to her fellow jurors, the judge replaced her with an alternate. The judge and attorneys came close to having to excuse a second juror a short time later when she revealed she recognized one of the witnesses. They decided to keep her onboard when she insisted she could remain unbiased.
