Cold-case murder trial set to start

CLOVIS — A cold-case murder trial is set to begin Nov. 27.

William Hadix is accused in the September 2003 shooting death and robbery of Jessie Clyde "J.C." Tucker in Clovis.

In a docket call Monday morning, Judge Fred Van Soelen confirmed the dates of the five-day trial. It's scheduled to begin with jury selection Nov. 27 and last through Dec. 1.

Deputy District Attorney Brian Stover and defense attorney Gary Mitchell both attended the hearing telephonically, with Hadix present in custody.

"Barring a difficulty with the weather, I don't see any problem (with the trial starting Nov. 27)," Stover said Monday, referring to the plan for Dr. Ross Reichard to travel in from the east coast to be a pathologist witness in the trial.

Hadix, 69, was arrested in September 2015 in eastern Illinois after investigators said a key source came forward. An initial effort at the trial in April was canceled the morning of jury selection, when Van Soelen announced the lawyers were unable to work around the absence of Dr. Patricia McFeely, one of the pathologists who performed Tucker's autopsy in 2003.

In McFeely's absence, Dr. Ross Zummwalt of the state Office of the Medical Investigator was poised to testify then as a substitute pathologist. However, the ravages of time would have limited the extent of his testimony.

"The issue in this case is that (the murder) happened in 2003. To compound that, the OMI had a fire in one of the places where they stored their files (pertaining to the case)," Stover said Monday. "We have a copy of the file and we have photographs, but the court limited what Ross Zummwalt would be able to testify about as a substitute pathologist. Because of that limitation, we felt it would be better to go through the effort to get (one of the original pathologists)."

Reichard, now with the Mayo Clinic's Division of Anatomic Pathology, had participated in Tucker's autopsy with McFeely and as such can testify more fully in the trial, Stover said.

If weather or anything else prevents Reichard from coming to Clovis in time, Zummwalt would then be brought in to provide what testimony the state will allow.

Stover said "it would have to be something really unexpected or weird" to keep the trial from commencing at the end of the month.

Tucker's daughter Jackie Davidson said Monday she was "ready to get this thing going and get it behind us."

"It's been 14 years. It's a long time coming," she said. "I'm just looking forward to this so I can have some peace."

Mitchell did not respond to a request Monday for additional comment.