By Tommy Witherspoon

Tribune-Herald staff writer

Attorneys for convicted triple murderer Billie Wayne Coble said Thursday that McLennan County prosecutors have a possible conflict of interest in Coble’s punishment retrial because a victim of his crime and a potential witness is now an assistant district attorney.

Russ Hunt Jr. and Alex Calhoun, who represent Coble in his retrial, have not filed a motion seeking recusal of District Attorney John Segrest’s office but said they had “concerns” about J.R. Vicha’s employment as a Segrest assistant.

Judge Matt Johnson of Waco’s 54th State District Court conducted a brief pretrial hearing in Coble’s case Thursday, making it clear that he intends to start jury selection Aug. 1, when 350 potential jurors have been summoned to fill out a 12-page questionnaire. Individual questioning of potential jurors, which occurs only in cases in which the death penalty is being sought, will begin Aug. 4.

While Hunt said he and Calhoun also are considering seeking a change of venue for the trial, the judge also made it clear that they missed the June 26 deadline for filing pretrial motions and told them that any additional motions need to be filed as quickly as possible.

Coble, 59, was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in 1990 in Waco in the August 1989 shooting deaths of his estranged wife’s parents, Robert and Zelda Vicha, and her brother, Waco police Sgt. Bobby Vicha, at their Axtell homes.

Bobby Vicha was J.R. Vicha’s father. Coble tied up J.R. Vicha, who was 11 at the time, and his cousins before he kidnapped his wife, Karen Vicha Coble, after killing her parents and brother.

Segrest said his office has built a “Chinese wall” — a barrier within the organization — between Vicha and his office during its preparation for Coble’s retrial. Segrest said there is no conflict of interest for his office to retry Coble.

“There has been no motion presented, so there is really not an issue to address,” Segrest said.

Hunt said he is “very concerned” about the connection but conceded that there is no legal authority to force a recusal in this case.

J.R. Vicha, who attended Coble’s hearing, declined to comment about the issue Thursday.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals left Coble’s capital murder conviction intact but reversed the punishment in his case.

That sent the case back for a new punishment trial in which prosecutors again will seek the death penalty.

The New Orleans-based court ruled that the two special issues that Coble’s McLennan County jury had to answer for the death penalty to be assessed — whether he committed murder deliberately and if he constitutes a continuing threat to society — were unconstitutional as applied to him.

At his retrial, a third special issue will be added, which will ask jurors whether sufficient mitigating factors exist that make a life prison term more appropriate than a death sentence.

Coble seems to be setting up a theme for his retrial. At the past two pretrial hearings when the judge asked if he is the same Billie Wayne Coble charged in the case, Coble has answered, “No, sir, I’m much older and wiser, thanks to the grace of God.”

That could represent his opening salvo in an attempt to convince jurors that he no longer is a danger after spending 18 years on death row.

twitherspoon@wacotrib.com

757-5737