Several potential jurors blushed with embarrassment and apologized to singer/songwriter Billy Joe Shaver on Tuesday.

It seems that only a handful of the 45 members of the jury panel in Shaver’s aggravated assault trial had ever heard of the 70-year-old country troubadour from Waco.

While Shaver smiled and nodded to potential jurors, his four-attorney defense team and prosecutors who were trying to select an impartial jury thought that was not necessarily a bad thing.

Billy Joe Shaver, who was 15 minutes late to court Tuesday, carries his tie as he walks into the McLennan County Courthouse.
Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald

Both sides invested quite a bit of time asking if prospective jurors could treat Shaver, known as the “Honky Tonk Hero,” like any other criminal defendant.

Opening statements from prosecutors Mark Parker and Beth Toben and defense attorney Dick DeGuerin are set to begin at 8:30 a.m. today in Waco’s 54th State District Court.

The attorneys spent all day Tuesday selecting a jury of eight men and four women to hear the second-degree felony case.

Shaver, whose songs have been recorded by Waylon Jennings, Elvis Presley and many others, is on trial in the March 31, 2007, shooting of Billy Bryant Coker outside Papa Joe’s Saloon just north of Lorena.

After the jury was seated, Shaver, when asked by Judge Matt Johnson how he would plead, said: “Your honor, I’m not guilty. I’m not guilty.”

Shaver also is charged in the same incident with unlawfully carrying a handgun by a license holder on licensed premises, a third-degree felony.

However, before jury selection started, the judge granted a defense motion to sever the gun charge from the trial, so Shaver will face only the aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charge this week.

DeGuerin told potential jurors that Shaver acted in self-defense after the men argued in the bar and went outside.

He said Coker, a TXU employee, pulled a knife before Shaver shot him in the cheek, adding that Shaver “truly believed his life was in danger.”

Shaver reportedly asked Coker, “Where do you want it?” before he fired, although Shaver disputes accounts by Coker and witnesses and denies that he asked that.

Self-defense laws

Both sides also spent a lot of time discussing self-defense laws with the panel. Parker explained that under the law, a person is justified in using force when he reasonably believes it is immediately necessary to protect himself or others against the use of force or threat of force against him.

Country singer Billy Joe Shaver puts on his tie Tuesday while he waits for jury selection to begin in his aggravated assault trial.
Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald

Verbal provocation alone is not enough, and voluntary intoxication is not a defense, Parker told jurors.

DeGuerin, of Houston, who represents former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay and has represented U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Branch Davidian leader David Koresh, told jurors that he, Houston attorneys Matt Hennessy and Catherine Baen and Flower Mound attorney Robert Hirschhorn are representing Shaver for free.

“I’m here because I want to be here,” DeGuerin said. “We all are. I didn’t want the jury to get the wrong impression that Billy Joe Shaver needs all these high-powered lawyers.”

The judge banned Coker’s mother, Dee Coker, from the courthouse for the duration of the trial after it was reported Tuesday afternoon that she approached potential jury members during a break and was talking to them.

Court officials expect the trial to last through the week.

If convicted, Shaver faces up to 20 years in prison. He is eligible for probation.

twitherspoon@wacotrib.com

757-5737

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