Only 7 spectators to be allowed in death penalty murder trial for Fort Worth shooting
A man accused in a deadly Fort Worth home invasion robbery is expected to defend himself in a capital murder trial scheduled to begin with testimony on Thursday.
Police say James Earnest Floyd, 53, of Terrell, got inside the home of John and Diane Porter on March 28, 2017, and shot them both.
John Porter, 69, died more than a week later on April 6, after Floyd beat him with a metal table stand and then shot him in the head, according to a search warrant affidavit written by Fort Worth Detective J. Cedillo.
Due to the coronvirus pandemic and to allow for social distancing, officials will allow only seven spectators inside the courtroom during the trial. This will be the first capital murder trial held in Tarrant County since the pandemic suspended in-person trials in March.
Floyd could face the death penalty if convicted.
The trial, originally scheduled to start Wednesday, was unexpectedly delayed for a day due to technical issues, according to a court official.
Porter’s wife, Diane, was shot in the stomach but recovered. Diane Porter later identified Floyd as the suspect as she was recovering at John Peter Smith Hospital and said she watched him walk through her house and look inside several rooms, the affidavit said.
On the morning of the incident, Floyd, who was then 50, had been at the nearby home of a man he met online, with whom he had been having a sexual relationship for several months, according to police.
As she lay bleeding on the floor of her home in the 10200 block of Cool Spring Drive, Diane Porter said, Floyd tried to tie her hands with an alarm clock power cord, demanded her bank card and PIN number, and shot at her head.
Floyd then left the couple’s home in their 2008 Kia Sorento SUV, according to the affidavit.
A short time later detectives learned that Floyd tried to use the Porters’ bank card at an ATM in Terrell, east of Dallas. Investigators also found Floyd’s black Ford Focus with a flat tire less than a mile from the Porters’ home.
Fort Worth fugitive officers and Terrell police arrested Floyd in Terrell several hours later on a kidnapping warrant out of Dallas. The Porters’ Kia Sorento was found at an apartment complex in Terrell about two miles away, the affidavit said.
Fort Worth detectives tried to interview Floyd later that night, but stopped questioning him after he requested an attorney soon after the interview started, the affidavit said.
A man Floyd was seeing in the Porters’ neighborhood told police Floyd was at his home the day before the attack. Floyd returned and knocked on his door the next morning, asking to use his cellphone, the man said.
In the Dallas case, Floyd is accused of kidnapping a victim at gunpoint in the 1500 block of East Louisiana, in south Dallas, about 3 p.m. March 26, 2017. Floyd then drove the victim to Terrell and released him, police said. The victim told detectives that he knew Floyd.
This story includes information from Star-Telegram archives.
This story was originally published July 28, 2020 at 12:23 PM.
