State seeks death penalty in fatal shootings

Aug. 14--The state is seeking the death penalty for a 67-year-old Harper man accused of killing his wife and granddaughter.

A grand jury recently indicted Joseph Knight on a capital murder charge, and a local prosecutor hasn't decided whether to waive the death penalty.

"Right now, the state is automatically seeking the death penalty, but it can be waived at some point," said Lucy Wilke, a prosecutor for the 216th Judicial District, which includes Kerr, Kendall and Gillespie counties. "It's too early to know whether we will waive it -- he just got indicated."

Wilke said deciding whether to waive the death penalty involves taking into account many factors, including a defendant's criminal history, health issues and the details of the offense.

According to the Gillespie County Sheriff's Office, Knight shot 59-year-old Karen Knight and 19-year-old Barbara Knight at his home in the 600 block of Josephine Drive in Harper about 8 p.m.May 9. According to news reports, Knight called law enforcement after the incident and turned himself in. He was being held in the Gillespie County jail on a $1 million bond as of Wednesday. No information on what the man's motive has been available.

Knight has a pretrial hearing on Oct. 16 in Gillespie County and a tentative trial date of Nov. 12.

Capital felonies -- those in which the death penalty can be sought -- are typically more expensive and highly scrutinized by appeals courts, Wilke said. Local officials have said attorneys fees alone can cost between $500,000 and $2 million in a capital case with no outside help.

But Kerr and Gillespie counties do have assistance in the form of an insurance-like program administered by the Regional Public Defender for Capital Cases. The program is funded by the Texas Indigent Defense Commission, which was established by the 77th Legislature to provide technical support to assist counties in improving their indigent defense systems. County commissioners can opt in or out of the program annually, but each year the price increases. Based on a formula involving population size, Kerr County agreed to kick in $34,415 in the next budget year. In 2017, the contribution will be $43,018, according to the interlocal agreement with Lubbock County, which acts on behalf of the regional public defender's office.

However, Wilke noted a recent law may increase the costs of prosecuting the cases, although it's not clear by how much. A file listing each piece of evidence in the case -- such as video, audio, witness statements and fingerprints must now be kept, whereas before the district attorney's office would simply hand over material to defense attorneys without documenting it, Wilke said.

The act, which took effect Jan. 1, requires prosecutors, lawyers and judges to clearly document evidence relevant to a defendant's case -- even if the accused admits guilt. The act was named after Michael Morton, imprisoned for 25 years after a prosecutor hid evidence that would have exonerated him.

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