A jury in the 137th District Court continued a second day of deliberations Thursday for a 24-year-old man who admitted to the deadly shooting of a Texas Tech University police officer five years ago.
Hollis Reid Daniels faced life in prison without parole or the death penalty for the Oct. 9, 2017 shooting death of Officer Floyd East Jr. at the Texas Tech Police headquarters.
Before jurors heard testimony and opening statements on Feb. 6 Daniels entered an open plea of guilty to a count of capital murder of a police officer. However, since Daniels’ plea did not arise from a negotiation with the Lubbock County District Attorney, he faced the full range of punishment.
Before deliberating jurors heard about four hours of closing arguments from prosecutors and Daniels’ defense attorneys.
Jurors began deliberating about 2:40 p.m. Wednesday. District Judge John McClendon sent jurors home about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. They resumed deliberations Thursday morning.