LIT UPDATE 2024
Waco attorney charged in murder-for-hire plot has been out-of-jail for over 4 years as he faces second trial
Jun. 2, 2024
Judge rejects Sutton’s constitutional challenge in murder-for-hire case
Apr. 8, 2024
WACO, Texas (KWTX) – A visiting judge on Friday denied a constitutional challenge filed by former Waco attorney Seth Sutton in his murder-for-hire case.
Visiting Judge Roy Sparkman rejected Sutton’s application for writ of habeas corpus which Sutton filed to challenge the manner in which the Attorney General’s Office was appointed to prosecute his case.
Sutton is going to appeal the decision and court officials hope to get an expedited appeal from Waco’s 10th court of appeals.
Sparkman also set a July 19 pretrial hearing to consider other motions Sutton has filed, including an attempt to quash the indictment against him.
The judge presiding over former Waco attorney Seth Sutton’s murder-for-hire case has postponed Sutton’s retrial after his new attorney filed constitutional challenges to the solicitation charge and a host of other motions.
It’s the second trial postponement Visiting Judge Roy Sparkman has granted Sutton since San Antonio attorney Don Flanary signed on to represent him, replacing Sutton’s first attorney, Clint Broden, of Dallas.
Sutton, 49, who has since moved to Houston, is charged with trying to hire an undercover Waco police officer who infiltrated Sutton’s Red Mouse Cult motorcycle club to kill attorney Marcus Beaudin, who is under indictment on allegations he sexually abused a Sutton family member when she was 14.
Sutton’s first trial in August ended in a hung jury and a mistrial after the jury deadlocked 10-2 in favor of finding Sutton guilty.
Sparkman, with agreement from both sides, reset Sutton’s retrial, which had been set to begin April 15, for Aug. 19 after Flanary’s bevy of motions made it clear that no matter how he ruled on Sutton’s application for writ of habeas corpus, the side that did not prevail likely will appeal his decision to Waco’s 10th Court of Appeals. The trial delay was designed to allow time for an appeal.
Matthew Shawhan and Lindsey Prentice from the Texas Attorney General’s Office are handling the prosecution of the case after former District Attorney Barry Johnson and current DA Josh Tetens both recused their offices.
Among the legal issues contained in Flanary’s writ application is an allegation that the AG’s office, part of the state executive branch, cannot legally assume the task of district attorneys, who are part of the judicial branch, because it violates the separation of powers limitation in the Texas Constitution.
The writ application alleges the prosecution of Sutton is improper because of the manner in which the assistant attorney generals were appointed and asks that the indictment against him be thrown out.
“The citizen of McLennan County elected judicial officials – District Attorney Barry Johnson to prosecute criminal cases and Judge (Thomas) West to appoint attorney pro tems to prosecute in the district attorney’s absence,” the writ application alleges. “They did not elect Attorney General Ken Paxton or his employees to do so, and the Texas Constitution forbids it.”
Sparkman, appointed to hear the case after West also recused himself, has set a hearing for Friday to consider Sutton’s writ application.
The Waco police undercover officer testified at Sutton’s first trial he infiltrated Sutton’s “mom-and-pop[” motorcycle club because he thought it would be a good chance to gather intelligence on criminal street gangs, such as the Bandidos. He said Sutton’s former group was not considered a criminal street gang.
Sutton represented members of the Bandidos motorcycle group after the deadly Twin Peaks shootout in Waco in 2015 and in unrelated cases afterward.
The officer testified that Sutton initiated the plan to kill Beaudin and that Sutton concocted at least three scenarios in which Beaudin could be killed.
The plots involved Beaudin’s ex-wife, Chelsea Tijerina, the officer testified. Tijerina, indicted as Sutton’s co-defendant, was killed in a motorcycle accident in Williamson County.
The detective recorded several conversations with Sutton, including one in which Sutton gave him $300 to buy an untraceable gun and discussed potential alibis for them.
Broden charged that the detective as an overzealous, rogue officer who defied his supervisors’ orders to shut down the undercover investigation and who improperly entrapped Sutton by fanning his rage over the girl’s alleged abuse.
Another of Flanary’s motions, filed last week, is headed “Motion to dismiss for entrapment or in the alternative outrageous government conduct.”
“(The detective’s) conduct inexcusably induced a grieving (Sutton), who would not otherwise be predisposed to commit any sort of criminal offense, to indulge in the idea of violent revenge for an unforgivable crime perpetrated against his (family member),” the motion alleges. “A police officer should know better.”
“And under the circumstances, there can be no more insidious form of unethical inducement than the persuasive force of a military veteran suggesting that if it was his (family member) he would kill the child’s abuser,” according to the motion.
KWTX does not identify victims of alleged sexual abuse and is not naming the Waco police detective because he serves in an undercover capacity.
“In this case, Sutton has urged the court to consider the evidence for the purpose of this motion in the light most favorable to the prosecution; namely, that the did solicit a criminal act,” the motion states. “But assuming the court concludes that Sutton cannot claim entrapment because he did not actually commit the offense, the evidence would support the conclusion that Sutton was merely thinking about committing a crime, which would permit him to raise outrageous governmental conduct.”
The assistant attorneys general sought another indictment against Sutton in February that charges him with criminal solicitation, a first-degree felony, and criminal conspiracy, a second-degree felony.
Another motion asks Sparkman to quash the indictment on allegations that it is overly vague and fails to give proper notice about the accusations against Sutton. Included with the motion is a letter from Sabino Martinez Jr., a polygraph examiner from Verdicus in San Antonio, concerning a lie-detector test he administered to Sutton on March 14.
The report indicates that Sutton was truthful when asked if between May 14, 2020, and May 22, 2020, he requested, induced or attempted to induce the officer to commit capital murder with intent that a murder would actually occur.
Sutton answered the questions “no,” according to the exhibit.
The results of polygraph exams are not admissible in court.
WACO, Texas (KWTX) – A visiting judge granted a defense motion to postpone the murder-for-hire retrial of former Waco attorney Seth Sutton on Wednesday but told Sutton’s attorney he is not inclined to grant another continuance in the case.
Visiting Judge Roy Sparkman set a new trial date for Sutton for April 15 during a hearing at which he granted Sutton’s motion to postpone the Feb. 12 trial setting.
Sutton’s former attorney, Clint Broden, withdrew as Sutton’s attorney last month. Sutton’s new attorney, Donald Flanary, told Sparkman Wednesday that he won’t have enough time to prepare for the April 15 trial setting because he is involved in two other trials in March.
Sparkman told Flanary he wasn’t interested in delaying the case again. However, the judge said he would be willing to entertain a defense motion for continuance, which Flanary said he likely will file in coming weeks.
Flanary said he favored a new trial setting in March because of his involvement in the two upcoming trials in other counties, the fact that he only signed onto the case last month and because of “the voluminous nature of the discovery” he is wading through in Sutton’s case.
Sparkman set a pretrial hearing for April 5.
Sutton, who has since moved to Houston, is charged with trying to hire an undercover Waco police officer who infiltrated Sutton’s motorcycle club to kill attorney Marcus Beaudin, who is charged with sexually abusing a Sutton family member when she was 14.
Sutton’s first trial in August ended in a hung jury and a mistrial after the jury deadlocked 10-2 in favor of finding Sutton guilty.
Prospective jurors in Sutton’s retrial will report Feb. 9 to fill out questionnaires to aid prosecutors and attorneys in jury selection. The Attorney General’s Office is handling Sutton’s case after McLennan County District Attorney Josh Tetens recused his office.
The Waco police undercover officer testified at Sutton’s first trial he infiltrated Sutton’s Waco-based Red Mouse Cult motorcycle club because he thought it would be a good chance to gather intelligence on criminal street gangs, such as the Bandidos. He said Sutton’s former group was not considered a criminal street gang.
He testified that Sutton spawned the plan to kill Beaudin and that Sutton concocted at least three scenarios in which Beaudin could be killed.
The plots involved Beaudin’s ex-wife, Chelsea Tijerina, the officer testified. Tijerina, indicted as Sutton’s co-defendant, was killed in a motorcycle accident in Williamson County.
The detective recorded several conversations with Sutton, including one in which Sutton gave him $300 to buy an untraceable gun and discussed potential alibis for them.
Broden painted the detective as an overzealous, rogue officer who defied his supervisors’ orders to shut down the undercover investigation and who improperly entrapped Sutton by fanning his rage over the girl’s alleged abuse.
LIT UPDATE 2021
Waco attorney charged in murder-for-hire plot disputes CPS flight risk claims
Originally Published; Jan 7, 2021 | Republished by LIT: Jan 30, 2021
A former Waco attorney under indictment on a murder-for-hire charge must continue wearing a GPS ankle monitor while awaiting trial on allegations she and another attorney plotted to kill her ex-husband.
Judge Thomas West of Waco’s 19th State District Court denied a motion from Chelsea Tijerina to remove the tracking device, but did extend her nightly curfew by an hour and lifted travel restrictions to allow her to travel freely in Texas.
Tijerina, 33, and attorney Seth Sutton, 46, were arrested in May on solicitation of capital murder charges, accused of plotting to hire a hit man to kill Tijerina’s ex-husband, Waco attorney Marcus Beaudin.
Tijerina and Sutton remain free on $1 million bond each and both are wearing court-ordered GPS ankle monitors as a condition of their bonds.
Judge Thomas West
Sutton was able to amend travel restrictions placed by the terms of his bond in an agreement with the DA’s office in October.
At a brief hearing Thursday, McLennan County First Assistant District Attorney Nelson Barnes opposed Tijerina’s request to remove the ankle monitor because of the serious nature of the allegations and because Child Protective Services officials reported to Barnes’ office that they consider her a risk to flee with her two children should the monitor be removed.
Tijerina’s attorney, Jessi Freud, disputed the notion that Tijerina is a flight risk and objected to Barnes’ assertions. Freud declined comment after the hearing.
In the motion to amend Tijerina’s bond conditions, Freud said the ankle monitor is no longer necessary to secure Tijerina’s presence in court or required to ensure the safety of the community.
The motion states Tijerina is living in Hays County and alleges the monitor is hampering her ability to find a job, limiting her ability to enhance her child visitation rights and is limiting her ability to exercise. Tijerina has one child with Beaudin and another child from a previous marriage.
“The monitor also causes bad bruising, especially when she tries to exercise regularly, and exercise is vital to her mental health at this time,” according to the motion.
She and Sutton are charged with trying to hire an undercover Waco police officer, who had infiltrated Sutton’s motorcycle club, to kill Beaudin. No trial date has been set.
Arrest documents state the officer started riding with Sutton’s motorcycle club, the Red Mouse Cult MC, and became a prospective member. Arrest affidavits do not specify how much Sutton and Tijerina offered to pay for her ex-husband’s death or say why they wanted him killed.
According to arrest records, Sutton solicited the undercover officer May 14 to kill Beaudin, and the two talked about the plot before Sutton offered to pay for the gun and to help the officer leave town after he committed the murder, records show.
Sutton is no longer associated with his co-partner law firm, it’s been renamed from Sutton, Milam and Fanning to just Milam and Fanning.
Two Texas Lawyers Tried to Hire Undercover Cop to Kill an Ex-Husband: Court Docs
Seth Andrew Sutton and Chelsea Tijerina are charged with planning to pay for the murder of Tijerina’s ex-husband.
Originally Published; May 23, 2020
WARNING: DISTURBING NEWS
The Lawyers:
“We run the Country – and still do”
The Lawyers:
“We Make the Laws advantageous to Lawyers”.
The Lawyers:
“We don’t go to jail”.https://t.co/iM4s37AmU5
Donate to LIT who stand against corruption. #WeThePeople#GivingTuesday pic.twitter.com/PTNVZDrDsW
— LawsInTexas (@lawsintexasusa) December 1, 2020
I specialize in murders of quiet, domestic interest. – Agatha Christie
A well-known Waco, Texas defense lawyer, who once ran for county district attorney, sat behind bars on Saturday after a local police sting allegedly caught him plotting to kill a colleague’s ex-husband using a hitman, according to arrest affidavits obtained by The Daily Beast.
Seth Andrew Sutton has long held an upstanding reputation in Waco as a criminal defense lawyer, successfully defending clients in high-profile cases like the aftermath of the Waco biker shooting.
But, in lieu of separate $1 million bonds mandated by a local judge, Sutton and his colleague, Chelsea Tijerina, may not soon see the outside of the McLennan County Jail.
The would-be killer, the affidavits show, was actually an undercover policeman all along, and police arrested Sutton and Tijerina on Friday under felony charges of conspiracy to commit capital murder.
Sutton’s wife did not respond to a request for comment from The Daily Beast on Saturday. It was not yet immediately clear if he had retained an attorney in his case. (Tijerina is less well-known in the community but works at Sutton’s firm, and the Baylor University Law School graduate has taken on pro-bono cases via the university’s veterans’ clinic.)
The intended target of the alleged murder-for-hire plot, Tijerina’s ex-husband Marcus Beaudin, is also an attorney in Waco. He was taken into custody in February on a charge of indecency with a child for allegedly molesting an unspecified 10-year-old member of his family in December. The 10-year-old reported the incident to her mother. Beaudin denies the allegations, according to The Waco Tribune-Herald, which first reported on Sutton’s arrest.
According to the affidavits, the plot to kill Beaudin was extensive.
Sutton first allegedly contacted the undercover officer and met with him on May 14 to plot the assassination, the affidavit claims. On May 20, Sutton purportedly offered to acquire a gun for the murder and told the officer he would financially assist the purported hitman with moving out of town once the deed was done, according to the affidavit.
The next day, Tijerina allegedly gave the officer information about Beaudin’s whereabouts and details of his home necessary for successful completion of the “job.”
Both Sutton and Tijerina, in hopes of concocting alibis for themselves and their gunman, gave a timeline the crime should follow, the affidavit claims. On May 22, Sutton gave the officer $300 to buy a gun, according to the document. They were arrested later that day.
Waco Police spokesman, Sgt. Garen Bynum, did not respond to a request for comment on the case.
Seth Andrew Sutton’s Firm Bio; Sutton, Milam & Fanning
Seth Andrew Sutton is an entertainer by nature.
He spent several years in New York City after college performing in bands and pursuing a musical theater career. However, the transition into practicing law has been incredibly smooth and natural.
“I love trial,” explains Sutton. “Being half performer and half sports fan…trial is like competitive theater. There’s nothing better!” he jokes. “But in all seriousness, my vast experience of breaking down scripts and finding the truth and the emotion have proved to be excellent preparation for defending my clients. The story of the case is my script and the jury is my audience. I connect with them and I don’t miss the ‘moments’.” And the results have shown. Sutton has tried and won as many criminal trials in McLennan County as anyone over the past few years.
Always looking for innovative ways to improve his trial advocacy, Sutton is now part of the TCDLA (Texas Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Association) statewide DWI faculty, teaching other Texas lawyers on topics such as Jury Selection and Cross Examination in DWI’s.
Sutton has also been recognized for successfully drawing upon his own experiences in creating “out-of-the-box” trial strategies for his clients. This has also turned into two more popular seminars that he gives at legal conferences: “Theater in the Courtroom” and “Utilizing Presentation Software Technology During Your Trial.”
Sutton graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Telecommunications from Texas Tech University in 1996 before attending Baylor Law School where he received his Doctorate of Jurisprudence. He spent a brief stint in Las Vegas, NV practicing federal criminal law before returning home in 2006 to begin defending Texans.
Seth is the proud father of four strapping young boys: Isaac Andrew, Noah Gabriel, Asa Owen and Jonah Wayne.
Areas of Practice
- Criminal Law
- Family Law
- Probate Law
- Personal Injury
Education
- Baylor University School of Law, Waco, Texas
- Doctorate of Jurisprudence
- Texas Tech University
- B.A., Bachelor of Arts – 1996
- Major: Telecommunications
Classes/Seminars
- “Theater in the Courtroom”
- “Utilizing Presentation Software Technology During Your Trial”
- DWI Faculty, Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association
Professional Associations and Memberships
- TCDLA (Texas Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Association)
- McLennan County Bar Association
- Texas State Bar, 2006 – Present
- McLennan County Criminal Defense Lawyers’ Association, Past President
- Texas DWI Defenders
Murder for Hire Waco Attorney Killed in Motorcycle Crash
Waco attorney Chelsea Tijerina, 34, who was under indictment in an alleged murder-for-hire plot that targeted her ex-husband, has died.
The Number of Complaints Against Texas Judges Nearly Doubles in 5 Years. In 2019, Over 91 Percent of Those Complaints Were Dismissed. Someone’s Lyin’
Just under 2,000 complaints against Texas Judges and nearly all are dismissed. That’s not a good statistic.
Yet Another Texas Court Proceeding where Prosecutors are “Losing” Evidence
Houston Capital Murder Case: Dane Schiller told the newspaper that “defense lawyers are once again lying to the public and potential jurors about the facts” in the murders of Armstrong’s parents.
