Large Multi Agency chased Accused Assassin of Local Judge
AUSTIN, Texas - Defense attorneys for Chimene Onyeri challenged little of what prosecutors presented to the jury Tuesday inside Austin’s federal court.
Testimony began with how the investigation into November 2015 shooting of Judge Julie Kocurek expanded.
Former lead APD detective Derek Israel told the jury how a tip led them to Houston. The tipster claimed that after news broke about the attack on the judge Onyeri was bragging about his involvement.
Detective Israel said a multi-agency investigative team was formed.
Members included, the FBI, U.S. Marshals, the Postal Service, IRS, the Secret Service, DPS as well as local authorities from Travis County, Harrison County, Houston and Louisiana.
Onyeri was already known by authorities and not just in Houston. Shortly after he was identified as a suspect in the Kocurek case , a detective with the Rollingwood Police Department , Joel Martin, told FOX 7 about how his 2012 identity theft investigation into Onyeri revealed a major criminal operation.
"I did travel to Houston and conducted an investigation and I did find there was a large group of individuals that was involved in this theft ring, the numbers are in the high hundreds of people involved in this ring, unfortunately I was only able to identify 27 of them," said Martin in at 2015 interview.
Prosecutors, right now , are trying to show that in 2015, Onyeri was trying to protect his criminal enterprise by eliminating Judge Kocurek. It’s believed the judge was going to revoke Onyeri's bond on the old Rollingwood case, and send him to jail because of new accusations of criminal activity in Louisiana.
The jury, Tuesday, also heard testimony about when Onyeri was taken into custody in Houston, investigators found cellphones, smashed in the car he was riding in. Several pictures were allegedly recovered from Onyeri's phone. According to prosecutors they show how he stalked Judge Kocurek, for at least a day, before she was ambushed at the entrance to her home.