Grand jury issues capital murder indictment for Telford inmate accused in beating death of guard

A Bowie County grand jury handed down an indictment for capital murder Thursday in the July beating death of a Telford Unit correctional officer.

Billy Joel Tracy, 38, was already serving a life sentence when he allegedly wriggled a hand free from cuffs, grabbed Officer Timothy Davison’s tray slot bar, and started pounding the rookie guard. Capital murder is punishable by death or life without parole.

Davison, 47, had been employed with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for less than a year when he was killed July 15. Tracy was being kept in Administrative Segregation, allowed out of his cell for recreation only an hour per day, when the deadly assault took place.

According to the indictment, Tracy used a tray slot bar to beat Davison to death. The bars are used by officers in the prison to push open a piece of metal covering a rectangular slot in an inmate’s cell door so things such as meals can be pushed through without actually opening the door.

TDCJ was well aware of Tracy’s violent nature and willingness to assault his captors. In 1995 Tracy was convicted of retaliation in Tarrant County. Tracy was convicted of assault on a public servant, burglary of a habitation and aggravated assault in Rockwall County in 1998 and received a life sentence, with parole possible.

Since being imprisoned on those offenses, Tracy has guaranteed himself decades of lock-down by attacking correctional officers. In 2005, he received three 45-year terms for beating a TDCJ officer in Potter County and in 2009 he was given another 10 years for assaulting a guard in Jones County.

In many death penalty cases, defense lawyers argue the potential for future violence goes away when a defendant is locked up for life with no hope of parole. But Tracy has managed to be a danger even in the most restrictive prison environment. Prosecutors are likely to argue that the death penalty may be the only way to deal with a man like Tracy.