A nine man, four woman jury heard opening testimony Tuesday morning in Brown County’s 35th District Court in the attempted capital murder trial against 52-year-old Paul Eugene Umsted, Jr. Umsted is accused in the beating assault of 48-year-old James Clark on February 27, 2009 in Brownwood.
Clark told District Attorney Micheal Murray on the stand that Umsted and Walker came to his apartment door about 3:00am. Clark testified that he opened the door and Umsted was there with a baseball bat behind his back. He said Umsted suddenly came through the door and hit the left side of his head with the bat. Clark said he saw a bright flash of light and fell to the floor, and the next thing he heard was Walker telling Umsted to drag Clark to a bedroom and beat him some more.
Clark was airlifted directly to Shannon Hospital in San Angelo, where he underwent emergency surgery to the parietal area of the brain, and plates were implanted to replace the pieces of the skull that had been bashed away.
The state maintained the assault was retaliation from an earlier incident in the day where James Clark basically accused John “Tiger” Walker of stealing a sack of medication. Clark offered a $40 reward for the return of the medications, and Walker brought the medications back to him. Clark accused Walker of stealing his medications and hit Walker in the mouth, breaking his nose and knocking out a tooth. The state argues that Umsted was called in by Walker to retaliate because Clark was bigger than Walker at that time. After Clark was knocked unconscious, the state alleges that Walker and Umsted removed around $460 from Clarks’ wallet and pockets.
Walker was not at the trial because he is serving a 25 year sentence on an unrelated case. Testimony continues the 35th District Court this afternoon in Brownwood.
