At murder retrial, man convicted of aggravated assault
A Llano County jury on Tuesday convicted James B. Tenny of aggravated assault in the 1997 slaying of his common-law wife, Joyce Mulvey, unaware he’d previously been convicted of murder and sentenced to 65 years for her death.
A sentencing hearing is to begin at 9 a.m. today for Tenny, 53, who’d served more than six years behind bars before an appeals court in July reversed the murder conviction because of ineffective counsel at his 1999 trial.
Tenny claimed he stabbed Mulvey to death in self-defense May 12, 1997, after she became upset and attacked him at the home outside Blanco that they’d shared for almost three years.
In testimony he gave at his first trial that was entered as evidence last week, he said Mulvey, 57, threw gas on him, hit him over the head with a platter and stabbed him before he took a knife and killed her.
Several defense witnesses testified that Mulvey had threatened to kill Tenny and burn down their home after he announced he was moving out, a development that put her under financial strain.
But prosecutors claimed the witnesses fabricated Mulvey’s alleged threats, and said physical evidence contradicted Tenny’s account of the fatal clash.
The jury of seven women and five men deliberated about 10 hours, beginning Monday, before convicting Tenny on the lesser offense, which carries a punishment range of two to 20 years in prison.
Neither prosecutors nor defense attorneys were entirely displeased or satisfied with the verdict, which followed an eight-day trial moved to Llano County at the request of Tenny’s attorneys.
”I think that he had a much fairer trial this time,” said defense attorney Bill Schuurman.
He said Tenny, taken into custody after the verdict was read, ”was obviously disappointed that he didn’t get a finding that he was entitled to self-defense.”
District Attorney Sam Oatman said: ”For the most part I’m pleased he’s going to be held accountable for what he did. Murder would have been much better, but we’ll ask for the maximum and hope he gets it. I’m certainly pleased that they didn’t find him not guilty, for sure.”
zeke@express-news.net