PORT ARTHUR, Texas — Testimony in the trial of a woman accused of conspiring to have her then-Port Arthur Police Officer husband killed began Tuesday morning.
12News previously reported a probable cause affidavit confirms Kelly Daws admitted during an interview with police that she had multiple conversations with her boyfriend, 48-year-old Joal Morgan Riley, of Woodville, about her need to get rid of her then soon to be ex-husband.
Riley pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in 2018 and was sentenced to seven years.
RELATED: Trial to begin for ex-wife accused of conspiring to kill Port Arthur Police Officer husband
Riley will become eligible for parole in June 2020. If Riley is not granted parole, his projected release date is December 26, 2023, but a release is not scheduled at this time.
Riley is currently listed as "temporarily ineligible for visitation" by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Kelly says she started seeing Riley in July and they stopped seeing each other around Thanksgiving.
Former Port Arthur Police Officer Jerry Daws, her then husband, was stabbed on December 22, 2016 at Willow Lakes Apartments according to prior 12News reports.
On Tuesday the officer took the stand to testify about the 2016 event at his apartment. Pictures showing blood on a pillow, on the floor and on a dresser in a bedroom were shown to the court.
Daws says Riley was attacking him as Daws begged him to stop. Daws says he told the man he would not file charges if he stopped.
Daws testified that he told the attacker to take his cellphone and leave. The officer says his cellphone was in his living room on the recliner. He says he knew if he could get to living room he could escape through the front door.
He says he ran to three different doors. At the third door, a couple answered and took him in. He says as he was escaping his apartment, he looked back over his shoulder and saw the attacker taking off in the grass.
The officer says he was stabbed in the shoulder and had injuries to his hands. He says Riley asked to see his injuries. He believes Riley wanted to see the extent of his injuries to see if he could hurt him or not.
Tuesday's proceedings also included a two-hour video of Kelly Daws that appeared to be an interview with an investigator. In the video, Daws gives investigators consent to look through her cellphone. Officer say the interview was completely voluntary.
She said she was in a panic and in tears when she found out it happened. Daws says even though they were going through a divorce, she still played the wife role. At the time of the video, she said they had been married for 8 years.
An investigator in the video said Officer Daws is a good person and he doesn’t investigate gangs, so it was very mind boggling as to who would attack him.