Not Guilty Plea in Deputy’s Shooting
Posted/updated on: July 10, 2011 at 5:02 pm
TYLER – A Tyler man has entered a not guilty plea to shooting a Smith County sheriff’s deputy in March. Christopher Martin Summerville, 26, entered the plea Friday in an appearance in 114th State District Court. He remains in the Smith County Jail under bonds totaling nearly $8 million. He has a tentative trial date set for next month.
The incident occurred on March 24, when he allegedly shot the deputy who was attempting to serve an arrest warrant on Summerville at the Arbors Apartments. Deputy Josh Caulkins, who was assigned to a U.S. Marshal’s fugitive task force, was wearing a vest and sustained only minor injuries. Summerville has also been charged with manufacture or delivery of controlled substance, engaging in organized criminal activity, unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, and possession of a prohibited weapon.
Summerville had earlier been released from East Texas Medical Center. Police say Summerville was hospitalized for an overdose of methamphetamine that he reportedly had injected into his body just prior to the arrest warrant being served. Two other suspects at the scene of the shooting, Kara Hanley, 29, and Jeffery Andrysiak, 31, have also been charged with engaging in organized criminal activity. They’d earlier been charged with manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance.
