Man Gets New Punishment Trial in 2013 Murder

TYLER – Tyler’s Twelfth Court of Appeals has granted a new punishment trial to Coby Ray Hudgins of Kilgore in a 2013 murder. According to a document from the court, Hudgins’s conviction has been affirmed, but the appeals court has reversed the portion of the judgment assessing punishment and remanded the cause to the trial court for the new proceeding. In March 2015, a Gregg County jury handed handed Hudgins, then 23, a 99-year prison sentence after finding him guilty of the death of Kayla Elizabeth Williams, 17, of Hallsville.

Kilgore police arrested Hudgins in October 2013. The incident took place at a home on Mustang Drive in Kilgore. Hudgins had reportedly last been seen leaving the residence where police found Williams’ body. Judge Arthur Fort, who pronounced Williams dead the following morning, said Williams died instantly from an apparent gunshot wound to the head.