Judge Kocurek's son takes stand as attempted murder trial begins
AUSTIN -- The teenage son of Travis County state District Judge Julie Kocurek expected the worst when a man dressed in black sprinted toward the family’s West Austin home on a Friday night in November 2015 and fired several gunshots at his mother as she sat in her SUV.
Finding his mom covered in blood on the passenger seat of her Lexus SUV, Will Kocurek told a packed Austin federal courtroom Monday, “I thought there was no way she would be alive.”
The testimony of Kocurek, who was 15 and a sophomore at Austin High at the time, set the stage for what will be a lengthy trial about the extraordinary lengths prosecutors say defendant Chimene Onyeri took to preserve an illegal money-making enterprise. Concerned that the judge would send him to prison for violating the terms of his probation from a 2012 fraud case, Onyeri, a Houston resident, gathered personal information on her and then traveled to Austin to take her life, prosecutors said in opening statements.
On the stand, Will Kocurek said he was driving his mom’s vehicle on the night of the shooting and had stepped out to remove a leaf bag that was blocking the driveway gate. Other relatives were in the back seats of the SUV after a night of dinner, high school football and seeing Christmas lights. Will Kocurek testified that he went to remove the bag — which prosecutors say they believe was placed strategically by Onyeri — when he saw a man come toward the driveway and begin firing into the front passenger side, where his mom was seated. The shooter was carrying a pistol, Kocurek said.
Read more: https://www.mystatesman.com/news/crime--law/judge-kocurek-son-takes-stand-attempted-murder-trial-begins/hOqyAY5mGdhL3mn8YwIgiM/