Pre-trial motions begin for man accused of setting fire at Gallery Furniture

Attorneys for Robert Gillham are preparing for the trial which is scheduled to begin next month.

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Pre-trial motions begin today for the man accused of setting a massive fire at Gallery Furniture.

Attorneys for Robert Gillham are preparing for the trial which is scheduled to begin next month. Gillham is charged with arson, criminal mischief and attempted retaliation for the fire that caused more than $20 million in damage to the store three years ago.

He's a former Gallery employee who was fired in 2007.

The trial had been on hold while Gillham received treatment for a brain tumor. He's now been found competent to stand trial.

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Jury selection for Stanford trial set to begin

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Three years after his arrest for an alleged $7 billion Ponzi scheme, R. Allen Stanford will head to trial this week.

Jury selection starts this morning, this comes after several delays in the trial.

Stanford's lawyers tried to convince the court their client was not competent to stand trial because he was addicted to anti-anxiety medication.

Stanford received treatment last year, but his attorneys still say he hasn't had the proper time to pour through thousands of documents and properly prepare for trial.

The disgraced financier has been behind bars since June 2009. He's accused of ripping off billions of dollars from investors.

U.S. District Judge David Hittner has denied multiple requests within the last month to postpone the trial any further.

"You don't have to be the perfect defendant. The law doesn't require you to have 100 percent of your emotions and mental faculties. You just have to be able to communicate with your counsel and understand what's going on. Stanford may not be the person he was years ago, but he is, what the courts say, good enough to go to trial," KTRK legal analyst Joel Androphy explained.

Stanford has been described as a flamboyant billionaire. Androphy says it will be tough for his attorneys to get jurors to feel sorry for him and find him not guilty, but the government has to prove in this case that Stanford himself, not his company or former executives, is behind the Ponzi scheme.

His former chief financial officer James Davis has already pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges and is expected to testify against Stanford in this trial.

Stanford's attorneys are expected to ask the judge for another delay this week.

Stay with Eyewitness News and abc13.com as we continue following this story.

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Houston Schools Begin Discussion on YMCA Joint Partnership

Opening statements to begin in double murder trial

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Opening statements begin today for a man accused of killing two teen girls before leaving their bodies in a burning house.

Joseph Jean, 38, is facing the death penalty for the murders in Baytown back in April of last year.

Police say Jean was trying to set fire to his girlfriend's home in retaliation for an argument, when the girls caught him in the act. Police say he beat 17-year-old Chelsey Lang and 16-year-old Ashley Johnson with a bat and then started the fire.

(Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
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