Dallas County death penalty trial underway for man accused of killing girlfriend and her teenage daughter

Dallas County First Assistant District Attorney Heath Harris told jurors in opening arguments that they should have no difficulty convicting Tyrone Cade of capital murder. “This case is not a complex mystery,” he said. Harris told jurors that Cade killed Mischell Fuller, 37, and her 18-year-old daughter, Desaree Hoskins because Cade was jealous. He had recorded Fuller having an intimate conversation on Skype with her exhusband, Carlton Hoskins, and was angry. Cade, Harris said, was a “wannabee ladies man.” Cade could “turn on the charm in the blink of an eye, turn on the tears in the blink of eye,” Harris said. “But he could also turn on the aggression in the blink of an eye.” Harris told jurors that the defense planned to prove Cade was not guilty by reason of insanity, meaning the defense believes Cade had a mental disease or defect at the time of the slayings that cause him not to know the difference between right and wrong. Defense attorneys Lalon “Clipper” Peale, John Tatum and Richard Franklin delayed making an opening statement, so no further details were provided to jurors before a lunch break. Irving Police Officer Aaron Shook testified that Cade turned himself in at the police station, saying that “he had killed a couple of people.” Shook told jurors that he grabbed a knife to question Fuller but then she screamed for her daughter and started kicking. He then stabbed them both to death. Shook said that Cade handed over three cell phones and one of them appeared to have blood on it. On a recording of 911 call made from the lobby of the police station before talking to officers, Cade appears to be crying as he says, “I killed two people … Yeah, I killed them … I stabbed them to death.” Cade says on the 911 call: “I just snapped.” He said that he wishes he could get the death penalty. He said he also tried to kill himself but he was “too punkish” to go through with it. Fuller’s mother, Elena Belcher, tearfully testified about her daughter and granddaughter, struggling to maintain her composure on the witness stand. She began sobbing when prosecutors showed her photos of her daughter and granddaughter. Belcher told jurors that her daughter was afraid of Cade because he threatened to burn the house down with her in it after Fuller asked Cade to move out. Fuller had wanted Cade to leave for some time after finding out he was a registered sex offender, according to testimony. About a week before their deaths, Fuller and her daughter went to Florida where they went to Disney World and saw Fuller’s ex-husband, who also the father of her children, according to testimony. Original post, 6:22 a.m.: This morning, a Dallas County jury will begin hearing testimony in the capital murder case of Tyrone Cade, who is accused of killing his girlfriend and her teenage daughter. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Cade, a registered sex offender, turned himself in to police at the Irving police department after the March 2011 stabbing deaths of Mischell Fuller, 37, and her 18-year-old daughter, Desaree Hoskins. “I killed some people,” he told officers. Fuller and Hoskins, were found dead about in the one-story home the three shared in the 1400 block of Ronne Drive, near Shady Grove Road and MacArthur Boulevard, police said. Irving police have said that Cade confronted Fuller about their relationship earlier in the day Sunday and that the argument escalated. Cade then took out a knife and attacked Fuller and Hoskins, police said.