SAN ANTONIO – Nearly 10 years after the murder of Paula Boyd, a beloved H-E-B employee and grandmother, her case remains unresolved.
Persistent delays and new evidence have repeatedly postponed the trial for R.C. Curtis, the man accused of her 2015 murder.
Bexar County District Court Judge Stephanie Boyd expressed frustration during a Dec. 4 hearing.
“This case has been on my docket forever,” she said, emphasizing the repeated delays. The case was transferred to her court in 2019, but a full trial has yet to occur.
The first trial, held in 2021, ended in a mistrial after prosecutor Daryl Harris presented newly obtained evidence to the defense.
A retrial was scheduled to begin in early December, but further evidence issues caused additional delays.
When a jury was going to be selected on Dec. 4, defense attorney Charles Bunk notified the court that he was again given new evidence.
“Roughly three weeks ago, I got a phone call from the state saying they found a new phone dump,” Bunk said, referencing newly discovered cell phone data. That phone report was over 400 pages long.
Frustrated with the latest setback, Boyd ordered all parties and the detective on the case to return every Friday to go through the entire investigation to ensure all evidence was turned over.
During a Dec. 6 hearing, more additional evidence was found, including 24 hours of surveillance footage.
SAPD Detective Randal Hines noted that earlier missteps stemmed from outdated technology and incomplete evidence requests from the state.
On Dec. 13, attorneys for both sides returned to continue reviewing evidence, but the process remains incomplete. The trial, initially expected to resume this month, is now delayed.
The evidentiary hearings will resume on Jan. 22.
Curtis faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.
A new trial date is unlikely to be set until the discovery process is fully resolved, potentially pushing the case into spring 2025.