WACO, Texas (KWTX) – James Keylan Willis had been plotting to ambush, torture, rob and execute his landlord, Stanley Wilcox, for more than a week before he “disposed of his body like a piece of trash” under a bridge near the Baylor University campus, a prosecutor told jurors Monday to open Willis’ trial.
Willis, 21, of Dallas, is on trial in Waco’s 19th State District Court on a capital murder charge in the Dec. 23, 2022, death of Wilcox, who was shot three times in the head, once in the leg and once in the hip.
The capital murder trial of Willis’ co-defendant, Brandon Stephens, ended in mistrial in October 2024 after jurors deadlocked 11-1, with 11 voting to convict Stephens of capital murder and the lone holdout in favor of convicting him of the lesser charge of murder.
Stephens’ retrial is set for later this month…