Lubbock prosecutors on Thursday requested the appeals court to set bond at $2 million for Dr. Thomas Michael Dixon who had been convicted of capital murder, but the conviction was recently set aside.
“The State requests that bail be reset at $2 million not to be used as an instrument of oppression, but because it is a carefully calculated amount that will ensure [Dixon’s] appearance at his retrial,” court records said.
In November of 2015, Dixon was convicted of killing Dr. Joseph Sonnier of Lubbock. It was a capital murder case because Dixon was accused of hiring a hit man to get it done.
David Neal Shepard at first confessed to killing Sonnier on behalf of Dixon in July of 2012, but later changed his testimony to say Dixon was not involved.
Prosecutors made the case that Dr. Dixon of Amarillo was jealous of Dr. Sonnier because of a love triangle.
On appeal, Dixon claimed that he was denied the right to an open public trial. He also claimed phone records were used without a proper search warrant. In mid-December the appeals court agreed with Dixon.
Dixon has meanwhile requested that he be released on $100,000 bond pending a retrial. Prosecutors specifically object to bond at that level.
At one point, Dixon had been held on a $10 million bond. In a completely separate appeals case before he went to trial, the courts ordered that bond be lowered to $2 million.
As of Friday, local court records in Lubbock did not list a retrial date. Dixon is currently held in the Allred Unit in Iowa Park, Texas.
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