By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
After a preliminary hearing in Ellis County District Court on Monday, a WaKeeney man was bound over for trial for attempted first-degree murder for allegedly strangling his partner on July 17, 2025.
Cody Evan Garrett is charged with three felonies: attempted first-degree murder, aggravated domestic battery, criminal threat, and two misdemeanors: domestic battery and criminal damage to property.
The state presented its evidence in November, but the preliminary hearing was continued until Monday, when the defense presented its case.
Garrett drove his truck to an area of Hopewell Road in Ellis County. He allegedly told the victim he was going to kill her, throw her in a ditch, and she would never see her kids again, according to court records.
The victim told authorities that Garrett threw her up against the truck hard enough to dent the truck, pulled her hair, held her down on the ground and strangled her, according to court records and testimony.
The victim told authorities Garrett strangled her to the point she saw bright lights and heard ringing in her ears.
Garrett allegedly released the victim when another couple approached the area in another vehicle. She ran toward that vehicle, and law enforcement was called.
During testimony on Monday, Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Tina Jecha of HaysMed said an examination of the victim found petechial hemorrhage in the victim's mouth, which can be an indicator of strangulation.
Petechial hemorrhage is the rupture of capillaries and can cause red, purple or brown spots to appear on the skin, in the mouth or in the eyes.
The defense noted in its questioning of Jecha that petechial hemorrhaging was not found anywhere else on the victim's body.
However, Jecha said someone can be strangled and not have any signs of petechial hemorrhage.
She also said she found abrasions, bruising and an injury to the victim's upper lip.
Although Jecha said she did not recall seeing any bruising on the victim's neck, she did remember seeing redness.
The victim's ex-husband testified he told a Wakeeney businessman after Garrett's arrest that he wouldn't put it past the victim to fabricate the incident.
Hobbs testified Monday this was his own speculation, and he had made the statement in anger after a sleepless night worrying about his children. Hobbs said he and the victim did not have an amicable divorce, and there remained tension in the relationship.
This statement, after going through two more people, morphed into an allegation that the victim had planned the incident to make Garrett look bad.
County Attorney Aaron Cunningham likened the line of testimony to a child's game of telephone in which the original statements had been contorted.
In his closing statement, defense attorney Mark Harmon argued there was no evidence of premeditation other than the victim's statements to law enforcement that Garrett had threatened to kill her.
He said there was no evidence that the victim had been close to death.
He characterized the events leading up to the alleged crime as a mutual combat inside the truck.
Herrman asked that the charge of attempted first-degree murder be dismissed. However, Judge Curtis Brown declined and bound Garrett over for trial on all charges.
Garrett's arraignment has been set for 10:30 a.m. Feb. 17 via Zoom.
Garrett is free on a $500,000 bond. Herrman asked that Garrett's ankle monitoring be terminated as a condition of his bond. The state objected.
Brown said he would allow Garrett to switch to GPS monitoring.