Cop-killer-turned-Dallas-underground-game-operator (and alleged Choctaw colluder) James McDaniel\’s trial in the death of 21-year-old SMU coed Meaghan Bosch is supposed to get underway this week, but has been temporarily delayed. In an effort to put one of the more, er … colorful characters from the Dallas poker scene behind bars for life, prosecutors will make the case that underground poker in Dallas (circa 2006-07) was a breeding ground for drug crimes, rape, and ultimately … an unfortunate, untimely death.
Monday\’s trial of the ex-con accused of causing the overdose death of Southern Methodist University student Meaghan Bosch has been postponed, the judge ordered Thursday.
James McDaniel\’s defense attorney, Thomas Mills Jr., is ill, according to court documents. No new date has been set. McDaniel faces up to life in prison if convicted of charges that he supplied Bosch, 21, of McKinney, with drugs that caused her death. She was found dead May 14, 2007, in a portable toilet at a construction site near Waco. Her death followed two other fatal overdoses of SMU students, prompting criticism that the university was ignoring a severe drug problem.
Prosecutors say that McDaniel drugged and raped other female SMU students who attended his underground poker games near campus and that they plan to call some of them to testify. McDaniel also supplied students with drugs, prosecutors allege.
McDaniel, a convicted murderer and self-described professional poker player, has denied he caused Bosch\’s death. He also denies selling drugs or committing sexual assaults.