Judge admits body‑worn and surveillance footage despite missing channel in Beaumont homicide case

A judge in the 252nd District Court admitted body‑worn camera clips and a downloaded surveillance hard drive on Thursday during the trial of Leonard Paul Thompson, who is charged in the death of Peggy Ann Pier, while the defense and apartment staff told the court that at least one hallway camera view was not preserved.

The ruling came after prosecutors identified surveillance files provided by Raintree Tower Apartments and played a state officer’s body‑worn recording for the jury. “You will hear and see evidence that the evening of Sept. 12 she got back to her apartment,” prosecutor Mister Nichols told jurors in his opening. Defense counsel Mister Wilkerson told jurors a key surveillance recording that would show movements inside the building “is gone.”

Why it matters: Prosecutors say the footage and scientific evidence will show Thompson was the only person in the apartment before Pier was found dead; the defense says gaps in what was preserved leave unanswered questions about other possible activity or actors on the property.

Prosecutor Nichols read the indictment on the record, identifying the cause number as 23DCCR2145 and telling jurors the state will present…