Defendant Tracy Samuel testifies she does not recall shooting; recounts long history of substance use and treatment as family member testifies about their on-ag

Tracy Marie Samuel took the stand in her own defense and told jurors she does not remember key aspects of the night Charles Lewis was shot and described a long history of drug use and repeated treatment attempts.

Samuel testified on Oct. 3 that she was heavily using crack cocaine and PCP around the time of the events and that parts of her memory were "fuzzy" when first interviewed by deputies. She acknowledged being taken to residential treatment programs in Houston twice in 2022 and early 2023. Records entered as defense exhibits documented admissions and discharge notes from treatment providers; those records show entries for intensive residential treatment and screening results referencing crack cocaine and PCP use. On the witness stand she said, "I did not shoot Charlie," while also telling the court she could not clearly recall the sequence of events in the bedroom the night of the shooting.

Samuel described being in and out of Lewis’s home and said she and Lewis argued at times but denied any physical altercation that night. She told jurors she went to the bathroom, used drugs (as she previously told investigators), returned to the bedroom, and remembered trying to pick up a gun and then dropping it. She said she later placed pressure on Lewis’s wound and stayed with him until deputies arrived and emergency personnel treated him.

Melinda Lewis Thibodeaux, Charles Lewis’s sister, testified for the defense and described family history and household effects. Thibodeaux said Lewis had helped Samuel with housing and had arranged for treatment; she also said that on a later family visit many of Lewis’s personal items and clothing were missing from the house and a television in another room remained in place. Thibodeaux testified that the couple had broken up months before the shooting and that Samuel did not live full time at Lewis’s A&M Street residence.

Why it matters: the defendant’s own testimony and admitted treatment records are central to the defense’s narrative — that Samuel lacked a clear recollection, that her substance-use history and intermittent sobriety are relevant to memory and state of mind, and that family testimony provides context about the relationship and who had access to the home. Jurors will now weigh the medical and physical evidence presented by the prosecution against the defendant’s account and the treatment and family records.

The court permitted Samuel to testify after the record showed she had been advised of her rights and had conferred with counsel; defense exhibits documenting treatment and medical encounters were admitted during testimony.