Published Tuesday, July 08, 2008 6:05 AM

Bryan/College Station Eagle

The capital murder retrial of former death row inmate Anthony Graves was pushed back almost a year Monday -- the same day that once was set for jury selection to begin.

The new trial date is tentatively scheduled for June 8, 2009, according to Graves' attorney Jimmy Phillips. Caldwell-based District Judge Reva Towslee-Corbett moved the date back because of a pending appeal in the 10th Court of Appeals.

Lawyers said they expected the trial to be pushed back.

Defense lawyers for Graves filed the appeal claiming that a retrial constituted double jeopardy after a U.S. appeals court threw out the original guilty verdict and declared a mistrial.

A decision from the 10th Court of Appeals is not expected until winter at the earliest, Phillips said.

A special prosecutor for the case, Pat Batchelor, did not return phone calls made late Monday afternoon.

Graves and co-defendant Robert Carter were convicted in 1994 of the killings of six people at a Somerville home.

Graves was convicted after Carter named him as an accomplice during the trial, but Carter later recanted his testimony several times, including moments before he was executed in 2000, according to court documents.

http://www.theeagle.com/local/Graves-murder-trial-moved-to-June-2009