BELTON - An unknown issue, discussed by the judge and attorneys for nearly an hour with the jury outside the courtroom in 27th District Court Monday, delayed opening arguments in the Chauncey Wilson murder trial.

Neither side would comment on what caused the delay. Opening arguments in the case are scheduled for 8:30 a.m. today in Belton.

Wilson is charged with murder in the March 16, 2007, shooting death of Ray Lee Taplin on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Temple.

Nineteen people who were friends and family of Taplin attended what was expected to be the beginning of the trial. Instead, after the jury was selected, the spectators only witnessed the swearing in of most of the witnesses who will testify in the trial and Judge Joe Carroll’s instructions to the jury of seven men and five women.

Since the day Taplin was killed, his family has said that his former girlfriend, Jasmine Alexander, set him up when she called Taplin’s home and invited him to come over to a house where she was staying with Wilson.

Wilson, 45, told police he pulled the trigger on the gun that killed Taplin, but said he acted in self-defense, according to court documents.

Wilson has been out on bail since shortly after his arrest less than a year ago.

promer@temple-telegram.com