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Go inside the courtroom as we cover the rare death penalty trial of Xavier Davis

Xavier Davis's capital murder trial starts today in Harris County's 209th District Court. He is accused of killing a Houston couple and their six-year-old by fatally shooting them point blank in the head at their Houston apartment as part of a murder-for-hire plot. The couple's then 10-year-old daughter survived by playing dead. She is expected to testify.

If convicted, Davis faces the death penalty — an increasingly uncommon form of punishment in Harris County in recent decades.

Go inside the courtroom with Chronicle reporter Nicole Hensley as she covers the rare death penalty trial.

Defendant Xavier Davis, left, and his defense attorneys Justin Keiter, center, and Casey Keirnan, right, are shown before jury selection for his trial at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center, 1201 Franklin, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, in Houston.

Photo by: Melissa Phillip, Staff Photographer

Who is Xavier Davis?

The 2021 case has stretched on for more than three years since police rushed to investigate a late night shooting at a southwest Houston apartment that left three people dead. Davis was quickly linked to the shooting and arrested the next day.

Alexus Chenelle Williams is charged with capital murder.

Photo by: Houston Police Department

Who ordered the deaths of the Houston family?

The trial may shed light on another individual accused in the 2021 deaths. Alexus Williams is charged with capital murder in the family's deaths and is accused of hiring Davis to carry out the shooting.