Don Steven McDougal was naked and covered himself with a blanket during his arraignment (Picture: ABC 13)
A man accused of killing an 11-year-old girl while taking her to a school bus stop refused to wear clothing to court and showed up covered only in a blanket.
Don Steven McDougal, 42, was charged with murdering Audrii Cunningham, whose body was found in the Trinity River in Texas last Tuesday.
McDougal, who was a friend of Audrii’s father, was pulled from his prison cell for his arraignment on Wednesday. Polk County sheriff’s deputies found him fully naked when they opened the door to his cell.
‘Come on. JP wants to talk to you,’ a deputy says in a two-minute-long body cam video obtained by ABC 13.
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‘Where’s your clothes? Hold on!’
McDougal, who has tattoos across his body including ‘Ain’t scared’ on his chest and a swastika on his left shoulder, says: ‘I ain’t got no clothes’.
The deputy replies: ‘Well, come on out here. Well, no, no, man. Come on, man, don’t disrespect me like that. Well, wrap up in that. Wrap up in the blanket. Come on. Come on.’
McDougal smirks and has a blanket around his waist as he walks up to a justice of the peace, who reads him his rights. The justice also asks McDougal if he has his own attorney or wants a court-appointed one.
Don Steven McDougal has been charged with capital murder (Picture: ABC 13)
Audrii Cunningham’s body was pulled from the Trinity River in Texas on February 20 (Picture: Polk County Sheriff’s Office)
‘You’re going to hire your own? Alright, all I need you to do is sign right here for me. Your charge is capital murder,’ says the justice. ‘That’s no bond.’
McDougal remains in jail and public records did not indicate if he had an attorney.
Audrii was last seen on February 15 when she left home around 7am with McDougal, who lived in a camper on her family’s property near Lake Livingston. She never made it to the bus stop, and McDougal joined in on the search for her.
Sheriff’s deputies were shocked to find Don Steven McDougal fully naked in his jail cell (Picture: ABC 13)
Don Steven McDougal said he would hire his own attorney (Picture: ABC 13)
McDougal was arrested in Audrii’s disappearance shortly after her body was recovered. He also appeared shirtless in his booking photo, revealing his tattoos.
The capital murder charging document for McDougal states that ‘upon recovery of the child victims’ body, law enforcement discovered a large rock tied to the child victims’ body’. The rope was ‘consistent with rope that was observed in McDougal’s vehicle’, the document states.
McDougal’s case is set to be presented to a grand jury.
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