The child custody trial involving Lee Gilley and Christa Bauer’s children started with intense argument from attorneys on Tuesday amid the continuous overlap between pending criminal proceedings and the family case.
Attorneys for Chris and Sharon Bauer, the maternal grandparents, fought on day five of the trial to present a video deposition to the jury of Matt Gilley, the paternal uncle, regarding his conversations with Lee Gilley about fleeing the jurisdiction.
In the video, attorney Angela Stout said Matt Gilley invoked his Fifth Amendment rights and refused to share certain details of his conversations. She also said Matt Gilley wouldn’t share specific details of what Lee Gilley shared about his conversations with a San Diego woman who prosecutors said discussed plans to flee with and possibly marry to obtain a new identity, according to criminal case records. Stout added that Lee Gilley researched places that didn’t have the death penalty before cutting off his ankle monitor.
Attorneys for Matt and Cristin Gilley, who are also fighting for custody of the young children, argued the deposition video is the Bauers’ attempt at “guilt by association” and it would “blow the jury up on this one issue.”
Judge Angela Lancelin eventually told the attorneys their arguments were “not acceptable” amid escalating tensions.
“Y’all wanted a jury, there it is,” Lancelin said, saying that it’s not up to her to decide how the jury will process certain information. She appeared to agree to allow a small portion of the video to be played for the jury, but it did not get played on Tuesday.
During testimony, attorneys for the Bauers also presented call records between Matt and Lee Gilley, juxtaposed next to calendars showing when the children have been scheduled to have visitations with the Gilleys.
On seven different occasions, between September 2025 and April 27, 2026, just days before Lee Gilley cut his ankle monitor and fled to Italy, Matt Gilley’s call records showed extended phone calls with Lee Gilley when the children were supposed to be in the custody of Matt Gilley and his wife Cristin.
Sharon Bauer testified that Lee Gilley has been ordered to have no access to the children, describing the call records as “very concerning” and “unbelievable.”
Any contact with the children would also be a violation of Lee Gilley’s bond conditions, according to criminal case records.
Lee Gilley’s civil attorney, Matt Mahoney, during cross examination questioned whether Sharon Bauer had evidence the children were actually involved in any of the phone calls and why she didn’t bring up concerns earlier in the case about potential contact with their father or compliance with court orders.
The logs showed several additional calls between the Gilley brothers over approximately a year timespan. The Bauers have continuously testified during the trial about concerns the Gilleys may be exposing the children to their father in various ways.
Sources have told KPRC 2 News Lee Gilley left his home in the Heights on a bike, somehow got to Memphis where he boarded a private plane to Canada, then federal investigators say he took a commercial flight to Milan, where he was stopped using a fake name with forged travel documents.
No one has been criminally implicated in assisting with his international travel just weeks before trial, although there have long been questions about what, if any, assistance he may have had.
Testimony is expected to continue in the trial on Wednesday. The jury will ultimately have to decide which side of the family gets custody of the children, who are set to turn 4 and 6.
Lee Gilley remains in Italian custody fighting extradition. An Italian court ruled he can be extradited to the U.S., but only on a lesser charge of murder in which he would not be subject to life without parole or the death penalty.
