EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) -- Frustrated defense team questioned former lead prosecutor on the Walmart shooting case who resigned last year after criticizing District Attorney Bill Hicks on how he is handling the case. Loretta Hewitt, the former lead prosecutor, was one of the six witnesses who were sworn in for Thursday's hearing. In her testimony, Hewitt explained how she found four recordings of jail phone calls between Patrick Crusius and his defense attorneys while still working for the DA's office in August 2023. According to Hewitt, the recordings were on a DVD and, at the time of the hearing, did not play on the computer. She said she noticed the calls were marked with a phone number that she immediately recognized belonged to one of Crusius' attorneys. After realizing what the DA's office had in possession, she alerted DA Hicks who agreed to have the DVD destroyed. However, she said she did not receive instruction on notifying the defense or Judge Sam Medrano. According to Hewitt's testimony, she proceeded to destroy the DVD without the DA's consultation. "The prosecutors in the office and the paralegals continue to have unrestricted access to the phone calls. So, the point was to stop that from continuing to happen. It was for the protection of Mr. Hicks," Hewitt said. She said she believes Hicks did not handle the matter with urgency when it came to investigating who accessed the files and who listened to the tapes. A report from the County's IT department revealed four people accessed the files but could not determine who had actually listened to the tapes, according to Hewitt. She was able to confirm one of the paralegals, Claudia Hernandez, had listened to the tapes. Hernandez is expected to take the stand as a witness in continuation of the hearings. DA Hicks claimed his office turned over the tapes to the defense and destroyed them on their end. The defense team said they also discovered 11 additional tapes, alleging that the DA's office did not disclose or destroy them. Hicks argued those tapes were not in his office's possession. "'GTL' is the portal that allows access to the phone system that is in the jail, that records those calls from the jail. Those are not transported to our office. We don't have custody of those phone calls," Hicks said. The defense brought up another issue they had previously filed in their motions to Judge Sam Medrano, saying that the DA's office did not disclose all of their evidence. Hewitt continued her testimony with mentions of notes from interviews with Crusius' former neighbors and pre-trial interviews with families of victims and survivors of the Aug. 3, 2019, shooting. According to Hewitt, she intended to turn over her personal notes from the interviews that only included what her interviewees and potential witnesses had said, without mentions of case strategy. Hewitt said there were about six large notebooks full of notes. The defense claimed the DA's office was obligated by law to turn over those notes. The DA's office cross-examined Hewitt and argued they were not required to do so and that the notes were lost since Hewitt had left the office. Judge Medrano ordered the prosecutors to continue looking for the notes and file them to the court once they are found. The hearing will proceed at 9 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 1 with several other witnesses lined up to take the stand including Assistant District Attorney John Briggs and three sheriff's deputies from the El Paso County Sheriff's Office. Battle of I-10 ends in draw for women's soccer Socorro PD looking for missing teens Eggnog before Thanksgiving? Stores bring holiday cheer early amid rising demand 5 ways to deal with family during the holidays 15 unconventional Christmas albums from the past 50 years Mariah Carey co-wrote 'All I Want for Christmas Is You'