David Temple, a former Texas high school football coach, has been found guilty for a second time in the murder of his pregnant wife and unborn child.
In 1999, Belinda Temple was shot in the back of the head with a shotgun in the couple’s home in Katy, Texas. She was eight months pregnant at the time and also had a 3-year-old son. Temple was originally found guilty in 2007 and sentenced to life in prison. He spent 10 years in prison for the murder.
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However, the highest criminal court in Texas, the Court of Criminal Appeals, threw out the conviction in 2016 due to the conclusion that prosecutors hid or delayed revealing hundreds of pages of evidence to Temple’s defense team. Investigation revealed 36 instances of misconduct by a prosecutor in the first trial. Temple was released from prison in late 2016.
“A prosecutor has a duty to give to the defense any evidence that’s favorable to the defense,” said Stanley Schneider, Temple’s attorney.
After nearly three years, another trial was started in June 2019 after the prosecution selected jurors from a pool of 240 potential options. The trial lasted until Aug. 6 when Temple was found guilty once again.
In the closing arguments of the re-trial, the prosecution argued that Temple had used the murder as a way to get out of his marriage and marry his mistress, Heather. However, the defense said that Temple did not have the weapon to commit the crime and that there were more likely options. For example, a disgruntled student was listed as a possible suspect.
According to ABC13, testimony during the original trial revealed that David had been having an affair with a co-worker who later became his wife. She filed for divorce at the start of the second trial.
According to the Houston Chronicle, Temple testified during the original trial that the murder was actually the product of an attempted burglary at their home. He testified that he came home to find the back door open and a window broken, which caused him to rush inside to see his wife dead. However, prosecutor Kelly Siegler argued that Temple had failed to account for 45 minutes of his evening, which he had supposedly spent shopping with his son.
