Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Dad pleads for justice in Belinda Lucas Temple’s murder

Episode Date: March 16, 2017

David Temple spent a decade in prison after a jury convicted him of murdering his wife, but the former high school coach is free while a Texas DA decides if he’ll be tried again for Belinda Lucas Temple’s death. She was 8 months pregnant when killed by a shotgun blast in her Katy, Texas, home in 1999. Prosecutors argued her husband wanted to get rid of her so he could marry his mistress. The conviction was tossed when an appeals court ruled prosecutor misconduct denied Temple a fair trial. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. We the jury find the defendant, David Mark Temple, guilty of murder. The high school football coach from Katy was convicted in 2007 for killing his pregnant wife Belinda in the midst of an affair with a woman he later married. The conviction was thrown out, though, after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals found that the prosecutor in his trial withheld important evidence. This is Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. David Temple is out of jail. For now, a free man.

I hope my name is cleared once and for all and justice will be served. The family of Belinda Temple, the victim in this case, wants David Temple retried. A team of Harris County prosecutors is now reviewing thousands of pages of evidence and testimony to determine if Temple will stand trial a second time or if the charges against him will be dropped. An eight-month pregnant mother is found dead, seemingly executed in her own home. Now, how does that happen? When you don't have a sex attack, you don't have a real robbery, you don't have a real burglary, who, who, who would come in and murder a pregnant mom in her own home for no reason,

for no obvious reason, that is. Now, let's think this thing through. Did you know in an esteemed journal of medicine, it was determined, and I recall interviewing the doctor who created this study and questioning her, and I believe her, that the number one cause of death amongst pregnant women in our country is homicide. When I first heard that statistic, I could not believe it. The number one cause of death amongst pregnant women is homicide? What about preeclampsia?

What about a heart attack, a stroke, high blood pressure? Homicide? A pregnant mom murdered dead in her suburban Texas home. Why? If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm talking about Belinda Temple. Belinda Lucas Temple. Prosecutors say she was executed in the bedroom closet of their Katie home. January 11, she was eight months pregnant with a baby girl who she planned to name Baby Erin. This scene was staged. A random killer doesn't bother to stage the scene because they're not connected to the dead body.

They don't care. The person that stages the scene is a person connected to the victim. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. A jury said that her husband, the high school coach, murdered her. Right now, there is a heated battle going on in Texas. This case, after a jury convicted her husband, David Temple, of her murder, the case was reversed because of alleged prosecutorial misconduct. What misconduct? For instance, not handing over some statements and some other information to the defense in a timely manner. Yes, that's bad. Does it mean David Temple did not murder his wife?

No, it does not. And his unborn baby, Aaron. In fact, it's arguable he should go straight to the electric chair because that's two people under Texas law. The mom and the unborn baby. Eight-month baby Aaron still in her mommy's tummy. So let's think this thing through. Why are prosecutors

dragging their feet about whether they're going to retry David Temple? Listen to what Belinda's dad has to say and then decide. My daughter, Belinda Lucas Temple, who was eight months pregnant was murdered by her husband, David Temple in the Houston area of Texas. It nine years went by before we finally got him put in prison. Now, then he's served some time and he's been let out of bond to possibly get a new trial or possibly just turn loose. This is wrong. But there's somebody apparently has been bought off or something. I hope that Nancy and y'all can look into it and maybe do something to help.

I need lots of help, you know, if possible. She's a wife. She's deceased now. The stress from that, all of this has caused her to have a heart attack. And we were guests on Nancy's very first show. We talked about this murder.

His family was also on this part of the show. I hope that y'all can help me. It's so terrible to my daughter. She was eight months pregnant. She was executed, shot in the back of the head with a shotgun,

blown her brains all over the closet. Now then, he's been let out of prison for a possible new trial. And what is being done is injustice. They let him out on bond. He's waiting for a new trial. They're trying to decide whether they'll have a new trial or just turn him loose. This is not right i would like to have this story if you could update it and put it on you know it would be

appreciated it has been very difficult time over the last 18 years you You know, Alan, I can hardly stand to hear it. I just remember his family, her family so well. That was my very first headline news show. And I thought it was so awful and so wrong. And that was before I had children. And now to think that John, David, or Lucy could have been shot and killed while they were in my tummy, I just, I can hardly stand to even think about it. And what this family has gone through, Alan, 18 years of their lives have been stolen by David Temple. And I don't understand why he would have killed his wife anyway.

I never understood that. Yes, I know he had a mistress, but for Pete's sake, what about a divorce? To cause all this pain and now to think he can walk scot-free? Well, what's the holdup on a new trial, Alan? What's happening? Nancy, there's a new prosecutor in Harris County, Texas. She just took over this year, and she got the case. She said in a hearing just a few days ago that she needs about a month or two months to

make a decision. She's reviewing the whole case file. The controversy, and this is why Mr. Tom Lucas said, hey, somebody might be paid off, is there's a big controversy the family's worried about because they say the prosecutor is too close to the original defense attorneys and the appeals attorneys. In fact, they held a fundraiser earlier this month where they raised thousands of dollars for this prosecutor. The defense lawyers hosted it. And so that has the family in an uproar. Well, I understand, not that I agree with it, but I understand that candidates take contributions from all sorts of people, but to have the fundraiser hosted by the defense attorneys on this case, I mean, there may be no conflict of interest at all. Og may be doing her

job just as she should, but under the rules of ethics, you are to avoid even the appearance of impropriety, even the appearance. Not, hey, look, I'm doing the right thing. No, that's no. You are to avoid just the appearance of impropriety because it makes people lose faith in the justice system. Og may be perfectly on the up and up, but the appearance of impropriety, it's there. And I'm not saying she's doing anything wrong. What I'm saying is it just looks bad. And even if she goes forward with the prosecution,

they will always think it just looks bad. And if she were to lose this case and she tried it, people would forever think she threw the case. Guys, before we go any further into the facts of this case, I want to thank our sponsor that is making this discussion, this podcast, possible today. This podcast on behalf of the murder victim Belinda Lucas Temple and her baby Aaron. Simply safe. Home security is no longer just for the wealthy or the privileged. Now we can all afford it. It's $14.99 a month, and at simplysafe.com slash nancy, you get another 10% off.

I have my security system on when I'm home alone, and the children are at school, when I bring them home, when I'm not at home. Because, as I always say, I insist that you take my DVD player and my TVs, but I don't want anyone breaking in while my children are home. I see case after case after case where there's not an alarm system, and that has really affected me. I have been touched, let me say, by violent crime, and I don't want that to happen to anybody else. I really don't. So simply say thank you for being with us today and sponsoring us and making home security a possibility for everybody.

Now back to the murder of the earth, it still has the appearance of impropriety. And even if she tries the case, what if she were to lose? Because people would forever think that she threw the case somehow. Whether she did or she didn't, doesn't matter. It's the appearance of impropriety. And that is not the way prosecutors should present themselves or their cases. So what's the problem of handing it off to an independent prosecutor? That way, as I said, she looks good.

She's doing the right thing. She can still wear the white hat, for Pete's sake. And the case gets tried without any whiff of a foul aroma. Okay? So that's what needs to be done. And I really came to that conclusion after studying all of this and seeing the decision of my longtime friend, victims' rights advocate, Andy Kahn.

There in Houston, he was analyzing the case as well. And again, I remember Belinda's family so well. I have no doubt in my mind this case should go forward. Now, whatever happened the first time around when certain statements and other information was not handed over by the then prosecutor, Kelly? Kelly Siegler. Yeah, right. She was a great prosecutor. Well, screwed up on this. That's over with. Let's focus on what's happening now and what we can do to save this conviction and keep this guy behind bars. Well,

he's already gotten out on bond. He's walking free. Well, what if he's innocent? Hold on just a moment. Let me understand something, Alan. You do know the case was not reversed because the appellate court thought he was innocent, right? 36 instances of prosecutorial misconduct. Kelly Siegler did not turn over to the defense lawyers, resulted in not a fair

trial this man has not been convicted the defense has a theory he was convicted not anymore he was convicted at trial and appellate court reversed it i don't even know what you're saying he wants to be proven innocent he says now that it was a burglar. She walked in on a burglar. And the 36 instances of prosecutorial misconduct deprived his defense lawyers of the opportunity to defend him because the timeline would have been questioned by the phone records, the police reports, and the other evidence that they did not get to see before the trial. So this man legally is innocent or at least not guilty at this point. He wants to be declared innocent completely. He says it was a burglar. Yeah, you already said that. You're starting to repeat. And frankly, I got a lot of justice to seek. Don't really have time for repetition or redundancy. So let me just get to the facts. Yes, there was prosecutorial misconduct, and I agree with that.

Now, can you explain to me specifically, Alan, you're saying because these statements were not handed over, he, whatever in those statements would prove him innocent. He was in the park. Excuse me. I'm speaking. Give me one exact instance of how they prove him innocent. Phone records show that she was in a particular place at a particular time and that he was in the park with his son. Then I think it was a Home Depot they went to to get some shelving.

He's seen on the surveillance video the timeline that kelly siegler presented could be disrupted by a good defense lawyer with the evidence that she withheld okay again you're saying the timeline she presented could be disrupted by evidence she withheld what evidence evidence? How does it prove him innocent? Tell me. Phone records, the pinging of the phone towers, that sort of thing. Because the defense is contending that there was a teenager who lived down the street. And this is another thing.

They withheld police reports showing that this kid had burgled that home before. You don't jump up on my podcast and tell me there is evidence proving a man innocent and then when i ask you when i ask you what i didn't say proving i said that could help prove would disrupt the timeline you can't tell me now okay what the phone records show what phone records i just told you nancy phone records the defense? Phone records. I just told you, Nancy. Phone records. The defense would contend. I'm not a defense lawyer. Look, but they contend that those phone records help them.

This is part of the reason that it's hard for Kim Ogg to make a decision on retrial. So, bottom line, I'm hearing you. But, but, but, but but no offense, Alan, but you can't say this phone record shows that he is, for example, 30 miles away from home at the time she was killed. And we know the time she was killed by the medical examiner, and this refutes that. You can't give me a specific instance of how he could have. Yes, 3.30 in the afternoon. The phone record said she was at a certain. No.

Okay. I don't have the phone records in front of me. But there are 36 instances where there were police reports that were hidden from the defense. And the whole idea. When you say hidden. When you say hidden. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. When you say hidden, didn't the appellate court say not turned over?

Because I don't know. I can tell you, I don't know the truth of this. I recall I was prosecuting a double murder. And the defense called me in in front of the judge and said, she's hiding some statements. I'm like, no, I am not hiding anything. You've got my whole entire file. You've got everything. And they went, no, there's another statement. I'm like, well, whatever it is, I don't have it. Well, as it turned out, APD Homicide had given me their file and they had a statement sitting at their office I didn't know about. Now, did the statement prove anything? No. But still, there was a statement that had not been handed over.

Not because of me. But long story short, it got handed over months and months and months before trial. Probably over a year before trial. Long story short, I'm asking you, in this case, you're saying she, Kelly Siegler, hid a statement from them. Well, police investigated other suspects and had reports on other, including a woman in that town who told police she thought her husband was involved. And he had a shotgun just like that. But they never told the defense about this. I'm trying to ask you a specific question, Alan, before you so rudely

interrupted. My question was about your assertion that Kelly Sigler hid, actively hid the evidence. Did she hide it or did she not turn it over? She said she didn't turn it over because she, this one particular thing, because she didn't think it was credible. But that is not the law. The other technique that she used, this is a Texas credible. But that is not the law. The other technique that she used, this is a Texas prosecutor's technique that is now outlawed by the legislature in Texas, where the prosecutor would only call one or two of the investigators thinking because if you don't call all of the investigators, you don't have to turn over the other investigators work, their police reports that might not help you. So you don't call to turn over the other investigators' work, their police reports that might not help you.

So you don't call those investigators to the stand to testify. That's now been outlawed. But she used that technique, and that was another one of the problems. So the defense didn't have a fair trial. Okay, try to answer my questions. Just try, okay? I'm going to go back to my first question that you avoided. And that is, did she hide evidence or not hand it over? Did not turn it over.

Okay. So let's correct your earlier statement that she actively hid evidence. That's hiding it. That's hiding it. No, it's not. I just gave you an example. The defense didn't know about it. Okay.

You know what? But she knew about it. I'm kicking you off the podcast. I'm kicking you off the podcast. I'm kicking you off the podcast. Oh, Nancy. So I just gave you an example of how a statement cannot be handed over, and nobody intended for that to happen. But you know what?

Actually, that's neither here nor there. The fact that the statements were not handed over is illegal under the law. So they had to be handed over. And even if she thought that this teenager was irrelevant, it still has to be handed over because it could be exculpatory under Brady v. Maryland. You have to hand it all over. So, okay, we're to the point where there's going to be a new trial. Okay, granted, she screwed up for whatever reason, and there has to be a new trial. So my question is, now, here we are,

there's no use in arguing over what Kelly Siegler did or did not intend, because here we are. Now, why isn't there a new trial? That's question this prosecutor has to make the decision she says we're going to have it within maybe this month maybe a few weeks from now was david temple having an affair at the time of the murder yes david temple had a mistress a woman that he married two years later just a few weeks after his wife was murdered, he sent her flowers and I think even candy on Valentine's Day. And then he married her. So, yes, he's having an affair, but that is not a capital crime. And now she is the current Mrs. Temple.

Oh, wait. Now, that's certainly putting perfume on the pig. Just because his wife gets murdered and he later, years later, marries his mistress, you think that makes it okay? No. I think it makes it okay? No. I think it makes it actually look worse for him. I don't care. I don't really care how it looks. I'm just saying that does not justify what happened. Now, let's talk about what we do know. We know ballistics testing was impossible, but investigators know she was killed by, it's actually a 20, it's either a 12 or a 20 gauge. It's a 12 gauge double lock.

And a specific type of shell. Now the shell, which had been fired at least once and then reloaded, was filled with 00 backshot. Now that's buckshot, that's large balls that are packed together with wadding and gunpowder. For weeks after the shooting of Belinda, police investigated a teen, as Alan correctly pointed out, who lived in the neighborhood. They also investigated his friends, and they recovered several 12-gages, and they reloaded the shells. Now, it was very important that Siegler should have turned over that information. Now, even though none of that information suggested the teens were responsible, the defense should have at least known about it. Police also looked into reports of other suspects, including that Katie woman who told police her husband was involved.

Police interviewed the husband. They took his 12-gauge ammo reloading equipment. It turned out to be not credible. It was turned over, however, 11 days before trial. The defense got that information, Alan, that you're talking about. Yeah, but not soon enough. Come on.

But you led us to believe It was a Brady violation. You led me to believe that, well, the listeners, to believe that that information was never handed over, but it was. It was a Brady versus Maryland violation. That was found on the appeals.

36 of them, Nancy. 36. Three dozen. You led us to think that husband was not handed over. He was, and he had been questioned. But long story short, let's talk about the evidence that we do know. Let's talk about the evidence that we do know about. What do we know about Belinda Lucas's crime scene?

We know that it was very grisly. Pieces of her head all in the closet and her clothes in her closet. Just horrific. And whoever it was, reloaded? No, no. The reloading is the shell was a reused shell is what that was. I see what you mean. Right.

Are you sure? It was a reused shell, which is a thing that hunters do. You know, you can get a little machine and reload your own shells at home. I've done it. What else do we know about the crime scene? It was in her closet of her bedroom. The defense says that it looks just like a burglary, that she interrupted a burglary when she came home. Why do you say it looks like she interrupted a burglary?

I don't say she, the defense says that. And they think that this new evidence that they're going to get, if they do go to a trial, will help them prove that. I agree with the family on this, that there needs to be a new trial. You and I both agree on that, and that it needs to be a special prosecutor, someone who's not directly involved. Okay, let's just talk about what we know then. Belinda Lucas and coach husband David Temple were actually classmates at Stephen Austin University in Texas. David goes on to become a high school coach. She's a teacher. They get married. They have one little boy. When their child was three years old and Belinda was 30 and eight months pregnant, she was killed by one gunshot blast to the head. A 12-gauge shotgun was never found. For many, many years, this case remained unsolved.

Finally, investigation reveals a history of cruelty by Belinda's husband. At that time, he was a respected member of that Texas community. Now, we also know that Kelly Siegler, the prosecutor in the case, later became part of a TNT network show called Cold Justice. Despite having one of the best lawyers in Texas, Temple was convicted. What do we know about the actual crime scene? We know that the crime scene looked staged. We know that there was no sex attack and no robbery. So what would a possible motive have

been, Alan? A burglar who was caught in the act and shot her. Look, I don't know that David Temple's innocent. I'm not suggesting that he is. I'm saying he just isn't convicted until he gets a fair trial. What do we have to do in order to help bring about a fair trial? What can be done? Well, Nancy, Harris County, Texas District Attorney Kim Ogg is making a decision very soon about if the Temple murder case will be retried or if the murder charge against David Temple will just be dropped. And if there is a new trial, Og must decide if it will be handled by her office or turned over to an independent prosecutor. Crime Stories listeners can call her office and weigh in at 713-274-5800. That's 713-274-5800. And we'll also post this number

on our Crime Online story. You know, she was fully clothed, which supports my theory that she was not sex assaulted. She was still wearing her shoes even, but significantly she was wearing a watch, a bracelet, a necklace, and rings on both hands. Her cordless phone was found near her hand. Her glasses were found broken on the ground near her. And from the very beginning, police did not believe David Temple's story made any sense. Judging by all the gold jewelry and electronic items found at the scene, there was no theft. There was no burglary.

But for so long, there was nothing to go on, and the case went cold. Now, people who knew both David Temple and Belinda Lucas say they were a great couple. They were great parents, but it seemed that things changed at the second pregnancy. They gave the appearance of being very, very happy, but that would only help the defense, right? Because you wouldn't believe a husband would kill his wife if they were so happy. Now, we discover before trial that he claims Belinda is the love of his life, but he had just lied to his wife about New Year's Eve, saying he had a hunting trip. Instead, he was out having sex with a fellow teacher named Heather.

So that's where it all starts. He says, oh, he knew the affair was wrong, but he still loved Belinda, and he would never have hurt her. But this jury believed that David Temple killed his wife, and in stages that seemed to look like robbery. There was some broken glass at the scene. They also think that after the murder, he then intentionally caught running a bunch of ridiculous errands on videotape that he didn't really need to even run to try to establish an alibi. And that it was all to try to forge a new life with his true love, Heather. So you have the family mourning, trying to cope with the loss, the murder of Belinda,

and he goes and gets married to another person. To me, the whole thing is staged, and statistically, Alan, a random killer does not stage the murder scene. You only do that when you're connected to the victim. Right now, we are calling on Prosecutor Ogg in Texas on behalf of the family and on behalf of crime victims across the country to please appoint an independent prosecutor. Do the right thing. If the case goes back to trial and it's lost, so be it. But at least the family will know without a doubt that justice was obtained. Please hear our voices and appoint an independent prosecutor in the next prosecution of David Temple.

Again, I want to thank our sponsor, SimpliSafe, for making our podcast and us Seeking Justice possible today. SimpliSafe makes home security affordable for everyone now. Go to SimpliSafe.com. Everyone, please join me in asking the prosecutor in David Temple's case to appoint an independent counsel. We want justice. Goodbye, friend.