GUILTY TX - Belinda Temple, 30, pregnant, Katy, 11 Jan 1999 *Guilty again in 2023*

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Pi2016 said:
I had the same thought about her love for Evan.

But at the end of the day, shouldn't Evan know the truth? In fact, I wonder if he has doubts deep down? Poor kid/now man. SMH he didn't deserve any of this, especially the fact that his father is a murderer.
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Completely agree he should. Especially now that he's a grown man and married himself. However, he was never allowed contact with Belinda's family after her murder, and I wouldn't put it past the Temple family having manipulated him into believing his Daddy is innocent and his mom's family is the enemy. Likely he has no memories of his mom, and I can't imagine much was done to keep her memory alive for him as he grew up. So sad. If there is any hope of him ever seeing the truth, it will come from Heather. He thinks she's his mom, and he loves her, that is clear. MOO.
 
Pi2016 said:
I completely agree with you on this- Temple had PLENTY of time! This is infuriating to me considering how extremely hard it is for people to get convictions reversed, even when they have legit innocence claims, and Temple gets it on IAC with DeGuerin of all people!
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Temple really didn't get another trial based on IAC; in the CoCA opinion agreeing with Gist in the habeas filing, the court said (page 11):

"Therefore, to the extent that defense counsel's performance could even be viewed as deficient, such deficiency was the direct result of the State's Brady violations. We therefore decline to grant relief based on Applicant's ineffective assistance claim. particularly since there is no cause to, since we are granting relief based upon Applicant's Brady violation claim."

TEMPLE, DAVID MARK Appeal from 178th District Court of Harris County (original by judge richardson)
 
geevee said:
Temple really didn't get another trial based on IAC; in the CoCA opinion agreeing with Gist in the habeas filing, the court said (page 11):

"Therefore, to the extent that defense counsel's performance could even be viewed as deficient, such deficiency was the direct result of the State's Brady violations. We therefore decline to grant relief based on Applicant's ineffective assistance claim. particularly since there is no cause to, since we are granting relief based upon Applicant's Brady violation claim."

TEMPLE, DAVID MARK Appeal from 178th District Court of Harris County (original by judge richardson)
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I’ve discovered there are two published opinions from the CCA ruling. The one you linked, and one I linked previously that actually discounts the Brady violations and says DeGuerin was ineffective, maybe in part due to his trying to play catch-up with KS’s late disclosures. Interesting.
 
My3Sons said:
I’ve discovered there are two published opinions from the CCA ruling. The one you linked, and one I linked previously that actually discounts the Brady violations and says DeGuerin was ineffective, maybe in part due to his trying to play catch-up with KS’s late disclosures. Interesting.
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:) What you linked was a concurring opinion by "Y. Eary, J." of the habeas opinion reversing the conviction, agreeing with the end but getting there with a differing view of the reasons to reverse. I also found a dissenting opinion of the first appeal (I haven't read that yet):

David Mark Temple v. State – CourtListener.com
 
geevee said:
:) What you linked was a concurring opinion by "Y. Eary, J." of the habeas opinion reversing the conviction, agreeing with the end but getting there with a differing view of the reasons to reverse. I also found a dissenting opinion of the first appeal (I haven't read that yet):

David Mark Temple v. State – CourtListener.com
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I noticed there were two dissenting judges to the conviction reversal, but they did not publish an opinion. I wish they had! I would’ve loved to read that.
 
My3Sons said:
I noticed there were two dissenting judges to the conviction reversal, but they did not publish an opinion. I wish they had! I would’ve loved to read that.
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I would love to see that habeas hearing, with Siegler on the stand for 4 or 5 days! Given how she handled disclosure, I'm not opposed to the reversal, I think we all agree a fair trial with timely (and full) disclosure is job 1, otherwise how can there be confidence in any conviction?
 
Ann-Tx said:
From KHOU (CBS) - Houston, TX
Published: 8:42 AM CDT July 12, 2019
Updated: 6:49 PM CDT July 12, 2019

Heather Temple files for divorce from David Temple in middle of murder trial
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I was wondering where Heather was. This kind of makes sense, though. David was in prison for a good chunk of their marriage. Heather basically raised Evan and probably did whatever she wanted. I doubt she was all that thrilled when David got out of prison. Her life was probably pretty good without him and we all know about his temper.
 
Ksprincess2 said:
Can someone explain to me why Heather raised Evan? Seems like when David went to jail Belinda's family should have had custody of him instead of Heather.
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I know next to nothing about this case, but random thoughts:

Did Heather adopt him after marrying David?

Evan would’ve been at least 9-10 when his father went to jail, assuming he was incarcerated from the time of arrest. He would’ve been closer to 11-12 if David wasn’t incarcerated until after his trial. If Evan was closer to 12, he would’ve likely had some say in who he lived with.
 
Ksprincess2 said:
Can someone explain to me why Heather raised Evan? Seems like when David went to jail Belinda's family should have had custody of him instead of Heather.
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Belinda was murdered in 1999 and David was not arrested until 2004. So, until David’s arrest Evan lived with his surviving parent and Heather, his dads new wife. David and Heather allowed Evan no contact with Belinda’s family. I would assume when David was arrested it made sense to leave Evan with Heather since she had been his “mother” all that time. I don’t know if the Lucas’ ever attempted to get custody or visitation.

It is, in some ways, one of the saddest aspects of this case. IMO, Evan was raised as if Belinda never existed. The woman he calls mom is the woman his dad murdered his mom for. A woman, IMO, that lied for and protected his dad and knows way more than she’s ever told about his mother’s murder. I am hoping against hope Heather has seen the light and will tell us what she knows when she testifies this time.
 
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