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

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  • #261
Pi2016 said:
Ann, I think I found the answer. It looks like Temple claimed he went to the small park, and then they decided to go to Peckman but then Evan wanted to get a drink and go home instead. I found this in one of the appeal docs:

"According to appellant, he drove his blue, short-bed pickup truck to the small park in his neighborhood, Cimarron Park. Appellant testified that shortly after arriving at the park, he and E.T. decided to go to a larger park, Peckham Park, several miles away, north of I-10. Appellant claimed he stopped at a Brookshire Brothers grocery store north of I-10 where he purchased drinks and cat food. Appellant and E.T. were videotaped entering the store at 4:32 and leaving at 4:38. Appellant testified he then decided to go to Home Depot to look at shelving for the baby's room. Appellant and E.T. were videotaped entering Home Depot at 5:14 *583 p.m. but were not videotaped exiting the store."

Temple v. State, 342 S.W.3d 572 – CourtListener.com
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Yes, apparently Temple has told three versions of the park story—one where they went to the park in their neighborhood, one to Peckham park, which was further away, and one where they were going to go to the park but decided to get a drink at the store instead.
IMO The park story is baloney not only because you would not take a sick child to the park to play, but even more so because there is no way you could get an energetic toddler to leave the park after having only been there 5 to 10 minutes—and frankly, why would you? Makes no sense.
 
  • #262
  • #263
Ann-Tx said:
From the Houston Chronicle - Houston, TX
July 22, 2019

Testimony: Belinda Temple died of contact shot to the head
Click to expand...

So, the neighbor kid, high on pot, who had skipped afternoon classes and very well could have burglarized the home when both Temples would have been at work, waited to do so until one if not both of them was most certainly at home. Belinda was upstairs “resting“ with her glasses and shoes still on. She was in such a hurry to rest that she did not put the soup in the fridge and threw her keys on the stairs. She hears the burglar, grabs the phone and goes to hide in the closet but does not dial 911. Then she crouches on her knees with her back to the closet door. When he finds her, she is not facing him, so there is no risk of her identifying him. Still, rather than run or shoot from where he stands, he gets close enough to her to put the barrel to the back of her head and hold it there before pulling the trigger. He is certainly now in a hurry to get out of there but before he makes a run for it, he moves the clothes over to cover the blood and brains on the wall. He then runs from the house, not tracking any of the blood or brain matter he would have on him from standing that close to her through the house or out the door. Magically within that time period, he disposes of his bloody clothes, cleans the gun, and returns it back underneath the bed of the friend who was hiding it for him. That really all makes perfect sense. I can’t see how anybody could possibly think David Temple would be guilty.
 
  • #264
RE: Davd Temple retrial

KPRC (NBC) - Houston, TX had an update on their 6 PM (CDT) News today, Monday, 7/22/19.

3 neighbors testified today.

Riley Joe Sanders, III, who was 16 at the time of Belinda Lucas Temple's murder, testified today.

When asked by the Prosecution if he murdered Belinda Lucas Temple, Riley Joe Sanders, III replied, "No. I did not."

At this time, KPRC has not posted the news video to their website yet. If they did, I can not find it. I hope they post it later.
 
  • #265
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  • #266
My3Sons said:
Yes, apparently Temple has told three versions of the park story—one where they went to the park in their neighborhood, one to Peckham park, which was further away, and one where they were going to go to the park but decided to get a drink at the store instead.
IMO The park story is baloney not only because you would not take a sick child to the park to play, but even more so because there is no way you could get an energetic toddler to leave the park after having only been there 5 to 10 minutes—and frankly, why would you? Makes no sense.
Click to expand...

I don't think he went to any park that day I just couldn't figure out what his final version ended up being- and it looks like he stuck with going to the smaller park. I agree with you though, none of it makes sense.

And even worse, that manufactured Home Depot alibi-- meanwhile Temple couldn't have cared less about the shelving for the baby's room, and Belinda had gone to Home Depot herself the day before and got the brackets she wanted.

I hope all of this stuff is being pointed out to the jury.
 
  • #267
Pi2016 said:
I don't think he went to any park that day I just couldn't figure out what his final version ended up being- and it looks like he stuck with going to the smaller park. I agree with you though, none of it makes sense.

And even worse, that manufactured Home Depot alibi-- meanwhile Temple couldn't have cared less about the shelving for the baby's room, and Belinda had gone to Home Depot herself the day before and got the brackets she wanted.

I hope all of this stuff is being pointed out to the jury.
Click to expand...

He told versions of the park story the first night, before he knew the time stamp in the grocery store video. He was attempting to distance himself as long as possible from the house. Of course police canvassed both parks, but no one would say they’d seen him there.

Once they knew the time he appeared at the grocery store was 4:32, and that his dad said Belinda left their house at 3:55, but David had already told police he was home when she got there, I think he realized how improbable the park trip was, which is why he’s attempted to distance himself from it. Still, he passed at least one grocery store closer to the house in order to take Evan to the one they were seen at. Why? Because it was closer to wear he was going to drop the gun, IMO.

Also, I think his dad was mistaken on the time. David always said Belinda called to say she was on her way home. Cell phone records show that call made at 3:32. He also said, that first night, that she got home around 3:45. At trial he changed it to 4, which was self-serving of course. I think she was home before 4, he was worried a neighbor saw her arrive home, and that is why he said he went to the park before the grocery store.

Also, an interesting tidbit kind of hidden in “Shattered”: Brenda, Belinda’s twin, said David was obsessed with true crime shows. I think he learned just enough from them about staging a scene and establishing an alibi. I even think he forced Belinda onto her knees and killed her with a contact wound to minimize the cleanup. He planned this murder well in advance, though he was just waiting for the right opportunity to carry it out. MOO.
 
  • #268
My3Sons said:
He told versions of the park story the first night, before he knew the time stamp in the grocery store video. He was attempting to distance himself as long as possible from the house. Of course police canvassed both parks, but no one would say they’d seen him there.

Once they knew the time he appeared at the grocery store was 4:32, and that his dad said Belinda left their house at 3:55, but David had already told police he was home when she got there, I think he realized how improbable the park trip was, which is why he’s attempted to distance himself from it. Still, he passed at least one grocery store closer to the house in order to take Evan to the one they were seen at. Why? Because it was closer to wear he was going to drop the gun, IMO.

Also, I think his dad was mistaken on the time. David always said Belinda called to say she was on her way home. Cell phone records show that call made at 3:32. He also said, that first night, that she got home around 3:45. At trial he changed it to 4, which was self-serving of course. I think she was home before 4, he was worried a neighbor saw her arrive home, and that is why he said he went to the park before the grocery store.

Also, an interesting tidbit kind of hidden in “Shattered”: Brenda, Belinda’s twin, said David was obsessed with true crime shows. I think he learned just enough from them about staging a scene and establishing an alibi. I even think he forced Belinda onto her knees and killed her with a contact wound to minimize the cleanup. He planned this murder well in advance, though he was just waiting for the right opportunity to carry it out. MOO.
Click to expand...

I missed the info in Shattered about Temple and true crime shows. I too think everything was staged and planned. I would love to know how he explained on the stand WHY he went to Home Depot to get shelf brackets when he had ZERO interest before and Belinda already got them.

Another tidbit in Shattered is when Brenda told the jury the pet bowls in the garage were for Belinda's cat, not the dog, after DeGuerin tried to use the pic to prove the dog was in the garage. Brenda also told the jury Belinda wore glasses to drive, not to read.
 
  • #269
Pi2016 said:
I missed the info in Shattered about Temple and true crime shows. I too think everything was staged and planned. I would love to know how he explained on the stand WHY he went to Home Depot to get shelf brackets when he had ZERO interest before and Belinda already got them.

Another tidbit in Shattered is when Brenda told the jury the pet bowls in the garage were for Belinda's cat, not the dog, after DeGuerin tried to use the pic to prove the dog was in the garage. Brenda also told the jury Belinda wore glasses to drive, not to read.
Click to expand...

Yes I remember reading that too. Brenda really was a wealth of knowledge, and I think her testimony and her tapes of David on the phone helped seal his fate in the first trail. I will be shocked if she doesn’t testify in this one.

The thing about the dog being in the garage is, I don’t see how that helps his case. The garage was detached, so the yard was between the garage and the house. It’s not reasonable to believe that someone broke the glass in the door and the dog would not have heard it in the garage, and started barking. Nobody testified to hearing the dog bark.
Also, the people that said they’d seen the dog have “access” to the garage before talked about him coming and going between the yard and the garage, meaning the door was open. If he was coming and going between the garage and yard on the day of the murder, the killer would’ve been attacked by the dog...unless the killer was someone the dog knew and trusted.
 
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  • #270
  • #271
Ex-girlfriend: Former suspect sad about Belinda Temple’s death

A former suspect in the 1999 murder of Belinda Temple was sad about the Katy teacher’s death, his ex-girlfriend on Tuesday told jurors during the murder trial for the slain woman’s husband, David Temple.

Defense attorneys for David Temple have pointed to then-16-year-old Riley Joe Sanders III as the alternate suspect in the case. Sanders’ girlfriend from the time is one of several people who have testified for the prosecution in the trial and corroborated some of his activities on the day of Belinda’s death, Jan. 11, 1999.

Then-girlfriend Niki Biondo told jurors that Sanders spoke to her about the death of Belinda Temple, who was his teacher as well as his neighbor.

“He told me it was the one teacher that actually cared about him and wanted him to succeed,” Biondo said.

Sanders also wasn’t great at keeping secrets, she remembered.

“He would almost foam at the mouth — just spill everything out,” she said.

Defense attorneys have tried to establish that Sanders could have had a vendetta against Belinda Temple. The teacher told Sanders’ parents that he was skipping class, causing him to be stripped of his driving privileges.

Sanders testified to the jury on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning, avowing that he wasn’t involved in the murder. He cut class early on Jan. 11 and embarked on a quest to find marijuana, he said. Sanders told jurors that he fell asleep on his couch in the afternoon and woke up to see crime tape posted next door.

David Temple has maintained that he came home from the store with his 3-year-old son that day to find his wife shot to death in the closet of her master bedroom. His home was also burglarized, he said.

Sanders was associated with several friends who had committed a previous burglary, according to testimony.

Temple was found guilty of murder in 2007, but his conviction was overturned almost 10 years later when an appeals court found prosecutorial misconduct in the first trial.

Temple’s retrial is in the third week of testimony and is expected to last through July in state District Judge Kelli Johnson’s court.

[email protected]

Ex-girlfriend: Former suspect sad about Belinda Temple's death
 
  • #272
My3Sons said:
Yes I remember reading that too. Brenda really was a wealth of knowledge, and I think her testimony and her tapes of David on the phone helped seal his fate in the first trail. I will be shocked if she doesn’t testify in this one.

The thing about the dog being in the garage is, I don’t see how that helps his case. The garage was detached, so the yard was between the garage and the house. It’s not reasonable to believe that someone broke the glass in the door and the dog would not have heard it in the garage, and started barking. Nobody testified to hearing the dog bark.
Also, the people that said they’d seen the dog have “access” to the garage before talked about him coming and going between the yard and the garage, meaning the door was open. If he was coming and going between the garage and yard on the day of the murder, the killer would’ve been attacked by the dog...unless the killer was someone the dog knew and trusted.
Click to expand...

Well I think the dog was normally in the yard, that's where he was when Quinton watched him and Brenda also said the dog spent a lot of time outside- but when Temple broke the glass on the door for his staged break in he told police he found the door open. I think leaving the door ajar was part of the staging. If he had left the dog in the yard the dog would have wondered into the house and found Belinda's body and track blood around.
 
  • #273
Very interesting Twitter thread from the Houston Chronicle writer who has been covering the trial. Here are her tweets today in order:

Samantha Ketterer @sam_kett
David Temple trial is in recess until Monday. We should be nearing the end of prosecution witnesses, and start defense witnesses soon.

Samantha Ketterer @sam_kett
Possibly one of the most interesting parts of the David Temple re-trial is seeing how a group of Katy High School students got drawn in to the murder investigation in 1999 and after.

Samantha Ketterer @sam_kett
Much of this week has been testimony from the students, who are mostly corroborating the alibi of an alternate suspect (who lived next-door to the Temples and was also taught by Belinda).

Samantha Ketterer @sam_kett
The alibi: Alternate suspect, Riley Joe Sanders, skipped school the last class period of Jan. 11, 1999 to smoke weed with a friend. He smoked, drove around, tried to find more weed, and then fell asleep on his couch, he said.

Samantha Ketterer @sam_kett
These witnesses (Riley Joe Sanders included) aren't shying away from how much they skipped class and smoked weed. Their lives seem to have changed a lot in 20 years (married, kids, jobs), but what hasn't changed is that they're still dealing with the Temple case.

Samantha Ketterer @sam_kett
Riley Joe Sanders says he has nothing to do with the murder. But just some interesting tidbits: Temple said he found his wife dead in a burglarized home. RJS was friends with some kids who had committed an earlier burglary on one of their mom's boyfriend's home.

Samantha Ketterer @sam_kett
Belinda Temple was killed with a 12-gauge shotgun. Riley Joe Sanders had taken a 12-gauge shotgun from his father's safe sometime before the murder to go shooting with his friends. That gun was recovered & investigated. To this date, the murder weapon hasn't been found.

Samantha Ketterer @sam_kett
Something to note: Defense attorneys are trying to prove that RJS was angry at Belinda Temple for telling his parents how he skipped class. After that conversation, his truck was taken away.

Samantha Ketterer @sam_kett
Some gems from that part of testimony: Riley Joe Sanders' dad testified and repeatedly said he couldn't remember many details from 20 years ago, including names of detectives. He did remember one det. that he called, "Flat Top," because of a distinctive haircut.

Samantha Ketterer @sam_kett
Riley Joe Sanders tried getting weed from a neighbor on the day of Belinda's death, and the neighbor said that he didn't have any. "I just sold a little bit so I could smoke for free." BUT, "If I had some, they probably could have convinced me to front it to them."

Samantha Ketterer @sam_kett
The best friend who skipped 7th period with Riley Joe Sanders on Jan. 11, 1999, said he didn't have a preference as to what classes he would cut. "I was an equal opportunity skipper."

Samantha Ketterer @sam_kett
Lastly, defense attorneys played a song that one of the friends wrote years after the murder, referencing a “dark cloud over Katy.” He said it had nothing to do with Belinda's death. "There’s many dark clouds in katy, not just this one."

The tweet about the high school kids getting dragged into the case drew a response from none other than Kelly Siegler:

Kelly Siegler @SieglerKelly
Replying to
@sam_kett
So how ‘bout you write THAT!! We have all been saying that for the past 10 YEARS.
 
  • #274
  • #275
Here is a link to the original 48 Hours episode about the case: 48 Hours Mystery: The Guessing Game
This one first aired in 2008, is far less slanted towards one side than the more recent one, and features interviews with some of the people who also appear in Shattered.
 
  • #276
In the 48 Hours episode I linked above—they show multiple pictures, and even some video, of Belinda’s body as it was found in the closet. Two things that struck me:
1. In the 911 call, David says “I think she’s been shot, it’s blood everywhere.” Actually, there is barely any blood at all. She looks like she fainted or something (I took a screengrab, but I don’t know if it’s okay to post...it’s not graphic at all). There is absolutely no way he could’ve known she was shot.
2. She was found as she fell, face down. In the 911 call the operator tries to coax him into CPR multiple times to try to get oxygen to the baby. He says he tries but can’t because “her face is gone.” If he tried to do CPR, why is she face down? And why does he have no blood on his hands or clothing if he got close enough to her wounds that he knew he couldn’t do CPR?
 
  • #277
My3Sons said:
In the 48 Hours episode I linked above—they show multiple pictures, and even some video, of Belinda’s body as it was found in the closet. Two things that struck me:
1. In the 911 call, David says “I think she’s been shot, it’s blood everywhere.” Actually, there is barely any blood at all. She looks like she fainted or something (I took a screengrab, but I don’t know if it’s okay to post...it’s not graphic at all). There is absolutely no way he could’ve known she was shot.
2. She was found as she fell, face down. In the 911 call the operator tries to coax him into CPR multiple times to try to get oxygen to the baby. He says he tries but can’t because “her face is gone.” If he tried to do CPR, why is she face down? And why does he have no blood on his hands or clothing if he got close enough to her wounds that he knew he couldn’t do CPR?
Click to expand...

Yeah, a lot of eyebrow-raising questions there, also, in one of the appeal decisions, it was stated that (I believe) the coroner said once you moved her hair away from her head you could tell she had been shot - so how did DT know without having moved her hair before/during the 911 call?

Too many red flags...
 
  • #278
The trial is set to resume today. I imagine, since according to the press the PT is almost done with their list of witnesses, that David’s defense team spent the weekend thinking long and hard about whether or not to put on a case. I think the prosecutor worried they wouldn’t, which is why she proactively took on the reasonable doubt (RJS, the varying accounts of sounds in the neighborhood that day, etc.) in her case in chief. I’m no lawyer, but I think she’s made it tough for them to not put on a case at this point.
Time will tell...
 
  • #279
My3Sons said:
The trial is set to resume today. I imagine, since according to the press the PT is almost done with their list of witnesses, that David’s defense team spent the weekend thinking long and hard about whether or not to put on a case. I think the prosecutor worried they wouldn’t, which is why she proactively took on the reasonable doubt (RJS, the varying accounts of sounds in the neighborhood that day, etc.) in her case in chief. I’m no lawyer, but I think she’s made it tough for them to not put on a case at this point.
Time will tell...
Click to expand...

I was also wondering if Temple will testify again. That didn't work out so well for him first time around so I'm having my doubts, but still hope he does testify.
 
  • #280
Pi2016 said:
I was also wondering if Temple will testify again. That didn't work out so well for him first time around so I'm having my doubts, but still hope he does testify.
Click to expand...

I hope so too!! I agree with you though that he probably won’t.
 
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