Questions arise after suspect vanishes
Judge ordered GPS bracelet removed from man who police say confessed to killing his girlfriend.
Six months before a murder suspect vanished, the judge in his case sent an email to the prosecution and defense lawyers that raises questions about the decision to remove a GPS monitor- ing bracelet from him.
State District Judge Tamara Needles, on April 11, wrote a one-sentence message stating that she intended to order the device taken off Kevin Waguespack at the request of his attorney, who cited only “employment concerns.”
“I’m inclined to do that unless I hear objections,” Needles wrote the group, according to emails obtained by the American-Statesman.
About 40 m inutes later, Assistant District Attorney Bill Bishop, who received the email, responded that he was not assigned to Waguespack’s case. He copied the correct person so he and Needles could address the matter, which had also been previously discussed in court.
The next day — before prose- cutor James Booher had written Needles about his objections — Needles signed a one-page order removing the GPS bracelet as a condition of Waguespack’s bond, the emails show.
The decision by Needles, a former defense attorney who took the bench in January, is now under scrutiny after Waguespack, who police say had confessed to killing
his girlfriend, did not show up at a hearing late last week and is being sought by the U.S. Marshals Service.
In her final email to Booher during the April exchange, Needles wrote that she would consider a compromise if he offered one, but the exchange of messages show he did not respond.
On Tuesday, Needles said she could not comment on the matter because it is pending in her court.
But District Attorney Margaret Moore expressed frustration at the sequence of events, which she said has now prompted a hunt by the Marshals Service and other law enforcement for Waguespack.
“She made some sort of decision and was persuaded to take the action without input from the state,” Moore said. “I find that troubling and hope the practice won’t continue. We hope that judges consult us, and she did send an email asking. She just didn’t wait for a response.”
Waguespack, who had been released from jail on $250,000 bond, failed to report to a pretrial hearing Thursday. He is accused in the 2015 death of Catherine Dyer, his live-in girlfriend.
Booher said Tuesday that he learned a couple of months after the device had been removed when he received questions from Dyer’s family.
Waguespack’s attorney, Jon Evans, said he filed a motion asking Needles to remove the device in April because “my client asked me if I would.”
“There was no indication that anything like this would happen,” he said. “He showed up for every court date. He checked in with his bail bondsman every time they asked him to do so. He had already been in court, so I was stunned.”
Evans said that, prior to the emails, the matter had been discussed in court and that prosecutors at that time expressed their opinion about his request. Needles knew their objections, he added.
“It was absolutely discussed in court, and the state was there and I was there,” he said. “It wasn’t just discussed via email.”
Evans and others involved in the case say prosecutors had options to contest Needles’ decision, including filing a motion for her to reconsider or to seek for his bail amount to be increased. They also could have sought a hearing, they said.
Booher said he didn’t consider doing so at the time “because we felt like it would have fallen on deaf ears anyway.” He acknowledged that he also did not do so because Waguespack was attending court appearances on schedule.
According to an arrest affidavit, Waguespack called 911 in November 2015 to say he “killed his woman and her name is Catherine Dyer.”
Waguespack’s call came hours after police responded to a home in the 7500 block of Northcrest Boulevard and met with a 911 caller, who was a mutual friend of the couple.
The friend directed police to a bedroom, where Dyer was found dead with trauma to her head and body, police said. There was a rifle next to her bed, the affidavit said.
Police interviewed several neighbors, who said they heard a man and woman arguing outside and then later in the house. They also reported hearing things being thrown around inside.
Before he was arrested on the murder charge, police said Waguespack fled. He traveled to Mississippi where he was arrested after a short standoff with authorities.
Waguespack had been living with a friend in Manor while awaiting trial. He could now be charged with a third-degree felony for violating his bond conditions.