Possible suspect in man’s slaying never questioned
Testimony backs widow’s defense in murder case
Harris County sheriff ’s detectives investigating the 2012 stabbing death of Jaime Melgar never followed up on leads that a man — a convicted thief with a history of assault with a knife — was acting strangely at the crime scene, a former homicide investigator testified Thursday.
The damning revelation came to light as defense lawyers for Sandra Melgar worked to show that the investigation, led by a detective who was later fired from the sheriff’s office, was shoddy.
Sandra Melgar, 57, is standing trial for murder, accused of stabbing her husband then tying herself up to stage a phony home invasion on the eve of their 32nd anniversary. Friends arriving the next day for a party found Jaime Melgar’s body and Sandra Melgar tied up in the closet.
Prosecutor Colleen Barnett on Thursday raised the possibility that Sandra Melgar may have been motivated by a $500,000 life insurance policy on Jaime Melgar.
During his testimony Thursday, former homicide investigator Shawn Carrizal told jurors that television reporters alerted police to a neighbor who was acting peculiar at the crime scene on Dec. 23, 2012.
The neighbor, then 34, had been arrested for theft and was freed on bail two days before the slaying. He later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor theft. Carrizal testified that he and his partner knocked on that man’s door, but he did not answer.
The courtroom gallery, heavily populated with supporters of Sandra Melgar, erupted in laughter when Carrizal said he left his business card for the neighbor to call, but he never did. Investigators never followed up and never questioned the neighbor.
Carrizal’s testimony is the cornerstone of defense attorneys’ contention that the investigation can’t be trusted. Defense attorneys called the discredited detective as a witness after the prosecution rested Wednesday without calling him, the lead investigator on the case.
Defense lawyer Mac Secrest has said investigators, including Carrizal, focused on Sandra Melgar without looking for other clues or exploring the possibility of an intruder.
Secrest has said evidence, including a bloody fingerprint on the dead man’s safe, was never tested.
The defense has also said that evidence gathered by crime scene investigators was found in one of Carrizal’s filing cabinets at the sheriff’s office two years after Carrizal lost his job.
Carrizal was a veteran of the sheriff ’s office who left to become an investigator at the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. He was forced to resign after backdated search warrants were discovered, court records show.
He was rehired by the sheriff ’s office, but lost his job when officials found out why he had resigned from the DA’s office. The Harris County Sheriff’s Civil Service Commission sustained his termination, according to court records filed by Melgar’s defense counsel.
Carrizal was the only witness to testify Thursday and is scheduled to return to the stand Friday.
The murder trial in state District Judge Kelli Johnson’s court is expected to last into next week.