Sentencing to begin in murder-for-hire
Man faces possibility of life in prison after conviction in plot
Leon Jacob, who was convicted Friday of two counts of solicitation of capital murder, faces the possibility of life in prison as jurors return to a Harris County courtroom to begin the punishment phase of his trial.
It will begin the final chapter of a trial that has fascinated Houstonians and led to international headlines because of the lengths investigators went to make the case, including photographing staged murder scenes and having an undercover Houston police officer masquerade as a contract killer.
Jacob, 40, hired the imposter hitman last March to kill Meghan Verikas along with Marion “Mack” McDaniel, the ex-husband of veterinarian Valerie Busick McDaniel. He was convicted for planning the double murder of his ex-girlfriend and the ex-husband of his new girlfriend,
Valerie McDaniel also was arrested in the scheme but killed herself days after being freed on bail.
Jacob for the past year has remained in jail without bail because state District Judge Jim Wallace ruled he was a danger to the community. When he was arrested in the plot, Jacob was free on bond on charges of domestic violence and stalking filed by Verikas when they broke up in February 2017.
Last week, Verikas gave emotional testimony that the breakup after their three-year relationship was “a long time coming.” When prosecutors asked her why she allowed police to ziptie her hands and wrap duct tape around her head so her mouth would be covered then photograph her, she sobbed, “Because somebody had been paid to kill me.”
Jacob can be heard on hours of audiotape while negotiating with the hitman that he wanted Verikas to “go away” so those
charges would go away.
Jacob faces the full range of punishment for a first-degree felony, from probation to life in prison. If sentenced to life, he would first be eligible for parole in 30 years.
Defense attorney George Parnham said he will call character witnesses, such as family and friends, to show that Jacob deserves probation.
“Based on his background, he’s a good candidate for probation,” Parnham said Friday. “We’ll go forward with witnesses who support our contention that the jury will probate this matter.”
Prosecutors are expected to call a string of witnesses to prove Jacob’s history of bad acts, including arrests for assaulting and threatening his ex-wife and other women he dated. He also is accused of stealing money from women.
And, according to court records, he lied constantly about being a transplant surgeon and even portrayed himself as surgeon when he met his ex-girlfriend while working in Pittsburgh. He apparently persuaded her to move to Houston, where his family lived, so he could work as a surgeon. He was never a licensed physician, and he testified he paid his bills with “family money.”
In August 2015, he was a contract worker for Methodist Hospital harvesting organs. He lost that job after mislabeling an organ destined for transplant and because of anger management problems.
It was at least the third hospital that had severed contacts with him. In 2009, the University of Texas Health Science Center canceled his contract for several reasons, including asking a chief resident to “make out” in a hall, lying while on morning rounds and telling a medical student about visits to prostitutes in Mexico, according to court filings by prosecutors.
Before that, a hospital in New York chose not to renew his contract in 2006 because colleagues complained he was a “potential threat to patients.”
The trial is set to continue Monday in Wallace’s court.