Judge is right: Siegler fell short of her duty to seek justice
In October 2010, former Harris County prosecutor Kelly Siegler appeared at a courthouse news conference in Brenham and declared another prosecutor’s misconduct in a 1992 capital murder case “the worst I’ve ever seen.”
Siegler, who had been appointed a special prosecutor in the case, helped exonerate former death row inmate Anthony Graves after her investigation showed Charles Sebesta hid evidence and threatened witnesses to win the conviction. Sebesta was finally disbarred last month.
The case was a turning point for Siegler. The tenacious prosecutor who had lost a bid for DA and long had been criticized by defense attorneys for her winat-all-costs style became better known as a tenacious pursuer of justice, wherever it may lead. She parlayed her new image into minor celebrity and a popular TNT show, “Cold Justice,” in which she and a co-star travel the country to solve cold cases.
But with a new season scheduled to start later this month, one of Siegler’s own cold cases has come back to haunt her. New revelations threaten to stain the heroic image Siegler sells on TV.
In a decision filed Wednesday, Judge Larry Gist found that Siegler’s failure to disclose, or timely disclose, dozens of facts, witness statements and other pieces of evidence violated David Mark Temple’s right to a fair trial. The former Katy high school football star was convicted and sentenced to life for the 1999 murder of his pregnant wife, Belinda.
An appellate court already had found numerous instances of prosecutorial misconduct in the trial and condemned Siegler’s tactics, but it ruled the errors weren’t prejudicial enough to grant a new trial.
Gist, a respected Beaumont judge appointed to hear new evidence in a late-stage appellate proceeding known as habeus, came to a different conclusion after sitting through 26 days of testimony involving 30 witnesses and more than 200 exhibits.
He found Siegler and an-
other prosecutor, Craig Goodhart, “intentionally, deliberately or negligently” withheld evidence from the defense. An appellate court must now consider Gist’s ruling.
Belinda Temple, a beloved Katy special education teacher, was found in her walk-in closet, shot in the back of the head at close range with a shotgun. Investigators quickly focused on her husband, who was found to be having an affair with a woman he would later marry. Initially, a grand jury that heard more than a dozen witnesses declined to indict Temple. Defense’s ‘hands tied’
Five years later, Siegler took over the cold case and had Temple arrested. At trial, she portrayed him as a “heartless” murderer while Temple’s attorney pushed the theory of an alternative suspect.
Gist’s ruling shows that Siegler kept under wraps information that supported that theory, leaving Dick DeGuerin to try “the case with his hands tied,” according to Stan Schneider, a veteran criminal defense attorney who led Temple’s habeus efforts.
Gist cited Siegler’s “constant resistance” to share evidence helpful to the defense, known as Brady information, as required by law. She called only a small number of investigators to testify because she didn’t want DeGuerin to have access to all of their reports. She waited until the middle of trial to share other exculpatory evidence, making it impossible for DeGuerin to investigate it.
Gist suggested that, at times, Siegler lied in court: She told the trial judge there wasn’t favorable defense information when there was, and, during the habeus hearing, she claimed she hadn’t listened to recordings that contained favorable defense facts when she had. Pivotal evidence ‘lost’
One of the most shocking revelations: Prosecutors didn’t disclose information about a recovered shotgun that closely resembled the type of weapon believed to have killed Belinda Temple. A deputy’s report on how and from whom the weapon was recovered was “lost, destroyed or never prepared,” Gist wrote.
Siegler didn’t return my call or email. But for years, she has dismissed Temple’s appeals and claims of innocence as a personal vendetta trumped up by DeGuerin. Siegler told the Chronicle in 2012 that DeGuerin’s “ego” can’t handle that she’s beaten him in court several times. Failing at justice
Gist suggested the rivalry affected both lawyers: “Both were famous, and neither could stand losing to the other.”
For his part, DeGuerin is glad to have his complaints validated.
“I don’t hate Kelly Siegler,” DeGuerin told me. “I just don’t like what she did in this case and what she’s done in other cases. There are over 30 findings of misconduct by her from this writ hearing and findings of fact and conclusions. And that’s astonishing.”
I’m not sure if Siegler’s sins rise to the level of Sebesta’s. He knowingly sent an innocent man to death row. Siegler probably believes in Temple’s guilt, but she let bias blind her.
Who knows if David Temple is innocent or guilty. A man who cheats on his pregnant wife isn’t a sympathetic defendant.
But I know this: Good prosecutors don’t have to cheat to win.
And for good prosecutors, winning is making sure justice is done. Siegler failed miserably.