Trial begins in bizarre murder case
She is accused of killing husband, staging invasion
Sandra Melgar, a 57-year-old widow accused of killing her husband in 2012 and trying to cover it up, listens to opening arguments Wednesday. Sandra Melgar is accused of staging a home invasion and tying herself up to cover up the crime.
The Houston widow on trial for murder after being accused of stabbing her husband and staging a home invasion to cover her tracks, wiped her eyes and started sobbing Wednesday as prosecutors showed bloody crime scene photos of the dead man splayed out in the bedroom closet where he died.
Her reaction drew protests from the prosecutor and Sandra Mel gar was quietly admonished to maintain her composure.
The slight outburst happened in the middle of testimony from a crime scene investigator, the first witness in a trial that has garnered national media attention because of the bizarre allegations surrounding the crime.
Melgar, 57, is accused of stabbing her husband, Jaime Melgar, on the eve of their 32nd anniversary, tying her own ankles and hands behind her back, then somehow locking herself in a closet by wedging a chair under the outside door knob.
She was arrested more than a year after the Dec. 22, 2012, slaying, but police apparently tried to have charges filed against Melgar the day after the murder.
Detectives attacked
During opening statements Wednesday, defense lawyers for the widow criticized homicide detectives as biased and closed-minded for cutting corners in the investigation.
Attorney Mac Secrest said two Harris County sheriff ’s detectives interrogated Sandra Melgar while she was hysterical after the death of her husband, then taunted her for not helping him as he was being brutal ly stabbed.
“These two detectives made up their minds within two hours of getting to the scene,” Secrest told jurors. “Then they marshaled the evidence around their theory.”
Jaime Melgar, 52, was found on the floor of the closet in the master bedroom, stabbed 31 times with a knife from the kitchen downstairs. The defense has said there was a bloody fingerprint on the handle of a safe int he closet that police never tested.
Conflicting accounts
Prosecutor Colleen Barnett told the jury that Sandra Melgar came under suspicion after she gave conflicting accounts of what happened that night as her story “evolved” while talking to police.
“I don’t know that I have motive here, but there’s no way anything else happened,” Barnett told jurors. “She just brutally murdered her husband.” Barnett said there were no signs of forced entry, and no way for a burglar or home invader to get into the home.
Sandra Melgar was found by friends bound in the closet a day later. They said the garage door was open when they arrived.
Prosecutors believe the garage door was closed during the night and that Sandra Melgar opened it after the murder to bolster her story. The defense said the door was open though the night, and that is how an unknown assailant got in.
The trial, in state District Judge Kelli Johnson’s court, is expected to last about a week.
If convicted of murder, Sandra Melgar faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
“I don’t know that I have motive here, but there’s no way anything else happened. She just brutally murdered her husband.” Colleen Barnett, prosecutor