Jury selection begins murder-for-hire trial

Failed doctor, veterinarian girlfriend allegedly plotted to pay a hitman to kill their exes

A jury is set to be picked Monday in the murder-for-hire trial of Leon Jacob, a failed doctor who allegedly hatched a plot for a hitman to kill not only his past girlfriend but the ex-husband of his new girlfriend.

The murder-for-hire trial, in a city known for outsized crimes, likely will go down as a significant chapter in Harris County crime lore.

Jacob, a medical resident fired from the transplant unit of Methodist Hospital with a history of lying and domestic violence, was dating a successful and beloved Montrose veterinarian when they allegedly agreed to give a hitman $20,000 and two Cartier watches to kill their exes.

The veterinarian killed herself by jumping from her high-rise condominium just days after being arrested.

Jacob, 40, and Dr. Valerie Busick McDaniel, 48, were arrested last March after allegedly negotiating at an Olive Garden restaurant in River Oaks to pay $20,000 for a person they believed was a hitman to kill McDaniel’s ex-husband and kidnap Jacob’s ex-girlfriend for him to kill. The contract killer was, however, an undercover Houston police officer.

Prosecutors said they have audio tapes of Jacob that prove he was trying to kill a former girlfriend who had him arrested on charges of domestic violence.

However, Jacob’s defense lawyer, George Parnham, is expected to bring in experts in audio tapes, speech patterns and criminal law

to make the case that Jacob was a victim of entrapment. Parnham is a wellknown Houston attorney who represented Andrea Yates, the Clear Lake mother who drowned her five kids, and Clara Harris, the Clear Lake dentist who killed her husband by running over him in her Mercedes.

The trial, before state District Judge Jim Wallace, is expected to begin Monday, slightly more than a year after Jacob was arrested. He was charged with two counts of solicitation of capital murder with McDaniel.

The trial setting is surprisingly fast considering the Harris County criminal courts building has been closed since being flooded during Hurricane Harvey in August. Only a trickle of cases have been able to go to trial because of a shortage of courtrooms; the case is set for trial in the civil courthouse.

Years of problems

Since his arrest, Jacob has maintained his innocence. The judge has refused to grant him bail, saying in court that he was concerned that Jacob posed a risk to public safety. Jacob was free on bail on charges of stalking and threatening his ex-girlfriend when he allegedly tried to hire a hitman to kill her.

Wallace, who is retiring from the bench this year, is a veteran jurist whose comments about the case almost got him removed from it.

At a bail hearing last year, Parnham argued that Jacob was not a danger to his ex-girlfriend and still cared for her, an argument that prompted Wallace to say, “I mean, that’s why you hire a hitman.”

Parnham called the retort a “snarky comment” and tried unsuccessfully to get Wallace thrown off the case.

Jacob faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted of either of the two charges of solicitation of capital murder, a first-degree felony or aggravated kidnapping. If he is convicted, prosecutors have filed motions saying they plan to tell jurors about dozens of Jacob’s acts, including arrests for assaulting and threatening his exwife and other women he dated. He also is accused of stealing money from women.

And, according to court records, while he was employed at Houston’s Methodist Hospital, he lied about being a transplant surgeon. He was fired on Aug. 15, 2015, for mislabeling an organ for transplant and anger management problems.

It was 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.”

It is unclear if Jacob was working in the spring of 2017 when, prosecutors said, he and McDaniel paid a “facilitator” $10,000 to arrange the killings. Instead of finding a hitman, however, the facilitator went to the police.

After negotiating the deal, Jacob and McDaniel met with the “hitman,” who showed them photos of elaborately staged crime scenes purporting to show their exes had been killed, according to prosecutors. The couple was accused of paying $20,000 in cash and two Cartier watches in payment.

‘Case is solid’

Jacob allegedly wanted his ex-girlfriend kidnapped and put in a warehouse so he could kill her but then decided to let the suspected hitman handle the job. McDaniel was accused of trying to have her ex-husband — with whom she was entangled in a custody dispute — killed in a staged carjacking.

The undercover officer provided staged photos of the targeted victims that made it appear they’d been killed. The couple made the $20,000 payment after viewing the photos, prosecutors said.

Prosecutor Nathan Moss said it’s not unusual for officers to stage a crime scene, with victims wearing bloody makeup and posing for photos. He also said it was common to get evidence on tape.

“When we know there are going to be high-priced lawyers, we want to make sure the case is solid,” Moss said. “The Houston Police Department Major Offenders unit is very good at this.”

Jacob’s trial is expected to last at least a week.