Murder convict's lawyer calls DA's office 'schizophrenic'

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A convicted killer's legal team convinced a judge Wednesday to listen to new evidence, and weeks ago convinced the Harris County district attorney to hire a special prosecutor.

With those two wins in their pocket, David Temple's legal team now wants the DA's office thrown off the rest of the case entirely. It's the latest move in an effort to get Temple out of prison after he was convicted of murdering his wife, Belinda.

This, by now, is a 13 and a half year old murder case. But the alleged new evidence was apparently just discovered this summer. And on Wednesday, the defense team called the DA's office "schizophrenic" and tried to convince a judge to move the DA's office and all its case knowledge off the case.

For convicted killer David Temple's family this is about one thing -- "Freedom," as Temple's mother said as the elevator door closed.

"David Temple has been in prison for five years and he's an innocent man," said Dick DeGuerin, Temple's lawyer.

That's not what a jury said five years ago. And it's not what Belinda Temple's still grieving brother says now. We reached him by phone from north Texas.

"David Temple was found guilty and he needs to stay in the penitentiary for the rest of his life," Brian Lucas told us.

But Dick DeGuerin wants David Temple out now, and he's closer to that wish now than he's ever been. DeGuerin, Temple's original defense lawyer, assembled a team for this latest appeal that includes a former Harris County homicide chief who took the new evidence to an old colleague at the DA's office. Weeks later, the DA agreed to hire a special prosecutor. According to two DA sources, this is the first time DA Pat Lykos has ever done that during her four years in office.

"My role is as an outside, if you will, investigator," said special prosecutor Brad Beers.

And while that special prosecutor investigates the alleged new evidence and possibly charges two teenage burglary suspects with murder, DeGuerin Wednesday asked a judge to order the entire DA's office off the case, saying it can no longer be impartial. DeGuerin's team though would still be allowed to talk to the special prosecutor.

"I think the special prosecutor becomes an arm of the defense team," said Paul Doyle, Temple's lawyer.

The judge didn't rule on DeGuerin's request. All this is very different from virtually every other murder case ever tried in this courthouse. And this new path leaves the victim's family feeling trapped.

"I wish some day this would all just go away, this would end for the family. But I don't think it ever will," Brian Lucas said via phone.

The DA's office issued a statement late Wednesday afternoon saying it is handling the case appropriately. They're standing behind the conviction in the appeals courts while at the same time employing that special prosecutor to question it. Dick DeGuerin calls it "schizophrenic." In their statement, the DA's office calls it the right thing to establish the truth.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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Coast Guard: Similarities in Texas, NJ hoax calls

  NEW YORK -- The Coast Guard believes there could be a link between a hoax distress call reporting a yacht explosion off New Jersey earlier this month and a mayday call in Texas last month, an official said Wednesday.

There's no guarantee it was the same man making the calls, but "enough similarities" in the voice and phrasings have led the Coast Guard to investigate the possibility, Capt. Gregory Hitchen said.

A voice expert has been analyzing the calls.

"The voices are indeed similar," the captain told a news conference.

The New Jersey hoax call came in around 4:20 p.m. on June 11. The caller claimed there were three dead, nine injured and 20 in the water off Sandy Hook, N.J.

Nothing was found, and authorities later determined the call came from land.

On May 20, the Coast Guard searched for six people reported missing after a mayday call saying they were abandoning their sinking fishing boat in the waters off Galveston, Texas.

Hitchen said similarities between the two calls include the fact that both came over a high-frequency channel to the Coast Guard "vessel traffic service," not the search and rescue center usually used for distress calls.

The caller in both cases said he was using a "beacon" to describe a hand-held automatic signaling device.

The captain said the caller used "unique language." In addition to words like "souls" describing those supposedly on board, the man in both calls said his antenna was down, and he therefore could not give a precise position. And in both cases, the Coast Guard was told that the people on board were getting into an orange life raft.

Hitchen said the cost to taxpayers of responses to false distress calls runs into thousands of dollars, at least. The "Blind Date" yacht rescue effort topped $300,000, he said. He had no immediate estimate for the Galveston rescue operations, which lasted 36 hours.

The captain said Coast Guard investigators noticed that details in the calls indicated the man "knew a lot about internal Coast Guard operations that you wouldn't find from a typical boater."

But he said he doesn't believe the perpetrator ever worked for the Coast Guard, because of terms like "souls" a mariner doesn't usually use.

Hitchen said all such hoaxes "divert assets from real emergencies."

During rescue efforts for the "Blind Date" hoax, there was one other distress call reporting a person in the water off Bayonne. The Coast Guard responded but found no one. They didn't have a problem mobilizing personnel because it was a small incident, but Hitchen said that if the agency had to respond to a more serious situation at the time, it would have been a scramble.

He said it's important the public be aware of these developments, "so we can generate new leads."

Without witnesses, Hitchen said it's very difficult to solve such cases, but hoax perpetrators "do brag about it in certain cases" -- and he hopes that might happen again.

If you have any information, you can call U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service at 212-668-7048 or 646-872-5774.

(Copyright ©2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) Get more National/World »

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HISD teacher calls boy a derogatory name

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The parents of an elementary student are asking HISD to fire, or at least suspend, a teacher because of what she said to their son.

The teacher admits calling the boy a derogatory name. HISD wont say what motivated the verbal attack.

When nine-year-old Tony Torres was younger, he lost almost all his hearing. His speech development was delayed and as a result, his parents say, so were some of his academic skills.

Tony gets extra attention at HISD's Wainwright Elementary to help. But he came home from there one day this month in tears after one of his teachers called him a name.

"She mumbled the word 'dumbass' and he heard her," said his mother, Patricia Gutierrez.

Tony told his mother the teacher became frustrated over his handwriting. He says he wasn't sure what to think of the verbal assault from a teacher he really likes.

"I felt like sad, and I just don't want to fire the teacher because she's like so nice to me," Tony said.

Tony's father, Jose Torres, though is calling for her termination.

"I would think that she would be fired, because something like that to a kid could really damage them. Just a single word like that could make him think that that's what he is," he said.

HISD says the teacher admitted using the word "dumbass." An HISD spokesperson says she has been, "officially reprimanded for using inappropriate language with a student." But she has not been fired or even suspended.

"No, that's not enough," Jose Torres said.

"Kids get suspended and punished when they do things wrong. Why isn't it like that with teachers when they verbally abuse the child?" Gutierrez added.

The parents moved Tony away from that teacher, and HISD agreed to have other teachers at Wainwright work with him. But that didn't happen over the past two weeks. As a result, his parents say he was never pulled from class for additional instruction as he should have been, missing 30 hours of one-on-one time.

Tony's parents want an apology, while Tony just wants everyone to be friendly again.

"Every day I just say hi to her," Tony said.

Late Friday afternoon, Wainwright's principal met with the parents to work out a plan to help tony recoup those hours of instruction lost.

(Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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Escapee calls deputies to come arrest him

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A man who escaped from Harris County deputies' custody on Thursday afternoon is now behind bars.

The suspect was detained in the 1700 block of FM 1960 shortly before noon Thursday for questioning about a robbery earlier in the week. But as he was getting ready to be transported to the HCSO Cypresswood Substation at 6831 Cypresswood, the handcuffed suspect ran away.

Deputies set up a perimeter around the Wimbledon Estates neighborhood but couldn't find the man.

But on Friday, the suspect called the Harris County Sheriff's Office and asked for deputies to come get him. He was arrested around 6pm Friday and is now facing a felony escape, even though he'd been wanted only for questioning before.

The suspect was arrested in the same area from which he escaped.

(Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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