Ex-prosecutor responds to new allegations of misconduct in football coach's murder conviction

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Kelly Siegler had a reputation as a tough prosecutor, but defense attorneys say she broke the rules and now an innocent man is in prison.

Attorneys for a former Katy football coach convicted of murdering his wife are accusing the former Harris County prosecutor of hiding evidence. Now that former prosecutor is speaking out as David Temple demands a new trial.

This is part of a rough and tumble courthouse maneuver to get a convicted killer out of prison. The allegations of prosecutorial misconduct have been raised before and the prosecutor has come out clean. The prosecutor tells Eyewitness News she didn't hide anything and she says some of the alleged new evidence is made up by defense attorneys.

David Temple has been in prison nearly five years.

"Find the defendant, David Mark Temple, guilty of murder," read the judge at the time.

In November 2007, a jury convicted the 44-year-old father of killing his pregnant wife, Belinda. On Tuesday, Temple's lawyers were back in court claiming Temple is innocent and demanding another trial.

"We're gonna be back tomorrow," said Dick DeGuerin, Temple's lawyer.

This is their fifth attempt at an appeal on a case DeGuerin can't or won't let go of. This, after the first appeal in 2008.

"I made a pledge to David Temple that I will never give up," DeGuerin said back on January 14, 2008.

Temple's legal team says now, as they've said in the past, that prosecutor Kelly Siegler was too aggressive in her prosecution of Temple and hid evidence key to his defense.

"I am always aggressive, but as far as withholding evidence, exculpatory information, Brady evidence, that did not happen," Siegler told us.

The defense claims to have uncovered new evidence pointing to an old suspect -- Riley Joe Sanders, Temple's teenage neighbor. The defense says a witness came forward this summer saying, "Sanders admitted committing the burglary of the Temple home on January 11, 1999, and admitted to shooting his shotgun during the burglary."

Sanders testified in the first trial and the jury still convicted David Temple, but the defense now says they "did not know that (a) detective told a grand jury that Sanders was one of two suspects in the murder investigation... the other suspect was Temple."

"It didn't happen," Siegler said.

Now David Temple is in prison for life. Siegler has since retired from the DA's office. The teenage suspect has a new lawyer and new allegations to fight. And a case that was supposed to be settled by a jury verdict five years ago, isn't even close to settled.

"There were hundreds of little pieces of evidence that pointed toward one person and one person only, and that's David Temple," Siegler said.

On Wednesday morning, Temple's lawyers will lay out their new evidence to the judge who will eventually decide on the new trial.

At the same time, we're told the investigator working with the DA's special prosecutor has already sought to question suspects implicated by the new evidence. Suspects Siegler says were cleared years ago.

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

katy, local, ted oberg

View the original article here

Reward offered in case of vandalism of Pearland ISD's The Rig football field

  PEARLAND, TX (KTRK) -- A reward is now being offered for information leading police to the persons responsible for damaging the football field at the 'The Rig' in Pearland.

On Monday evening, vandals hit tore up Pearland High School's field at the stadium near Pearland Parkway and South Main Street. A soccer coach arrived Tuesday morning and found the field turf cut in the middle of the field.

The dollar amount of the damage done is not known, Pearland police say, but could easily be in the thousands of dollars.

Police are investigating the vandalism. They will look at video from security cameras around the stadium.

A private citizen is offering a $1,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the subjects responsible.

Anyone with information is asked to call Det. Jernigan at 281-997-4144 or Brazoria County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-460-2222.

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

pearland, local
// perform JavaScript after the document is scriptable.OTV.common.modules.promoCarousel.promoCarouselInit("/ktrk/xml?id=5758258&ptnr=promoCarousel");

(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");

View the original article here

History of Houston Football

Houston has a rich and proud history of professional sports. With football being such an important part of life in Texas, the city of Houston boasts a rich tradition of professional football going back 50 years. With the loss of the Oilers in 1996 it was only a matter of time before pro football would be restored to the city and its loyal fans.

The first professional football team in Houston was the Houston Oilers. The team was started in 1959 by owner Bud Adams who was also a co-founder of the AFL. The Houston Oilers took part in the first ever AFL championship match and beat the then Los Angeles Chargers to claim the title. The oilers and their fans continued to enjoy many years of football in Houston before their owner decided to unceremoniously move the team to Tennessee in 1996 with the lure of a new state of the art stadium which they moved into in 1998. Despite huge public outcry against the move the owner decided to move the team anyway and pay millions to the city of Houston for damages for the loss of the team to the city. With football being such a huge part of Texas it would not be long before professional football would be returned to the city of Houston and their great and loyal fans. However, it was not easy to get a new team and many obstacles had to be overcome before the NFL would grant Houston with a new franchise.

In 1997 the now current majority owner Bob Mcnair began a push to bring professional football back to Houston by establishing a new organization called Houston NFL Holdings. In 1998 the NFL announced that it had narrowed its search for a new location for its 32nd franchise to three possible locations. These were Toronto, Los Angeles and Houston. Los Angeles quickly became the front runner to get the new franchise mainly because of its huge media market. Houston officials announced that they would build a new domed stadium as part of their plan to compete for the new franchise. At the same time entertainment guru Michael Ovitz announced plans to a new state of the art stadium in Los Angeles. Both Mcnair and Ovitz would put pressure on the NFL to make a decision on the new franchise by early 1999 so as to keep public support from waning. Meanwhile Ovitz would receive competition in his own market from real estate developer Ed Roski whose proposal involved renovating the Los Angeles coliseum.

In early 1999 the NFL owners voted in favor of Los Angeles with their decision being contingent on the city putting together an acceptable ownership team and stadium deal. If they were not able to accomplish this, the NFL announced it would then turn its attention to awarding Houston with the new franchise.

Subsequently the city of Los Angeles decided it would not permit tax dollars to be used to help build a new stadium and neither Roski nor Orwitz were willing to work together or build a new stadium on private financing alone. Since Houston was prepared to build a brand new state of the art stadium, they then became the front runner to get the new NFL franchise. Despite late efforts by Los Angeles to secure a deal the NFL finally decided to award Houston with the new team in October of 1999 and accepted Mcnairs 700 million dollar offer as well as award Houston with the 2004 Super Bowl.

Thanks to persistence and hard work professional football had been restored to Houston where it belongs. The new franchise would decide upon the name Houston Texans after receiving permission to use the name from Lamar Hunt who had previously founded the name Dallas Texans and which later would become the Kansas City Chiefs. With former Denver Bronco assistant Gary Kubiak now in place as the head coach and quarterback Matt Schaub signed, the Houston Texans hope to establish a winning tradition for years to come. Along with their loyal fans they are looking toward the new season as a breakthrough year.

La Rue Team is a group of Houston relocation specialists dedicated to helping families find the best homes & new lives in Houston, Texas.

Four Rice U. football players arrested within past week

   HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Four Rice University football players have been arrested on various charges in the past week.

Defensive end Cody Carlton Bauer and linebacker Cade Mitchell Shaw were both arrested Saturday and each charged with carrying a prohibited weapon in a prohibited place. Both students posted $5,000. Two days later, cornerbacks Kevin Dewayne Gaddis and Phillip Winfield Gaines were arrested. Gaddis is charged with theft and possession of marijuana, while Gaines was charged with possession of marijuana. Gaines posted a $500 bond and Gaddis posted a total of $1,000 bond for both charges against him. All four were arrested by Rice University police. Online records show no attorneys for the four, and school spokesman B.J. Almond tells the Houston Chronicle that Rice is providing no other information because the university is private. Rice athletic director Rick Greenspan said he was investigating.

The AP contributed to this report. (Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) 

View the original article here