‘Cheating’ football coach convicted of killing pregnant wife ‘to be with mistress’
A high school football coach was found guilty of murdering his pregnant wife with a shotgun amid claims he killed her to be with his mistress.
Jurors convicted David Temple, 50, of murder for the death of his wife Belinda in 1999 at the conclusion of his second criminal trial Tuesday in Houston, Texas.
Temple’s case was tried before a jury once before, which led to his conviction several years after the murder.
But he was granted a retrial once it was discovered prosecution withheld evidence that would have benefited him.
He served nine years in prison before he was released in 2016 and given the new trial.
#BREAKING – David Temple released on bond after 9 yrs in prison. He was convicted of murdering his pregnant wife, granted new trial #khou11 pic.twitter.com/cB2GIhuBAL
— Stephanie Whitfield (@KHOUStephanie) December 28, 2016
Prosecutors said Temple wanted to end his marriage, so he killed Belinda with a shotgun and made her death look like a break in.
David Temple was having an affair with a woman, now Heather Temple, who he later married. Heather filed for divorce on July 8 – the day David’s retrial began.
Man jailed for doing this to pensioner, 80, in road rage attackAttorney Dan Codgell told ABC 13: ‘A wife filing for divorce in the middle of her husband’s murder trial is never a good look.’
‘That said, she is clearly not trying to hurt David Temple’s case.’
Jurors viewed emails from 1999 that showed Heather communicating with David, who was still married to Belinda, and another teacher at Alief Hastings High School.
In court, Heather took the stand and testified: ‘(The emails were) some bad choices. Emailing seemed fun at the time, I know it was wrong.’
Belinda was eight months pregnant when she was found dead from a gunshot wound with a shotgun to the back of the head in the couple’s home in Katy, Texas.
In the 20 years that have passed since the murder, David Temple has insisted that his wife was killed during a break-in.