HOUSTON, TX (Covering Katy News) - It took just two hours of deliberation for a Harris County jury to sentence former Alief ISD football coach David Temple to life in prison for murdering his wife in their Katy Home in 1999.
Temple was having an affair when his wife, who was eight months pregnant, was shot in the head in her bedroom closet. As a result, Belinda Temple and her baby both died. Temple eventually married his mistress, and the two later divorced.
Temple's defense team promises an appeal, a standard operating procedure in murder cases that end with a conviction. However, this case has been anything but standard. It has spanned 24 years. It took five years before Temple was charged, and the first conviction was overturned by a judge who ruled the prosecution withheld evidence. The second trial also ended with a guilty verdict, but the jury deadlocked during the punishment phase, which required a third trial to decide a range of punishment options for Temple.
A life sentence was the most severe option available to the jury, which was the sentence chosen. Temple will be 71 years old when he's eligible for parole.
Belinda Temple was 30 years old and a Katy ISD teacher when she was murdered.
Following the verdict, Belinda's sister read a victim's impact statement.
"I will never understand why you killed Belinda," Brenda Lucas said in a victim impact statement following the sentencing on Friday. "David, you could have gotten divorced."
Temple blamed the murder on a young neighbor, but he was always the prime suspect as the home appeared poorly staged to look like a robbery.
Temple, 54, did not react to the jury's verdict.