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In 1999, David Temple found his pregnant wife, Belinda Temple, murdered in their home.
Eight years later, Temple was convicted of murdering his wife. He was sentenced to life in prison. In 2016, the conviction was reversed, and Temple was retried. That trial, however, ended in a mistrial.
Now, Temple is awaiting sentencing once again– his sentencing has been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
According to KHOU, Temple’s case is one of many that has been impacted by the pandemic. Regular trials are scheduled to resume on October 1.
Temple is set to return to court in January 2021.
His Request for a Third Trial Was Denied
In February 2020, Temple’s request for a third trial was denied.
According to Click 2 Houston, the second time Temple was convicted for killing his wife, the jury could not agree on a sentence. They deliberated for more than 20 hours, according to Broadway World, and a mistrial was declared.
Chron reported, “The 12 jurors remained deadlocked after almost 19 hours of deliberation over three days, prompting state District Judge Kelli Johnson to call a mistrial for Temple’s punishment phase. His guilty verdict will still stand, Johnson said, and a new jury will likely convene in the spring to determine a possible prison sentence for the murder of Belinda Temple, who was… eight months pregnant at the time of her death.”
According to the outlet, a jury foreman later told the judge that a “consensus was impossible” since two or the jurors refused to continue discussions.
After the trial, prosecutor Lisa Tanner of the Texas Attorney General’s Office said, “We wanted a verdict, we wanted finality for the family. But I would rather have a conscious, legitimate verdict than one that violated their conscience. I’m mostly still very, very happy that they found him guilty again for a second time.”
A new jury was supposed to be assembled in March, but that did not happen. Broadway World has reported that Temple’s sentencing could range from probation to life in prison. In the words of a previous Heavy article, “His guilty verdict still stands, but his sentence is in limbo.”
He Is a Former High School Football Coach
Temple played football in high school and went on to play at Stephen F. Austin University in Texas. When he married Belinda, Temple worked as a football coach. Belinda, meanwhile, taught special education at a local high school.
According to CBS News, Belinda was also an athlete in her younger years, and taught aerobics in college.
The couple married in 1992 and had their son, Evan, soon after. In the words of CBS News, both were “devoted parents” by all accounts. Evan was nearly four years old at the time of Belinda’s death.
The outlet added that one day after Temple’s murder, police learned Temple was having a relationship with fellow teacher Heather Scott. According to a previous Heavy article, Heather revealed in court that she knew David’s wife was pregnant and the couple had a young child when they began seeing one another.
The two reportedly started seeing each other again shortly after Belinda’s murder.
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