Front Page || Main Index || Corpus Christi News || Business || Texas || Sports || Entertainment || Selena
Thursday, Aug. 13, 1998
Jury acquits Houston bookmaker of role in slaying of his wife in '97
Bob Angleton was accused of hiring his brother to commit murder
By PAULINE ARRILLAGA
Associated PressHOUSTON -- A wealthy bookmaker was acquitted Wednesday of recruiting his brother to kill his wife two months after she filed for divorce and went after a share of his multi million-dollar gambling fortune.
Bob Angleton, who could have received the death penalty if convicted, tearfully embraced his attorneys after the verdict was read.
``I can't get much happier than I feel right now,'' he said a few hours later as he walked out of the Harris County Jail, where he had been held since his arrest last August.
Angleton went first to visit his wife's grave, then home to his twin 14-year-old daughters.
``He's just overjoyed,'' defense attorney Michael Ramsey said, adding, ``It's an enormous relief to those two little girls. Their mother's dead and their father had been in jail for a year. Now he's free.''
It took the jury 17 hours over three days to exonerate Angleton, 49, who was accused of hiring the late Roger Angleton to gun down Doris McGown Angleton last year.
Jurors repeatedly told state District Judge Brian Rains they were hopelessly deadlocked with one lone holdout, but each time he told them to press on. The panel began discussions Monday afternoon.
Doris Angleton's family, who attended the trial daily, declined to comment on the verdict other than to say they were glad the ordeal was over. They have never said whether they believed Bob Angleton was innocent or guilty.
Angleton was accused of offering his brother about $1 million to kill his wife on April 16, 1997, at the couple's home near River Oaks, Houston's toniest neighborhood.
Doris Angleton, 46, was shot 13 times after returning home from her daughters' softball game. Her husband, who coached the team, had asked her to retrieve a bat he'd left behind.
Two months earlier, Doris Angleton had filed for divorce and obtained half of $3 million her husband kept in safe deposit boxes.
Angleton almost immediately implicated his brother, saying Roger Angleton had sent him a note just weeks before the slaying demanding $200,000 and threatening violence if he did not get the money.
But when Roger Angleton finally was arrested, police found a tape recording on which they said Bob and Roger Angleton conspired to commit the crime. Bob, a former police informant, soon joined his brother in jail.
The case took a bizarre twist in February when Roger killed himself in his cell, leaving notes in which he admitted killing Doris Angleton but proclaimed his brother innocent.
Prosecutors discounted the notes, which were ruled inadmissible at the trial.
Attorneys for both sides said the case hinged on the tape recording found after Roger was arrested and whether the jury believed Bob Angleton's voice was on the cassette.
Prosecutors called several people who had known the Angletons to identify Bob's voice. But the defense countered with a handful of voice analysis experts who testified they could not be sure it was Bob Angleton's voice.
Defense attorneys contended Roger Angleton made the tape with a second, unidentified gunman. Depicting Roger as a ``madman'' who despised his brother and sister-in-law, they argued that Roger planned the slaying after his brother refused to him the extortion money.
Despite the verdict, Harris County Assistant District Attorney Lyn McClellan said he believes Bob Angleton is as guilty as his brother.
``I'm totally shocked by the verdict,'' McClellan said. ``It's a sad state of affairs, but this is the system we have.''Post your comments about Texas newsFront Page || Main Index || News || Business || Texas || South Texas Outdoors || Birdwatching || Sports || Entertainment || Selena || Education || South Texas Attractions || World Wide Web