HOUSTON – Former neighbors of a man accused of killing his pregnant wife told jurors Wednesday what they remember about the day Belinda Temple died nine years ago, KPRC Local 2 reported.
The day Belinda Temple was killed, a neighbor, Angela Vielma, was jogging by the Temple's house. She said she saw David Temple drive past her and turn his truck into the driveway. His young son Evan was in the cab with him.
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Vielma stopped and waved as David Temple pulled into the garage. But she said David Temple did not wave back and walked into the house. Later she heard sirens and learned Belinda Temple had been shot to death.
Michael Ruggiero, another neighbor, followed Vielma's testimony.
He said he heard someone pound on his front door around 5:40 that afternoon and heard David Temple outside yelling, "Mike, Mike, it's me, David. Open up."
He said Temple told him someone had broken into the house. Temple shoved Evan to Ruggiero and his wife, and told them to call 911.
Ruggiero said as Temple turned to head back across the street, he tried to follow. He called for Temple to wait for him because he was worried it might not be safe to go back inside. But he said Temple ignored him and kept going.
The neighbor then followed Temple, wanting to help. Temple did not stop and wait. He went in through his back gate, according to Ruggiero.
A firearms expert also testified on Wednesday that the gun that killed Belinda Temple was a 12-gauge loaded with double buckshot. It has never been found.
Belinda Temple was 30 years old and eight months pregnant when she was shot as she knelt in a bedroom closet in her home in the 22500 block of Round Valley Drive on Jan. 11, 1999.
David Temple, 39, was charged with murder in 2004.
If convicted of murder, David Temple could face from five years to 99 years in prison.