Man fired gun, wife indicted
April 1, 2007
Adapted from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram
An indictment has been issued in a fatal shooting that allegedly stemmed from a romantic tryst—not against the angry husband who fired the gun, but against his wife, who prosecutors say falsely claimed she was being raped.
The woman was indicted on a manslaughter count in the man’s death. Legal experts said the argument for charging her and not her husband was unusual but seemed reasonable.
"It certainly is different," said a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin, “but the theory sounds perfectly acceptable to me."
Police said the woman invited the man to her suburban house last year with a text message that read: "Hi friend, come see me please! I need to feel your warm embrace!"
The woman’s husband arrived home from a card game to find his wife—wearing only a robe and underwear—with the other man outside in a pickup truck, prosecutors allege.
Authorities say that after the woman told her husband she was being raped, he fired four shots at the other man as he tried to drive away. One struck him in the head.
A grand jury declined to indict the husband, 38, on a murder charge.
The wife, 35, faces two to 20 years in prison if convicted. |
