Timothy Wayne Shepherd wants his confession thrown out

[Unamused Cat]

I remember when this happened here in Houston. It was some pretty horrible stuff. He needs to get the DP.

Jury selection for the murder trial of Timothy Wayne Shepherd, starting today, is expected to focus on grisly details publicized about the alleged crime — and whether jurors need a body to convict the 28-year-old Houston man.

Shepherd could face life in prison if convicted of killing his former girlfriend, Tynesha Stewart. Investigators believe Shepherd choked the Texas A&M engineering major to death, dismembered her body and burned her remains on two barbecue pits on the patio of his apartment over the course of two days.

Chip Lewis, Shepherd's defense attorney, said he wanted to get jurors who could "compartmentalize" or separate the allegations of Stewart's slaying from the grim aspects of what happened to her body after her death.

"The details are the details, we can't change them, but the details are irrelevant as to whether Tim Shepherd is guilty of murder," Lewis said. "Nothing that happened after Ms. Stewart's death changed the facts about how she died."

Police said Shepherd confessed to many of the details of the crime after leading investigators and community activist Quanell X to a trash bin where Shepherd said he dumped the girl's body. Her corpse was not found. Shepherd later told police he burned the body.

According to court records, police recovered 30 pieces of charred bone and hair from Shepherd's apartment, but Lewis said there is no DNA analysis that connects Stewart to any of those remains, leaving prosecutors without a victim's body.

Geoffrey Corn, a criminal law professor at South Texas College of Law, said convicting Shepherd would probably be harder because there isn't a body, but not impossible.

Prosecutors will have to convince jurors that Stewart's disappearance coupled with other evidence indicating that Shepherd acted improperly supports the inference that she was murdered and that he disposed of her, Corn said.

Prosecutors are likely to ask prospective jurors about convicting without a body during jury selection, Corn said.

Assistant District Attorney Marie Primm has declined to comment on the trial.

Because the case received so much media attention when Stewart disappeared, 120 prospective jurors, double the usual number, will fill out questionnaires that attorneys on both sides will use to screen jurors on Tuesday. Opening arguments are scheduled to begin on Wednesday.

The questionnaire includes inquiries about how many times each prospective juror saw the story in the news ranging from zero to more than 10 times.

Media attention included interviews with Quanell X, Stewart's family and police, all of whom noted that investigators said Shepherd confessed.

In the weeks leading up to the trial, Shepherd's attorneys said that confession should be thrown out because police questioned him after he asked for an attorney.

Defense attorneys Stanley Schneider and Robert Fickman testified that they tried to talk to Shepherd while he was in custody but were waved off by former Assistant District Attorney Kelly Siegler, because of a conflict of interest.

State District Judge Vanessa Velasquez ruled that Shepherd voluntarily waived his request and spoke to detectives on his own accord.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6028720.html

[SoUncool]

I remember when they first reported her missing and then I heard about how he disposed of her body. No way should he get anything thrown out. Sick bastard.

[Gidget]

The only thing that gets thrown out is his dead body after the state puts him to death.

[brokenandtwisted]

Neighbors recount days after killing of A&M student

Oct. 2, 2008, 10:50PM

Neighbors of a Houston man accused of killing his girlfriend and destroying her remains on a pair of barbecue pits testified Thursday that he said at the time that she left his apartment in the middle of the night and was not returning his calls.

"He said, 'They're going to try to pin it on me,' " James Hebert said about a conversation he had with Timothy Wayne Shepherd days after the disappearance of Tynesha Stewart, a 22-year-old Texas A&M engineering student.

When they spoke, Hebert said, Shepherd had been using Hebert's small grill as well as his own for two days because he said he was cooking for a wedding.

As prosecutors marched neighbors and police officers onto the witness stand, another neighbor, Lewis Evans, said Shepherd told him that Stewart left in the middle of the night and wasn't returning his calls.

Police have said Shepherd, 28, confessed to choking Stewart, dismembering her and burning the remains.

Another neighbor said Shepherd told her the smell of the grilling was "the spices," an admission that brought sobs from Stewart's family in the courtroom.

Klemencia Whitaker said the smell then turned to something that was worse than the smell of singed hair or burning tires.

"The smell consumed my apartment," Whitaker said.

Shepherd's attorney, Chip Lewis, said he didn't expect Shepherd's conversations to be the focus of his defense, focusing instead on asking state District Judge Vanessa Velasquez to throw out Shepherd's confession.

Lewis said testimony from police may show that Shepherd's constitutional right to a lawyer was violated, meaning the jury can't hear the confession. If jurors do hear it, Lewis said, he plans to show that it was gained illegally, and the jury can't convict based on it.

Shepherd faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of killing Stewart.

The trial is expected to last about two weeks.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...n/6037298.html

[jenthgr8]

Gross. And gross. This guy BBQ'd his dead girlfriend. I hope to God they don't toss his confession.

[Unamused Cat]

GUILTY:

Jurors this morning convicted Timothy Wayne Shepherd of murder in the death of his former girlfriend, who prosecutors said was strangled before her body was dismembered and burned on two barbecue grills.

Shepherd showed no response as the verdict was announced in a downtown Houston courtroom.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6048113.html

[mjmsepm]

Good ! I still think he should get the death penalty! where do people think of ways to get rid of bodies? that is just gross!

[crickett]

That fucking prick attorney of his just needs to go Rot In HELL with him!!!! He killed that girl and mutilated her body in a most horrible fashion. Her family will never even get some closure from a decent funeral. He does not deserve to have ANYTHING thrown out.

[Unamused Cat]

Update:

Timothy Shepherd was sentenced late Tuesday to 99 years in prison and a $10,000 fine, the maximum punishment for the murder of former girlfriend Tynesha Stewart, who he strangled and then dismembered before burning her remains on two barbecue grills in March 2007. Shepherd is eligible for parole in 30 years.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6058181.html

[crickett]

Go Jury, go jury, go jury, go jury...Happy Dance
99....COUNT THEM...99 YEARS
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...n/6058181.html