20/20 11/1 on ABC

‘20/20’ REPORTS ON MAN STILL AWAITING SENTENCING – WITH BAIL SET AT $1 MILLION – AFTER TWO JURIES FOUND HIM GUILTY OF MURDERING PREGNANT WIFE

‘20/20’ REPORTS ON MAN STILL AWAITING SENTENCING

– WITH BAIL SET AT $1 MILLION – AFTER TWO JURIES FOUND HIM GUILTY OF MURDERING PREGNANT WIFE

Two-Hour Program Details Why Wife’s Family Is Waiting for Justice Over 20 Years Later

‘20/20’ Reports Twist in Case Involving Investigation of Boy Next Door  – Wife’s Then-16-Year-Old Student

In 1999, David Temple claimed he discovered his eight-month-pregnant wife, Belinda Temple, shot dead inside their home. Despite two murder trials and two juries finding David guilty of Belinda’s murder, he’s once again awaiting sentencing, 20 years after her death. With his bail set at $1 million, Belinda’s family is also waiting for justice decades after the terrible tragedy changed their lives forever. “20/20” extensively follows David’s most recent trial and reports on a twist in the case involving Riley Joe Sanders III, Belinda’s neighbor and student at the time of her murder. Defense attorneys alleged at trial he shot Belinda with a shotgun he secretly took from his father, but Sanders denies any involvement in her murder and was cleared as a suspect during the investigation into her death. Correspondent Deborah Roberts reports for “20/20” on Friday, Nov. 1 (9:00 – 11:00 p.m. EDT), on ABC.

“20/20” features interviews with Casey Goosby, Sanders’ high school friend; Andy Kahan, Crime Stoppers of Houston’s director of Victim Services and Advocacy, and spokesperson for Belinda’s family; Stanley Schneider and Romy Kaplan, David’s current attorneys; Paul Looney and Dick DeGuerin, David’s former lawyers; Natalie Scott, David and Belinda’s former neighbor; James Curtis Dykes II, student athlete on the football team David coached at Alief Hastings High School; Brian Rogers, former Houston Chronicle reporter who covered the murder; Lynn Graves, head football coach at Stephen F. Austin State University, where David attended and played football; Maria Meijide, paramedic who responded to Belinda’s murder; Craig Malisow, former Houston Press journalist who reported on the case; and Kat Cosley, former KTRK-TV reporter who covered the recent trial for “20/20.” The episode details the complicated case, including the murder weapon that authorities never found; the couple’s turbulent relationship; and David’s affair with a fellow educator, Heather Scott, that heated up just days before Belinda’s death. David and Heather eventually married.

Following Belinda’s murder, the case went cold for years and David moved onto a new life with Heather. But in 2003, news of Laci Peterson’s murder when she was eight months pregnant made national headlines, and authorities charged her husband, Scott Peterson, with her murder. Like David, Scott was also having an affair, and the similarities between Laci and Belinda were uncanny. As media pressure intensified, authorities ramped up their investigation. Just days after the remains of Laci and her unborn baby were found, police arrested David using new FBI crime lab results indicating David’s clothing had gunshot residue that matched the residue on Belinda’s clothing. A jury convicted David of Belinda’s murder for the first time in 2007, and he received a sentence of life in prison. 

Almost five years after David’s initial conviction, his attorney received a tip from a man who claimed then-16-year-old neighbor Sanders may have been involved in Belinda’s murder. After evidence came to the attention of David’s defense team that had been withheld by the prosecution, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals threw out David’s first conviction in 2016, entitling him to a new trial. At the start of David’s second trial this past summer, Heather filed for divorce. During the trial Sanders maintained that he did not kill Belinda, and David was found guilty for the second time in August. Considering a range from probation to life in prison, the jury was hung on the sentence after more than 20 hours of deliberations. The judge declared a mistrial, and the retrial on the punishment phase is currently scheduled for March 2020.

“20/20” is anchored by David Muir and Amy Robach. David Sloan is senior executive producer.