Temple's Lawyer Subpoena Chronicle's Reader

Attorneys for a former high school football coach convicted in the shooting death of his pregnant wife want the Houston Chronicle to identify a reader who posted a comment about the case on the newspaper’s Web site.

The thread, posted in the “reader comments” section, suggests that the juror spoke about the deliberations while the trial was still ongoing.

David Mark Temple’s attorneys issued a subpoena Friday calling for the Chronicle to appear in court Monday, with registration information the reader may have given the newspaper.

The comment was posted around 9 a.m. Thursday, about seven hours before a jury found David Mark Temple, 39, guilty of shooting Belinda Tracie Temple in January 1999. Belinda Temple, a special education teacher at Katy High School, was eight months pregnant.

In the posting, the reader, who goes by the screen name “REFster,” wrote: “Psst ... My boss is on the jury. Thinks they’ll have a verdict this afternoon.”

After another reader asked REFster if he knew how his boss would vote on the verdict, REFster replied: “He is playing it very close to the vest. I’m sorry to say at this point, I got nada.”

The last comment by REFster was posted about 6 p.m. Thursday.

About 2,000 comments were posted about the Temple case.

Jurors are not allowed to talk about a case outside the jury room while a trial is underway, and are instructed not to discuss the case with their spouses, family members or friends. They are also ordered to avoid any media reports. Jury deliberations are also supposed to remain confidential until a trial has ended.

Jurors in the Temple trial are scheduled to begin hearing testimony in the punishment phase of the case on Monday.

Defense attorney Dick DeGuerin said he did not know what he would ask the court to do about possible jury misconduct. The jury could be polled on whether they had violated the court’s instructions, DeGuerin said.

Prosecutor Kelly Siegler declined to comment Friday.

The Chronicle’s management said they had not decided how to

respond to the subpoena.