The Dateline episode “Unspeakable” investigates the 2012 murder of Jaime Melgar. The 52-year-old was at his Houston, Texas home celebrating his 32nd wedding anniversary with his wife Sandra Melgar. The day after, Sandra was found tied-up in a closet in their master bedroom. Jaime was found in another closet. He had been fatally stabbed 31 times with a knife from the kitchen. Sandra said she blacked out in the closet while robbers killed her husband. In August 2017, Sandra was found guilty of killing her husband and faking the home invasion. Prosecutors say her motive was Jaime’s $250,000 life insurance policy. (It was also pointed out that the Melgars were Jehovah’s Witnesses; so divorce wasn’t an option.) Sandra Melgar was sentenced to 27 years in prison.
Sandra and Jaime’s daughter Elizabeth Rose, who is 32, told People magazine, that she was outraged and upset after the verdict. She didn’t think her mother would be convicted. “I thought she had a fantastic shot of having this dismissed and here we are.” Melgar’s lawyers argue that their client deserves a new trial. In October 2017, Melgar’s lawyers filed a 85-page appeal and argue that jurors conducted their own experiments (tying themselves up to see if it was possible to get loose). That’s considered Juror Misconduct. Judges of every criminal trial instruct jurors to decide the case only on evidence presented and must not conduct their own investigation, experiments, or research into the facts or law. Dateline airs Fridays at 10pm on NBC.
