Catherine Mehaffey Shelton
Catherine
Mehaffey Shelton
I
am currently reading the book, Luggage By Kroger,
written by Houston reporter, Gary Taylor. He had a very short lived
but volatile relationship with then Houston attorney, Catherine
Mehaffey. At the time he met Catherine she was involved in a civil
suit. She was not the attorney, but the plaintiff against the estate
of an ex-boyfriend who Catherine claimed as a common-law husband.
The ex-boyfriend, George Tedesco had been found brutally murdered in
the garage of his home in January of 1979. Catherine had been suing
him for a divorce and they were due in court on the day he was found
murdered.
Catherine
would lose her civil case against George Tedesco's family when there
was no proof that the couple had ever portrayed themselves as a
married couple, one of the main things in order to prove a common-law
marriage. In fact, Tedesco's family could never even prove that the
couple had lived together, even for the three short months that
Catherine would claim. In court she had admitted taking things from
Tedesco's home just after his murder was discovered and sold them for
money. Items had even been found later in her possession as well as
in the possession of a man named Tommy Bell, a man associated with
Catherine. George Tedesco's family sued both Catherine and Tommy
Bell but before the case would see the inside of a courtroom Tommy
Bell would be found dead also. His death would be ruled a homicide
as a result of Russian Roulette. To be fair it is unclear what the
results of this case were against Catherine but as you will see this
really was, and would be the least of the problems Catherine would
and has faced over time. Despite obviously being a suspect in George
Tedesco's murder, Catherine was never charged. Then again, no one
has ever been charged in his murder.
Catherine's
relationship with George Tedesco was not her first, nor her last
domestic problem. A man by the name of Ferris Bond dated Catherine in
the early 1970's when they were both in law school. Bond would later
say that when he learned Catherine had been scheduled to take the Bar
Exam he contacted those in charge and questioned that they were even
considering allowing her to become a lawyer. He stated in his letter
that after dating Catherine for a short period of time he broke
things off with her. But over the next three years she stalked him.
He would move from apartment to apartment but she would find him. At
one point his apartment, with his belongings inside was set on fire.
In other incidents Bond claimed that Catherine had stolen his car and
even pointed a shotgun at him. Bond says that he called the police
on several occasions but most of the time law enforcement dismissed
the allegations as simple domestic issues. At that time period those
things were taken less serious than they would later, but even less
so when it was a man making allegations against a woman. He does say
she was arrested on at least two occasions. One involved the fire at
his apartment. A neighbor claimed to have seen Catherine climbing
from a window just prior to the flames being discovered. The second
time was when his car was stolen. Nothing was ever done to Catherine
in either of those incidents. In fact years later she would claim
that she was never arrested at all related to them. To be fair I
cannot say for sure if she was or was not. But, I will also say that
just because Catherine said she was not, and there may no longer be a
record, does not necessarily mean she has told the truth. It seems
she has a way of having her record expunged and private. Bond claims
that just after finishing law school he would join the Marine's
simply to get away from Catherine.
It
does not appear that Gary Taylor knew about the incidents involving
Ferris Bond when he met Catherine in 1979, but then again it seems
that it may not have mattered to him even if he did know. In his
book he recalled telling her that “everyone starts with a clean
slate” when it came to him. It was very clear that Taylor knew of
the things surrounding George Tedesco and his estate considering not
only was the story “big news” in Houston but Taylor, as a
reporter for The Post
his primary coverage was at the local courthouse. He had friendships
with other attorney's, judges and law enforcement. However, it did
not take long before Catherine's clean slate with Taylor was
tarnished. While I must admit that I am not far enough into Taylor's
book to say for certain how long the two dated, it appears that it
was only a few short months before Taylor broke things off.
It
appears that, as Ferris Bond has alleged, Catherine also began
stalking Taylor and odd things began happening to him. At some point
Taylor's home was burglarized and Catherine allegedly contacted him
about being able to help him recover some of his things. Taylor says
he went to Catherine's home where she led him to the bedroom and then
to her closet. It was there that Taylor stated he saw some of his
property only to turn around and see that Catherine was aiming a gun
at him. She fired the gun and the bullet nicked him. Fearing for
his life he was able to push her out of the way to get past her and
towards the door. When he was heading out the door Catherine fired
again, this time hitting Taylor in the back. He made his way down
the street to safety and received help.
While
John Gotti was known as the Teflon King, I am not sure that many
would argue with me that Catherine Mehaffey may be the Teflon Queen.
Catherine was arrested and charged with attempted murder but it is
unclear if she ever spent a night in jail. She went to trial in 1980
and apparently she did not testify in her own defense because after
the jury was unable to decide on a verdict there was a big deal made
about the fact that she did testify in the re-trial. It was said
that the jury only took an hour before they returned with a
conviction and Catherine was sentenced to ten years. Later at least
some of the jury members spoke to the media saying that Catherine had
done more harm to her case than good when she testified. She had
claimed in court that she had shot Taylor in self defense and that it
was he who had first pulled a gun on her. Not only was there no
evidence of this but the fact that Taylor was shot in the back showed
that he was moving away, not towards her, at the time of the
shooting. This indicated that Catherine was not in danger, if she
ever had been, as she had testified to. The jury not only felt that
Catherine was lying but that her attitude was rather cavalier about
the incident.
I
must be fair in saying that while Catherine was obviously convicted
at her second trial that it is still unclear that she went to jail.
The recent case against Michelle Carter should tell us that while it
is rare, there are times in which judges allow defendants who have
been convicted to remain free pending their appeals. At any rate of
course Catherine filed an appeal and in 1982 it was granted,
reversing her conviction and sentence. It took a little bit of
searching to discover just what grounds the appeals court used in
coming to the conclusion that Catherine deserved yet another day in
court. It appears that the conviction was reversed on two grounds,
both of which personally I do not agree with. The first was on the
grounds that the trial court had allowed witnesses to testify
basically to Taylor's reputation as far as telling the truth about
matters, even those unrelated to the incident between him and
Catherine. The appeals court stated that since the defense allegedly
did not bring up any issue with Taylor's reputation or his
truthfulness in general, aside that is from normal cross examination
or accusations related solely to the incident, and Taylor had never
had his testimony impeached, the trial court erred in allowing this
testimony. The second grounds that the appeals court ruled was
presented in error had to do with the testimony of the police officer
who had been involved in Catherine's initial arrest. The police
officer had testified that Catherine had allegedly told him two
different stories while sitting in his police car about the incident
and that they had contradicted each other. However, the trial court
had allowed his testimony basically to say that she told two
different stories and that they were different from the one she had
testified to the jury, but the court did not allow the officer to go
into the specifics or details of either of these stories.
Based
on how I read the appeal, the court basically believed that when it
came to Taylor there had been no need to presumably press to the jury
how truthful of a person he was without any evidence that he was
anything but. In essence you don't see this often I suppose unless
as the courts pointed out, that the witness had been accused of being
a liar in the past, which had not apparently occurred here. As far
as the second issue it seems to have been a bit two fold at least in
my opinion. I believe the only way the officer could have told the
jury exactly what Catherine had stated in her alleged two versions
would have been if it was on tape and that she had waived her right
to an attorney. Catherine herself was an attorney and would have
known this when, and if she opened her mouth. But, the way it was
presented left the jury very little information to determine just
what about her stories were contradicting. It seems to me, especially
with the decision that was made that it would have been best to leave
the officer off the stand.
In
the end rather than go through a third trial was allowed to plead
guilty to aggravated assault. She received a sentence of probation
and had her law license temporarily suspended. It was later revealed
that the agreement also apparently allowed her record to be expunged.
Even still this was not even close to being the last of Catherine's
problems.
In
the middle of all of her court issues involving the shooting of Gary
Taylor, Catherine met a man named Clint Shelton. His family owned a
gun shop and that is where the couple met. I find this very
interesting considering the fact that it was 1981. She had already
had one trial (if not two) for attempted murder and had yet been
cleared and although the circumstances of the two meeting is not
completely known, at least to me, I find it interesting they would
meet in such a place.
It
appears that over the next several years the couple became closer and
married, while Catherine was able to begin practicing law again. At
some point a man named Michael Hierro came into her office and became
her client. Michael was facing a robbery charge but to be fair I
have no idea what became of his case. In the meantime Michael's
wife, Marisa began working for Catherine. Some reports say she was
working as a secretary, others indicate that she was working more
either as an interpreter or on immigration cases. I tend to feel as
if it was a little of everything. It was said that Catherine
completely depended on Marisa and had often bragged that she was
wonderful. By most accounts Catherine's attorney business (although
there were very few things that stated if she had any sort of
specialty) was booming.
But,
things soon seem to sour between Catherine and Marisa. After working
for Catherine for about seven months, Marisa left and opened an
immigration consulting business in downtown Dallas. It was then that
things seemingly got ugly and law enforcement was often involved.
Publicly and professionally they both often accused the other of
“scamming” clients. By all accounts it seems that both women may
have been correct.
Over
time, much like ex-boyfriends of Catherine's claimed against her,
Michael and Marisa Hierro accused Catherine of stalking and
threatening them. Of course, just as she had done in the past,
Catherine denied that she had done any of the things that the
Hierro's accused her of doing. She would continue to do so despite
any evidence that arose from an incident on December 20, 1999.
Michael
and Marisa pulled into the drive of their Dallas home late that
night. As they began to get out of the car shots were fired at them.
When it was all said and done Michael would be dead at the scene and
although Marisa played dead after being shot in the arm and chest as
well as bullet pellets in her face, she survived. Marisa would tell
investigators that while she was laying on the ground she heard
someone yell out “shoot her, shoot her again.” She would claim
that the voice she heard belonged to Catherine Mehaffey Shelton. She
would also claim that she had heard Clint Shelton also.
Of
course investigators went and spoke to Catherine and in turn also
spoke to Clint and they both denied being involved. Catherine would
tell authorities that she believed that Marisa was defrauding
immigrants that were looking to get a green card and she was certain
this played a part in the attack. As the years went on Catherine in
her own words, and through her attorney's, would claim that Michael
had learned of Marisa's “scam” and was going to “tell” on her
and that they believed that Marisa had “orchestrated” the attack
on Michael. When asked why Marisa would have been critically injured
as she was if she had in fact set this ambush up Catherine would
claim that she believed that had been an accident made by the
shooter.
At
the scene of the shooting investigators found a sawed off shotgun.
Once the crime scene was secure one of the officers on the scene
began searching the neighborhood. Just around the corner was an area
that was under construction and a portable toilet was in the area.
The toilet was searched and inside the officer found a “mask”
made with pantyhose with the eyes cut out and two latex gloves. Both
had been described by Marisa as being worn by the shooter. The items
were sent off for testing. Hair and saliva were found on the mask.
Eventually the results would return matching Clint Shelton. Clint and
Clint alone was arrested on February 25, 2000.
Prosecutors
could never conclusively tie Catherine to the murder so she was never
charged. Clint apparently continues to maintain his innocence in the
crime but after deliberating for three hours a jury convicted him and
he was ultimately given a life sentence. He had admitted spying on
Michael and Marisa and even admitted placing the mask and gloves in
the portable toilet but claims he had left them there hours prior to
the murder. He has later claimed that he had planned to divorce
Catherine and that he wanted Marisa to testify for his side. He
claimed he used, or at least intended to use the mask to lurk at the
Hierro home to make sure that was where Marisa lived. The prosecution
brought in the person who cleaned the toilet and testified that he
had cleaned it just prior to when the murders occurred and the items
were not there at that time. This indicated that the items were left
only after the murders occurred, not before.
While
her husband went off to serve life in prison, not being eligible for
parole until 2030, Catherine moved on. But, as such is the life of
Catherine Mehaffey Shelton, trouble continued to follow. Over the
years she has been suspended from practicing law at least three times
and was later disbarred. In 2003 her license was suspended after she
was accused of charging immigrants for “legal services not
performed.” In mid-2005 her license was suspended again but the
reason was unknown. Later that year she was arrested on charges of
“unlawful restraint” after she “failed to return a child to his
mother. The story was difficult to follow but it seems that a family
member had lost their child and Catherine took custody of the child.
However when the court ordered Catherine to return the child she
refused and it was several months before mother and child were
reunited. It is not clear what came of the charges against
Catherine.
In
November of 2007 Catherine was once again arrested. This time it was
for shoplifting. In the article announcing her arrest she was
referred to as an “ex-lawyer.” She was accused of attempting to
leave Nordstrom's with several items including a $1,200 purse.
Another article written around that time had discussed her
professional problems. It stated that she had fought at least one of
her suspensions and won because she had allegedly not been properly
notified for a hearing and because some paperwork was missing in the
court file. It also stated that in May of that year she had been
disbarred for “failing to perform legal work for clients, being
late to hearings and misrepresenting herself as an immigration
lawyer.”
Today
Catherine is about seventy-one years old and according to a website
she is not currently “eligible to practice” law in Texas. Of
course that does not mean that she did not at some point decide to
leave Texas. Then again I am unsure it matters. While Catherine was
obviously not an honest or professional attorney and made many
mistakes professionally, she has been most dangerous in her personal
life. Every few years it seems she pops up and her antics are
replayed for the media but it is unclear when it was the last time
tabs her kept on her. It's entirely possible that she has remarried
and goes by the last name of Greene now.
As
far as Gary Taylor goes he of course wrote the book that was
published in 2008. He claims that he fears that Catherine may come
back some time and finish the job she started. The 2004 television
movie, Heartless,
starring Melanie Griffith and Esai Morales was loosely based Taylor
and Catherine's relationship.
Marisa
Hierro has had her own share of issues too. After investigators
failed to even charge Catherine, Marisa sued her for wrongful death.
According to Marisa's lawyer they had requested information from
Catherine more than 100 times and she never complied. It seemed as
if Catherine was successful in dragging it out so long that Marisa
dropped the case. However, not to be outdone, Catherine turned
around and sued Marisa for “malicious prosecution and libel.”
Marisa did not show up for the case, later citing her reason as fear
for her life and amazingly Catherine was awarded over five million
dollars in the suit. Marisa's troubles did not end there.
Remember
early on when I told you that it seemed that both Catherine and
Marisa were correct when they accused each other of committing fraud
against their clients? Well the television show 48 Hours,
who was doing a show on Catherine as well as the attack on the
Hierro's stated they did an investigation of their own. They claimed
that several clients and their attorney's claimed that she was
charging very high fees and doing very little. One lawyer group
claims that just days before Michael was murdered she was asked if
she was practicing law without a license and her response was simply
that she would close down her business. Whether she did or not is
unclear.
Thanks for providing an accurate and detailed summary of very complicated history of cases. I hope you enjoyed Luggage by Kroger. If I can answer any questions for you, I'd be glad to do that. I also have a blog, and one of my posts from earlier this year includes a transcript of a Q-A interview about the genesis and production of my memoir. Here is a link that post: http://allthewaytotheriver.blogspot.com/2019/01/creation-of-true-crime-memoir-fatalattraction-basicinstinct-murder-houston-femmefatale-stalking.html. Once again, thanks for your interest. And, good or bad, let me know what you thought of my book.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to reading Mr. Taylor's book. Very informative piece here. Ms. Catherine seems to run roughshod over people and suffer little if any consequence. She is nothing if not intriguing - and apparently very dangerous.
DeleteMichael Hierro was my best friend as kids growing up. Hard to believe he is no longer here.
ReplyDeleteG. U. I. L. T. Y.
ReplyDeleteWhat is she doing now?
ReplyDeleteI’m am looking for the case she worked as defense when she got her license back in 2004. Can any one help me with that?
ReplyDeleteShe defended a sex offender that molested his girlfriends grand daughters. He was found guilty. I’ll never forget the look in her eye in the court room through the trial. Please feel free to reach out
How did this woman never go to prison? Unreal!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, this woman is no doubt a monster, and gotten away with multiple murders. How do things like this happen? MIND BLOWN!!!
ReplyDeleteShe is a truly evil and vicious woman whom I suspect of my murders. She is a agent of satan. Run if you meet her.
ReplyDelete