7th Court of Appeals reverses Jeremy Spielbauer’s murder conviction

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - A court has reversed the conviction of an Amarillo man convicted of killing his ex-wife who he was having an affair with.

According to documents, Jeremy Spielbauer was charged for killing his ex-wife Robin Spielbauer, and a jury sentenced him to life in prison with a $10,000 fine.

In 2014, Robin Spielbauer was found dead in a ditch off Helium Road.

Katie Phipps, who was in jail for more than a year, was initially arrested for the murder. Those charges were later dropped.

Jeremy Spielbauer was later arrested in the death of his former wife and was convicted.

The court ruled the trial judge abused their discretion by not allowing his defense attorney to challenge some members of the jury pool.

“One of the questions jurors are asked is whether or not they formed any conclusions as to the guilty or innocence to the person on trial and if they have, if those conclusions would influence their verdict. The law is pretty specific, that it says if they answer yes to that question they are disqualified as a matter of law, and you can’t try to talk them back into it or rehabilitate them or anything," said Joe Marr Wilson, former Defense Attorney for Spielbauer. "There were several jurors in our case that answered that question affirmatively, and the state wanted to keep asking them questions, and we objected, and the court let them ask those questions. Two of those jurors we had to use a peremptory strike on, meaning they shouldn’t have been on the jury in the first place, we shouldn’t have had to use a strike on them.”

On the other hand, the Randall County District Attorney’s Office disagrees, releasing the following statement regarding the ruling:

The Randall County District Attorney discussed the ruling this afternoon in a news conference. You can watch the full statement below:

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