Man gets 45 years in wife’s murder

TIKI ISLAND — A man who pleaded guilty to murdering his wife accepted a 45-year prison term Wednesday, even after acknowledging the offer likely was a life sentence.

Fred Leonard Wallace, 67, shot and killed Joann Jones Wallace, 64, on Nov. 24, 2009, inside the couple’s foreclosed, custom-built Tiki Island house.

After handing down the sentence, Judge David Garner, of Galveston’s 10th District Court, allowed Arlene Howland, of Orange, to speak to Wallace about her sister’s slaying. Joann Wallace, who was in bed, was shot twice in the head. One shot was a glancing blow.

“I thought I knew you, Fred,” Howland said. “Forty-eight years I’ve known you. I just don’t know how you could have done something like this. You shot her like a rabid dog or something. She never deserved that.”

Wallace accepted the plea offer from prosecutor Jennifer Ott despite his attorney’s advice to reject the terms and to proceed with a sentencing hearing.

A Wish For Life In Prison?

“You realize if you take this offer, you’ll spend the rest of your life in prison?” Wallace’s attorney, Jim Bennett, asked.

Wallace replied: “Yes.”

Prosecutors sought a deadly weapon enhancement, meaning Wallace becomes eligible for parole after serving half his sentence.

“If you accept this offer, in all probability and statistically, you’ll never be released and serve out your natural life in prison,” Garner said. “Is this your wish?”

“Yes,” Wallace said.

Joann Wallace’s family, after months of consultation with Ott, agreed to the plea bargain if the punishment meant Wallace’s confinement until death, Ott said.

Prosecutors reached the agreement Tuesday.

Prosecutor: Depression Was A Motive

Depression was one of the motives in the slaying, Ott said.

“He didn’t want to have to move out of their home and for his wife to start all over again,” Ott said.

The couple — together for 46 years — was planning a move to a rental home in Santa Fe the day after Joann Wallace was shot, Ott said.

“There was evidence they had $34,000 in he bank on the day of the murder,” Ott said. “The medical examiner was going to testify she was in fine health.”

Howland showed a framed photograph of her sister to Wallace, telling him he was no longer in the picture.

Howland told Wallace she didn’t understand why he sold the Tiki Island house and Joann thought everything would be fine.

‘Why Didn’t You Just Shoot Yourself?’

“If you were depressed, why didn’t you just shoot yourself?” Howland asked.
Joann Wallace graduated high school in the 11th grade and was a painter, artist and musician. She played violin and piano, Howland said.

“She could have moved on from any setback,” Howland said. “We never wanted for anything growing up. We never had much, but she could always make do.”

Joann Wallace survived two medical miracles in her life, Howland said.
Joann Wallace, as a young girl, escaped paralysis despite breaking her back in a fall from a tree. She also recovered from a pulmonary embolism in 2007, Howland said.

“You’ll spend the rest of your life hopefully in a dark place,” Howland told Fred Wallace. “I hate to be saying these things to you. I’ve loved you for 48 years.”

‘I’m So Sorry’

Garner allowed Wallace to speak to his relatives, but the handcuffed and unshaven inmate with disheveled, gray hair wasn’t allowed a final embrace.

“I’m so sorry,” Wallace told Howland. “Please forgive me. I don’t know why I did it. I don’t know why.”

Wallace hasn’t forgiven himself, Bennett, his attorney, said.

“Our deepest conversations are religious,” Bennett said. “It’s important to him he feels that God forgives him.”

A psychiatrist said Wallace was delusional at the time of the shooting, but he knew right from wrong, Bennett said.

“It’s just a sad case,” Bennett said.