Judge rules Shue death a murder
by Anita Porterfield June 18, 2008
In a surprise move today, both the Plaintiff and the Defendant in the Tracy Shue vs. USAA Life Insurance Company agreed to submit their cases directly to Judge William Palmer and waive the Jury trial that began on June 9.
Judge Palmer ruled that the cause of Air Force Colonel Philip Shue’s death was murder and that USAA had no duty to cancel the $500,000.00 life insurance policy that Shue’s ex-wife Nancy Shue Timpson carried on his life.
“Finally the truth is out,” said Tracy Shue, Col. Philip Shue’s widow.
“This case has never been about money and it has never been about the state of insurance law in Texas,” commented Jason Davis, Shue’s attorney. “It has always been about justice and exposing the truth about what happened to Col. Shue.”
Col. Philip Shue died of massive head injuries in a car crash on April 16, 2003. Examination of his body revealed torn and shredded duct tape wrapped tightly around his wrists and ankles, his nipples and areolas surgically removed, the first knuckle of his left pinkie finger cut off, an ear lobe half-way severed, and a deep gash carved from his sternum to his navel.
Both the Bexar County Medical Examiner Vincent diMayo and Kendall County Justice of the Peace Nancy White ruled that Shue’s death was a suicide.
go here for more
http://www.nowpublic.com/world/judge-rules-shue-death-murder
Showing posts with label Col. Philip Shue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Col. Philip Shue. Show all posts
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Judge to release grand jury tapes on death of Col. Philip Shue
Judge stands by decision to release grand jury tapes
Web Posted: 05/13/2008 10:28 PM CDT
By Zeke MacCormack
Express-News
BOERNE — Kendall County Court-at-Law Judge Bill Palmer on Tuesday stood by his decision to make available grand jury testimony about the 2003 death of Air Force Col. Philip Shue for use in a lawsuit.
The litigants, USAA Life Insurance Co. and Shue's widow, Tracy, sought access to tapes of grand jury witnesses for use as evidence in their dispute, which goes to trial June 9.
Grand jury proceedings are done in secret, and the release was opposed by District Attorney Bruce Curry, whose lawyer said an appeal was likely after Palmer's refusal to vacate his April 21 order for Curry to hand over the recordings.
Shue, 54, died when his car crashed into a tree beside Interstate 10 on April 16, 2003, in Kendall County.
Then-Justice of the Peace Nancy White ruled it a suicide, as did military investigators and the medical examiner.
Tracy Shue contends her husband fell victim to foul play after leaving home that morning for work as a psychiatrist at Wilford Hall Medical Center. His nipples had been cut off, and duct tape was on his ankles and wrists.
Her lawsuit says USAA should have investigated and canceled a $500,000 policy on Shue's life from 1999, when he first told the insurer that his ex-wife — the policy's beneficiary — was possibly plotting his demise.
USAA denies liability, saying it advised Shue to contact law enforcement authorities.
An attorney for Shue's ex-wife, Nancy Shue, has said she had no role in the death.
Representing District Attorney Curry at Tuesday's hearing, Assistant Attorney General Angela Goodwin told Judge Palmer that only state District Judge Steve Ables, who convened the grand jury, could clear the release of its tapes.
A release, she said, could have “a chilling effect” on the candor of witnesses at other grand juries and hinder any future investigation of Shue's death, should one occur.
Goodwin said those seeking the tapes hadn't met the legal threshold of showing “a particularized need,” noting the witnesses are alive and available to testify at the lawsuit trial.
But Jason Davis, Tracy Shue's lawyer, said time's passage has dimmed the memories of former Bexar County Medical Examiner Vincent DiMaio and law officers who testified to the grand jury.
“This will be a means to both refresh their memory and impeach,” he said of the tapes.
Davis called the grand jury review of Shue's death “kind of a sham,” asserting investigators asked Curry to delay presenting the case so they could gather more facts and that information subsequently surfaced that contradicted evidence grand jurors heard.
He said trial jurors should hear the evidence behind the grand jury's Nov. 24, 2003, finding that it saw no evidence of criminal activity in Shue's death, which USAA likely will cite in its defense of the lawsuit.
“We know that incomplete testimony was given to the grand jury,” Davis said. “We suspect inaccurate testimony.”
Curry wasn't at the hearing and later declined comment
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA.20080514.2B.shuesuit.36e10ed.html
Web Posted: 05/13/2008 10:28 PM CDT
By Zeke MacCormack
Express-News
BOERNE — Kendall County Court-at-Law Judge Bill Palmer on Tuesday stood by his decision to make available grand jury testimony about the 2003 death of Air Force Col. Philip Shue for use in a lawsuit.
The litigants, USAA Life Insurance Co. and Shue's widow, Tracy, sought access to tapes of grand jury witnesses for use as evidence in their dispute, which goes to trial June 9.
Grand jury proceedings are done in secret, and the release was opposed by District Attorney Bruce Curry, whose lawyer said an appeal was likely after Palmer's refusal to vacate his April 21 order for Curry to hand over the recordings.
Shue, 54, died when his car crashed into a tree beside Interstate 10 on April 16, 2003, in Kendall County.
Then-Justice of the Peace Nancy White ruled it a suicide, as did military investigators and the medical examiner.
Tracy Shue contends her husband fell victim to foul play after leaving home that morning for work as a psychiatrist at Wilford Hall Medical Center. His nipples had been cut off, and duct tape was on his ankles and wrists.
Her lawsuit says USAA should have investigated and canceled a $500,000 policy on Shue's life from 1999, when he first told the insurer that his ex-wife — the policy's beneficiary — was possibly plotting his demise.
USAA denies liability, saying it advised Shue to contact law enforcement authorities.
An attorney for Shue's ex-wife, Nancy Shue, has said she had no role in the death.
Representing District Attorney Curry at Tuesday's hearing, Assistant Attorney General Angela Goodwin told Judge Palmer that only state District Judge Steve Ables, who convened the grand jury, could clear the release of its tapes.
A release, she said, could have “a chilling effect” on the candor of witnesses at other grand juries and hinder any future investigation of Shue's death, should one occur.
Goodwin said those seeking the tapes hadn't met the legal threshold of showing “a particularized need,” noting the witnesses are alive and available to testify at the lawsuit trial.
But Jason Davis, Tracy Shue's lawyer, said time's passage has dimmed the memories of former Bexar County Medical Examiner Vincent DiMaio and law officers who testified to the grand jury.
“This will be a means to both refresh their memory and impeach,” he said of the tapes.
Davis called the grand jury review of Shue's death “kind of a sham,” asserting investigators asked Curry to delay presenting the case so they could gather more facts and that information subsequently surfaced that contradicted evidence grand jurors heard.
He said trial jurors should hear the evidence behind the grand jury's Nov. 24, 2003, finding that it saw no evidence of criminal activity in Shue's death, which USAA likely will cite in its defense of the lawsuit.
“We know that incomplete testimony was given to the grand jury,” Davis said. “We suspect inaccurate testimony.”
Curry wasn't at the hearing and later declined comment
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA.20080514.2B.shuesuit.36e10ed.html
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