BROWNSVILLE, Texas -- Sherry Wolf faces up to life in prison for helping her husband and a friend kill her ex-husband, whose death cries were preserved by a hidden tape recorder he wore strapped to his chest.
District Judge Darrell Hester said he would sentence Mrs. Wolf, 21, on Oct. 15 after a pre-sentencing investigation.
The woman, who was convicted Friday by a jury of seven women and five men, could be sent to prison for life. Her attorney, Jim Bates, has asked Hester to place her on probation because she has no prior convictions.
Mrs. Wolf began shaking and crying and collapsed into the arms of Bates when the verdict was read. She was helped from the courtroom by Bates and a deputy sheriff.
Her former husband, Billy Staton, 26, was bludgeoned with an iron bar in the living room of the Wolf home at La Feria, Texas, on July 16, 1982.
Staton's fiancee, Leticia Castro, 26, who was waiting for him outside in his car, was beaten with a hammer and shot in the head with a shotgun in the same attack.
Mrs. Wolf's husband, Paul, 21, was sentenced to two life prison terms last spring for his conviction in Miss Castro's death and his guilty plea in Staton's killing.
Glenn Henderson, 19, the state's chief witness againt the Wolfs, also was sentenced to life imprisonment for pleading guilty to the murders.
The state's key evidence was a 23-minute tape recording of the slayings captured on a small cassette recorder that Staton hid on his body when he went to the Wolf home to visit his daughter, Melanie, 2.
Staton and the Wolfs were engaged in a court battle over visitation rights at the time.
Henderson testified Mrs. Wolf was an active conspirator who helped the men plan the killings and dispose of the bodies in a canal where they were found three weeks later.
Texas Ranger Bruce Casteel testified that Mrs. Wolf denied Staton had been at the Wolf home the night of the killing.
Prosecutor Tim Campagnolo said a voice on the tape saying 'hit him again' was Mrs. Wolf's, but Bates argued it was Paul Wolf talking to Henderson.
