NEWS

Housler's Taco Bell murder case dismissed

Tavia D. Green
David G. Housler Jr.
  • To read the Court of Appeals opinion and a detailed breakdown of the case visit: http://www.tncourts.gov/sites/default/files/houslerdavidfinalopn.pdf

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – A case that has spanned 20 years in the Clarksville-Montgomery County judicial system came to a conclusion Tuesday morning when David Gene Housler Jr., previously convicted in one of Clarksville's most notorious murders, had his case dismissed.

Four people killed

Housler, 40, of Radcliff, Kentucky, spent 15 years in prison after being convicted as an accomplice in the Jan. 30, 1994, Taco Bell murders where four employees were killed.

Kevin Campbell and Angela Wyatt, both 22, and Patricia Price, 39, were shot execution-style, and on-duty manager Marcia Klopp, 24, was shot in the leg and chest after apparently surprising the killer, Courtney Mathews, during the robbery.

Mathews, an employee, hid in the ceiling until the restaurant closed and shot the workers. He then used a gun and shot the safe, taking approximately $3,000 in cash.

Housler, who was 19 at the time, was convicted of helping Mathews plan and carry out the crime that was plotted at a trailer party in Oak Grove, Kentucky.

Following a jury trial in November 1997, Housler was convicted of four counts of first-degree felony murder and sentenced to four consecutive life sentences by Judge John H. Gasaway. In June 1996, a jury convicted Courtney B. Mathews of murder, and he is serving a life without parole sentence.

Appeal

Housler and his attorneys filed an appeal asserting numerous claims of ineffective assistance of counsel and issues with a proffer agreement that Housler made with the District Attorney's Office in October 1995. Housler gave law enforcement statements about the murders that he later asserted were lies. How the statements were obtained and used at trial were questioned during appeal.

He was granted a new trial in 2010 by Judge Gasaway. The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals ruled Housler's defense attorneys failed to challenge several aspects of a plea agreement that collapsed and testimony against Housler. The judgment concluded Housler had insufficient representation by his attorneys.

Housler's then attorneys were Lawrence McMillan, Michael Terry and Stephanie Gore.

Housler had his murder conviction overturned by the Criminal Court of Appeals in 2013, and the case was sent back to the circuit court for prosecution. Statements he previously made were not admissible in a new trial.

Dismissal

Tuesday, District Attorney Pro Tem Joseph D. Baugh dismissed the murder case.

"Due to procedural defects in the obtaining of the statements of Housler at the time of his arrest and afterward, and the lack of proof without those statements, I will enter a dismissal of the case against David Housler in regards to the Taco Bell murders," Baugh said in a statement. "This is a decision which has been made only after countless hours of review of the original case, the evidence introduced, re-interviews of witnesses and court personnel by the City of Clarksville Police and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation."

Baugh further stated the judicial system has rules all are bound by which protect everyone and demand that the state have competent proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt before a conviction may occur.

Housler pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery, and due to his previous incarceration of over 5,000 days, he was not required to serve any more time in jail.

Victims' families respond

Emma Van Luven, left, and Lethia Van Luven, right, stand in the hallways of the court complex after David Housler, previously convicted as an accomplice in their daughter and sister’s murder, had his charges dismissed. The women wore purple in honor of Marsha Klopp.

Lethia Van Luven, the sister of murder victim Marsha Klopp, said there is no closure. She and her family said Housler was getting away with murder.

She, her mother, Emma, and her father were one of several family members of victims present to hear the case dissolved. The family of Campbell and Price were also present.

"The victims don't have a voice," Lethia Van Luven said. "My sister is dead, and Housler helped take away her life. He silenced her, so one of us has to be here to speak for her ... what has happened here today is not justice. It is not evil being punished for wrongdoing. It is not closure, nor is it healing. It is wrong in all senses of the word. Today, a great injustice has been done unto not only these victims' memories, unto their families and their friends and all the lives they touched, but to each and every one of you."

Lethia Van Luven said the case being dismissed does not prove Housler's innocence.

"It shows not innocence, but a flaw within our legal system," she said. "It shows that a man ... has been unleashed and set free to roam among us ... all for a technicality ... The hurt, the trauma, the devastation that all of this caused 20 years ago has been relived this day, and the wound that was finally scarring over has had the knife thrown back into it, and the twisting of it has shattered the life of the hope of healing from this. The system has failed my sister. It has failed her motherless children ... and all of us as well."

Emma Van Luven, Klopp's mother, thanked the District Attorney's office for the hard work and time they invested in prosecuting the murder cases, stating they sacrificed their lives and time to put their all into justice for the families.

"I have the utmost respect for the 19th Judicial District," Emma Van Luven said. "I know they did all they could ... People said that it would bring us closure, but it'd doesn't. It's a false statement and belief."

Lori Campbell-Lewis, the former widow of Kevin Campbell, said she and her family have come along way in healing.

At the time of her then-husband's murder, their daughter, Taylor, now 21, was just two weeks old.

"Nothing that happened today took away from what Kevin gave or left to us, or who he was," Campbell-Lewis said. "David Housler has an opportunity that Kevin doesn't. Our family hopes he does something with it."

The robbery

Tuesday, Housler pleaded guilty to participating in a robbery that happened around the same time as the Taco Bell murders.

On Jan. 23, 1994, Housler and a woman robbed a man, Richard Clark, who was sitting by a pay phone in the parking lot of Grandpa's. Housler had a gun and took Clark's wallet containing $110 in cash and numerous cards.

Housler pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery and agreed to a 12-year Tennessee Department of Corrections sentence.

Since he served 15 years in prison while convicted of murder, he received a time served sentence and will serve no additional time.

Defense responds

Paul Hemmersbaugh, one of Housler's defense attorneys, said this crime happened 20 years ago when Housler was 19 and he hopes a freed Housler can now begin his life.

"We really hope he puts this behind him; it's settled and he can get along with his life," Hemmersbaugh said. "The actual person who pulled the trigger and was the sole participant in these murders was convicted before David Housler. Courtney Mathews is serving the rest of his life in prison. David Housler was never actually involved. Through a series of unfortunate events, he came to be erroneously convicted. The actual perpetrator is in prison and will die in prison. David's erroneous convictions were vacated, and now justice has been done."

Hemmersbaugh says he hopes Housler can put this situation behind him, start fresh and build his life, career and family.

The losses of the victims' families was something Hemmersbaugh said he was very sorry about and sympathized with, but he maintained Housler is innocent.

"We compound the tragedy to continue to imprison an innocent person," Hemmersbaugh said.