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Sandra "Sandy" Melgar was convicted of murdering her husband, Jaime "Jim" Melgar, by a Harris County, Texas, jury on August 23, 2017. The same jury sentenced her on August 24 to 27 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Her trial was held in Harris County's 178th District Court in August 2017. Prosecutors argued she killed her husband and staged a home invasion; the defense argued the evidence was not enough to convict her of murder.

Jim, 52, and Sandra had been married 32 years and lived in northwest Harris County, in the Houston area. Sandra had lupus, epilepsy and hypothyroidism and had undergone hip replacements. She told police they celebrated their wedding anniversary on the night of December 22, 2012, with dinner at a restaurant, a stop at a CVS and time in their bathroom Jacuzzi. She said Jim heard the dogs barking and went to let them in from the backyard. She went to her closet and sat down to put on lotion, the last thing she said she remembered before waking up.

Relatives arriving for a planned family get-together on the afternoon of December 23, 2012, knocked and got no answer. Jim's brother entered through the garage, unlocked the front door for the others and found a chair blocking the walk-in bathroom closet door. Sandra was bound and alive inside. Jim was dead in a master bedroom closet, his legs tied with a telephone cord. Authorities said he had more than 50 stab, cutting and blunt force wounds and injuries, including 31 cuts and stabs, with defensive wounds on both hands. Police found a kitchen knife and a white blouse in the Jacuzzi tub.

After paramedics cleared Sandra, police took her to the station for questioning. She told investigators she had blacked out and awakened restrained in the closet. During the interview, she said, "I know how it looks. I was also tied up," and detectives could not understand how she could have been unaware of the attack. The Innocence Project of Texas reports that the detective tried to file a murder charge immediately after the interrogation, while the scene was still being processed, but the charge was rejected at the time for lack of evidence.

Prosecutors later argued there was no sign of forced entry, the scene was staged to look like a robbery and nothing was taken. The defense said items of value had been removed. DNA on drawer pulls did not match anyone in the Melgar family. A Harris County grand jury indicted Sandra Melgar for murder on July 21, 2014, and the Harris County Sheriff's Office announced the charge. She was arrested in late July 2014 and released on $50,000 bond.

The Fourteenth Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction in an opinion issued January 7, 2020. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted review on August 19, 2020 to decide whether the evidence was legally sufficient and heard argument on June 30, 2021. On June 22, 2022, it dismissed her petition as improvidently granted in a per curiam opinion, with Judges Newell and Walker dissenting, leaving the conviction in place.

Attorney Kathleen Zellner announced in 2019 that she would represent Melgar. The Innocence Project of Texas has taken up the case and says it continues to work toward her exoneration. As of November 1, 2026, the conviction and 27-year sentence stand, and no habeas ruling, new trial, release or exoneration has been reported.

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Part 2 of 3 of the recording described above.

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Part 3 of 3 of the recording described above.