Traci Rhode fined, set free for murder

Traci Rhode spent two days in jail and will pay $10,000 for the crime of murder.

The jury that convicted the Fort Madison, Iowa, native of killing her husband in their Brownsville home four years ago also set her free Thursday, to the delight of her lawyer and the dismay of local prosecutors.

“I am ecstatic with the jury’s assessment of probation,” said her lawyer, Ernesto Gamez.

“It literally legitimizes and justifies their verdict because deep down inside they had a very tough decision to make.”

It took jurors two days to deliver their guilty verdict and another three days to sentence Rhode to 10 years supervised release. Judge Ben Euresti tacked on a $10,000 fine to her punishment and she was released from the Carrizalez-Rucker Detention Center within a few hours.

“(They waited) for two days before they came out with their guilty verdict because they were not sure,” Gamez suspects and called his client’s detention during deliberation “cruel and unusual.”

“Can you imagine the shock of being locked-up for two days in a 4-by-8 (foot cell) with cement walls in isolation? What a culture shock,” he said.

District Attorney Armando Villalobos was experiencing a different kind of shock Thursday after it was announced that the convicted killer would walk.

“We are obviously disappointed by the fact that a convicted murderer will be among us,” said Villalobos, whose office recommended 60 years in prison for Rhode.

Villalobos pointed out that people convicted of “lesser” crimes, such as theft or robbery, often serve harsher sentences.

Upon her release, Rhode embraced her children and supporters that waited outside the jail fence.

She has maintained her innocence throughout the trial, claiming Scott Rhode shot himself in their bedroom while she showered after a morning walk.

The prosecutors counter that Traci awoke at about 5 a.m. on Oct. 15, 2003, and shot her husband with a .45-caliber handgun while he slept.

She went jogging around their Briarwick Subdivision neighborhood then took a bath before calling police to report the shooting, they argued.

Scott survived the gunshot wound to the head but died the next day at Valley Regional Medical Center.

“This was a flat out cold-blooded execution,” Villalobos said.

“Really, our goal here was to get over the hurdle of showing the jury that this murder occurred without really any eyewitnesses present,” he said.

“Whenever you are faced with that kind of situation you exhaust a lot of resources and energy to show that the murder occurred.”

Prosecutors alleged that Traci killed so that she could collect her husband’s life insurance policy and continue an affair with a co-worker.

She is the beneficiary of a $600,000 life and accidental death policy for Scott. It was not clear Thursday who would receive those benefits now that she’s been convicted in his death.

“That’s a civil issue that I’m not involved with,” Gamez said. “The monies will probably go to the children, and rightfully so.”

Scott and Traci Rhode had three children. Two boys pleaded with jurors for leniency after their mother’s conviction.

Her sentence might not be available for the next convicted killer.

A new law passed by the Texas Legislature and effective since Sept. 1 prohibits murderers from receiving community supervised release. The law only applies to cases that take place after the effective date.

“Probation is just disappointing,” Villalobos said of the case his office won and in a way, lost. “But we have to move on.”