Kelly Siegler
Prominent former Houston prosecutor Kelly Siegler built a 20-year career out of securing convictions in tough murder cases, especially those that for years had been unsolved.
It was that reputation for tenacity and pluck that landed the local legend a starring role on “Cold Justice,” a nationally televised reality show, after she left the Harris County District Attorney’s Office in 2008.
But this week, she found herself again fighting for her reputation after an Ohio man who was acquitted earlier this year of a 1981 slaying sued Siegler, her TV show and law enforcement for defamation.
Steven Noffsinger filed suit last week because of an August 2014 broadcast in which he was accused of killing his ex-wife, Alma, more than 30 years earlier.
Noffsinger was found not guilty in May after spending nine months in jail without bail after being indicted in the Ohio slaying.
“The defendants’ collective investigations, which occurred in 2014, were an attempt to resurrect a “cold case,” and resulted in an unreasonably reckless disregard for and malicious prosecution of plaintiff in violation of the United States and Ohio Constitutions and state law,” the lawsuit states.
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Across the country, at least two other people have said allegations by the show have devastated their lives.
Earlier this year in Des Moines, Iowa, Theresa Supine was found not guilty in the 1983 beating deaths of her husband and his teenage girlfriend. She was charged last year, after being targeted by the show.
Supine told the Des Moines Register in February that she was considering suing “Cold Justice.”
Last year in Tennessee, a boat repairman filed a lawsuit alleging defamation after the show televised an episode implicating him in the 2010 stabbing deaths of a woman and her 8-year-old son.
Joshua Singletary claims police and the television painted him in a false light and violated his rights, according to published accounts. Although he was charged after the crime, those charges were dropped. The case remains open.
I haven’t watched the show, and I know nothing of these cases, so I have no comment on the merits of the claims against Siegler and others associated with Cold Justice. It is a reminder that an arrest is not a resolution to a case, no matter how much fanfare there is. Be all that as it may, it sure has been a tumultuous couple of months for Kelly Siegler, hasn’t it?