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Tuesday, February 10, 1998

Accused killer's suicide note will not get brother off the hook

HOUSTON (AP) -- An accused killer's suicide note will not clear his brother in a murder-for-hire scheme, a prosecutor said Monday.

Roger Nicholas Angleton, 55, was found dead in his Harris County Jail cell Saturday. He had bled to death after cutting his neck and wrists with disposable razor blades. In a final note, Angleton claimed full responsibility for the April 16 slaying of his sister-in-law, Doris McGowan Angleton, 46.

In the note, he said he killed Mrs. Angleton in an attempt to blackmail his brother, 48-year-old Robert Angleton, who owed him money. Roger Angleton said he was taking his life because guilt from the crime became unbearable.

But both brothers have been charged with capital murder. And Harris County District Attorney John B. Holmes Jr. said Robert Angleton will still stand trial for capital murder and the note is not enough to clear him.

Robert Angleton's attorney Mike Ramsey disagrees.

"When a person comes face to face with God they generally tell the truth," Ramsey said.

The Angleton murder saga has been unfolding since Mrs. Angleton's April 16 murder. That night Robert and Doris Angleton and their two daughters had gone to a softball game. She returned home during the game to retrieve a softball bat and was shot several times with a .22-caliber pistol.

Police revealed that Robert Angleton was a well-known Houston bookmaker who had been an informant for the police's vice division for years. He told detectives he thought his brother Roger might be involved in the slaying.

When arrested in Las Vegas on an unrelated charge, police found Roger Angleton carrying a briefcase containing evidence linking him to the killing, including a note saying, in part, "$100,000 a year until 2005," and "my contract with you is to kill and no squealing."

The briefcase also contained $64,282 in cash, and money wrappers, one of which had Robert Angleton's fingerprint.

Police also found a cassette tape of two men planning a murder. The men on the tape are the Angleton brothers, police contend. In August both men were charged with capital murder.