1983-03-30

A former police captain was sentenced to 50 years... - UPI Archives

AMARILLO, Texas -- A former police captain was sentenced to 50 years in prison Wednesday for killing an oilman he said he saw make love to his wife.

Jurors deliberated about three hours before finding Wynne guilty and then sentenced him to 50 years in prison and the maximum $10,000 fine.

Wynne could have received five to 99 years or life in prison and the fine.

Wynne, a former police captain, was convicted in the shooting death of oilman Erle Mathis, 63, who was gunned down Oct. 16, 1982, as he sat in a pickup truck at a downtown intersection.

Two Houston psychiatrists, called as rebuttal witnesses for the prosecution, testified Tuesday that Wynne knew what he was doing was wrong.

Drs. John Nottingham Jr. and Jerome Brown agreed the fact Wynne decided not to kill his wife indicated he was in control of himself at the time of the incident.

The doctors said Wynne told them during a Feb. 16 examination that when he found his wife, Margie Francis Wynne, 51, and Mathis having sex in the cab of Mathis' pickup he wanted to kill them both.

'He (Wynne) said if he had had a gun he would have killed them both,' Brown testified.

After finding the two together, Wynne went back to his car to get his pistol, checked to see that it was loaded, but changed his mind when he thought of who would take care of his 33-year-old retarded son, Brown testified.

About an hour later, authorities said Wynne shot Mathis. Testimony in the trial revealed Mrs. Wynne and Mathis had been having an affair for more than 20 years.