Houston Pastor Denies Involvement in Wife's Shooting Death

By Luiza Oleszczuk, Christian Post Reporter Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Tracy Bernard Burleson, a former Texas pastor accused of pushing his stepson to shoot his wife in the head in a gruesome murder scheme, is facing capital murder charges.

Burleson, a 44-year-old ex-pastor from Houston, is accused of hiring his then-19-year-old son, William Fuller, to kill his wife, Pauletta Burleson, who was the boy's stepmother.

On Tuesday, the second day of the trial, Fuller testified that his father and his mistress manipulated him, asking him to kill Mrs. Burleson in exchange for life insurance money and a place to live, reported ABC13.

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In a taped statement played in court, Burleson repeated several times: "I did not kill my wife," according to the Houston Chronicle.

On May 18, 2010, Mrs. Burleson was shot in the head, execution-style, in their garage. According to the Harris County Sheriff's Office Homicide Unit's statement, at approximately 11:15 p.m., local time, police was dispatched to the pastor's house, where the deputies found that "a Black Female had been shot and lying on the ground near the garage with a gunshot wound in the head area."

The person suspected of pulling the trigger became the teenager, Fuller. It has not yet been established whether the pastor pressured the boy, according to the local media.

However, it also emerged, that both men were romantically involved with the same woman, Tyonne Palmer, who was taking care of Fuller. The young man is reported to have sickle cell anemia.

Adding to the complexity of this case, the victim, Mrs. Burleson, also had a $60,000 life insurance policy. Investigators were also looking into the possibility that she was killed for money, Fox 26 reported.

Fuller, 21, Palmer, 32, and Burleson, 46, were all charged with capital murder in the shooting. Fuller's charges were reduced to murder after he agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, according to The Houston Chronicle.

During the opening arguments Monday, prosecutors reportedly said they suspect the ex-pastor masterminded the entire scheme. Defense lawyers, on the other hand, said that Fuller may have tried to frame his father, or that Palmer may have manipulated both men to continue to date the pastor, according to local media.

Burleson was pastor of the First New Mount Calvary Baptist Church, which was destroyed by fire a week before the shooting. No charges have been filed in the fire, which Fuller accuses his father of setting.