Patricia Sexton

On February 21, 1998 Patricia Sexton reported her husband, Bobby, missing from their Ducanville Texas home. As is often the case investigators were suspicious of the spouse fairly quickly. On the night of February 24^th the police were back at the house for what I only found referenced a few times as a “possible sexual misconduct” call and they became even more suspicious of Patricia. She would tell investigators that she had last seen her husband on the night of the 20^th between 11:15 and 11:20 when he left in his truck and yet on that night the truck she said he left in was in her driveway. It seems she would later change what vehicle he left in but it really did not matter because that vehicle was also in the drive.

Patricia was sixteen years old in 1991 when she started dating the thirty-one year old Bobby. For the most part she had been raised by her grandparents, the Bingham's, her mother's parents. Her father was in prison for murder and her mother was a drug addict and it seems as if Patricia had little guidance. In 1992 Patricia gave birth to the first of the couples three girls. Patricia and Bobby would marry in May of 1993. By November of 1995 she was pregnant with her third daughter and at the age of twenty had been diagnosed with uterine cancer. The following year, at twenty-one she was forced to have a hysterectomy.

Things weren't great in the Sexton household and the marriage began to crumble by the end of 1997. In November of that year Patricia began having an affair with Michael Fielding. She would later claim that they were intimate only once but that does not seem to be true. Soon after Bobby filed for divorce and moved out of the home with their three daughters. In court proceedings Bobby was given custody of the girls. In January of 1998, at least outwardly it looked as if the couple was attempting to reconcile. Fielding would later say that that Patricia had told him that it was only so that she could get her girls back.

Michael Fielding would later testify that beginning in February of 1998 Patricia asked him several times if he had some cocaine because she wanted to get Bobby arrested to get the kids. Fielding would also say that Patricia's grandmother, Dorothy Bingham, knew about this. By the middle of February it seems that Patricia had given up the cocaine idea and began telling Fielding that she wanted Bobby dead. Her excuse was that he beat and raped her often. When asked why she did not just leave him Patricia allegedly told him it was because he would get the girls. Later, their friend Willie Wright would be around and Patricia asked the two men if they knew a hit man. Reportedly Wright said he would do it for $2,500 but no real agreement was made. According to Fielding, beginning on February 12^th Patricia asked him to kill Bobby but he refused. He would claim that over the next several days she would repeatedly ask and he finally agreed. He alleges that she wanted it done on February 20^th but I could find no indication as to why. Fielding would go on to allege that Dorothy Bingham had continued to be present through many of the conversations and that she had given him a box of surgical gloves as to not leave DNA.

On the night of February 20^th Willie Wright allegedly gave Fielding a shotgun and stated he would go and get Bobby Sexton. When Wright did just that Fielding would shoot him several times in the chest. Fielding claims that Patricia was called and was asked to bring over Bobby's suburban but he had to get the keys out of his pocket first. He would say that when he got the keys there were several on the key ring but that when Patricia arrived the only key was the single one in the ignition. Fielding and Wright would load Bobby's car up in his vehicle and they would dump the body in the rive and abandon the vehicle near Dialville Texas.

So how did investigators make their way to Michael Fielding? That came through Willie Wright. It seems that about a month after the murder Wright had been arrested for being intoxicated. Investigators were already suspicious of Wright and Fielding and in the beginning of interrogations when asked what happened to Bobby Sexton he would tell them to “Go ask Patricia.” Later he would tell them that Fielding had been the shooter and led them to Bobby's body on March 25^th.

Wrights interrogation led to Fielding and Fielding's led to both Patricia and her grandmother. But, that was not all that they had. There was also Linda Bingham, Patricia's mother, and her boyfriend, Al Clark and it seems that they all seemed to talk too.

Al Clark became a central figure in the case because he would allegedly find Bobby's vehicle on February 23^rd and without reporting anything would take it to the Bingham family wrecking yard. A few days later Patricia's grandfather would find the vehicle soaked in blood inside on his property. It appears that the vehicle was simply taken back to Patricia's, again, without anyone reporting anything to authorities. Linda and Al would move in with Patricia after Bobby's body had been found and a few months later Linda was in her own legal trouble apparently. She was apparently facing yet another drug charge and she began talking to investigators. Linda would claim to have overheard some conversations between her daughter and her mother both before and after Bobby's murder that indicated they were involved. One of the conversations after the murder allegedly involved Dorothy asking Patricia if everything had been cleaned up so as not to leave any evidence. Al Clark would also claim that Dorothy had asked him about guns that could not be traced by ballistics.

All of this together led to the additional arrests of Patricia Sexton and Dorothy Bingham. Eventually Fielding would plead guilty for his role and testified against the two women saying they were the “masterminds” of the crime. He would receive a thirty-five year sentence. He was eligible for parole in 2015 but apparently did not receive it and the only other thing on the Department of Corrections indicate that he will likely be in prison until the year 2033. I attempted to get information on what happened with Willie Wright but I was unsuccessful.

Patricia took her case to trial claiming her innocence. She would claim that she had had a conversation with Al Clark after the murder that indicated to her that he was involved. It seemed that it's Linda had had a change of heart by this time too and while it seems she would not definitely say that Clark was responsible or involved, she too would say she was suspicious but gave nothing specific.

The jury in Patricia's trial did not seem to buy the defense theory and although the prosecutor was hoping for a conviction on capital murder, claiming that the motive behind the murder was benefits that Patricia would receive they found her guilty of a lesser charge. She would receive a life sentence for murder, but apparently with parole as her first hearing is in 2028.

Dorothy would be convicted in May of 2000 for murder and engaging in organized criminal activity. She would be given a sentence of thirty years for each count. However, in 2004 an appeals court would rule that there had not been sufficient evidence against her and vacated her conviction. Apparently it seems that the prosecution decided against retrying her. In reality it seems that they had little evidence against her since it all came from others either involved in the crime or facing issues themselves. In Texas it is unlawful to convict someone solely based on the word of another, especially one involved in the crime. They can use the testimony and information but they have to prove collaborating evidence with that to secure a conviction and it seems the prosecution really did not have that.