Catherine Shelton biography

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By the time attorney and murder suspect Catherine Mehaffey met and married Clint Shelton in Mullin, Texas, she had accumulated quite a relationship history: One of her former boyfriends was bludgeoned to death. She shot another ex-boyfriend in the back, and another ex's apartment burned down.

After marrying, Catherine and Clint moved to Dallas, where she became one of the best criminal defense lawyers in town. While there, Michael Hierro hired Catherine to defend him in a robbery charge, and Hierro?s wife, Marisa, came to work for the attorney. Less than a year later, Marisa left Shelton to open her own immigration consulting business, and the two became nasty rivals.

On the night of December 20, 1999, the Hierros were ambushed by masked gunmen in the driveway of their home in the Dallas suburbs. After being shot, Marissa claimed she recognized the voice of Catherine Shelton. The next day, a mask was found nearby and DNA evidence pointed to Clint. A jury found him guilty and sentenced him to life in prison. Both he and Catherine continue to insist they were at home at the time of the murder.

According to Catherine, Marisa framed the Sheltons while getting rid of Michael, who knew too much about his wife?s immigration racket. Allegedly, Marisa was charging immigrants exorbitant fees for green cards she never produced and was practicing without a license. When Catherine filed suit against Marisa for falsely accusing she and Clint of the murder, the judge awarded her $5 million in damages. Though that judge absolved Catherine of the crime, to many, the murder of Michael Hierro remains unsolved.

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