DALLAS LAWYER WINS RETRIAL IN CHILD PURCHASE

The Dallas Morning News

November 7, 1987

The Dallas Court of Appeals on Friday ordered a new trial for a lawyer who was sentenced to seven years in prison after being convicted of purchasing a child.

Robert T. Kingsley of Dallas was convicted in October 1986 of paying an unwed 22-year-old mother more than $2,000 in living expenses in exchange for her child. It was the first trial in Texas under a 1977 law designed to curb illegal adoptions.

After a punishment hearing, a jury sentenced Kingsley to seven years in prison plus a $5,000 fine. Two months later, Kingsley, 62, pleaded guilty to two other counts of purchasing a child and was sentenced to 10 years' probation, fined $1,000 and ordered to pay $37,500 in restitution to adoptive parents in one case.

In ordering a new trial, Justice Joseph Devany said state District Judge Gerry Holden Meier erred in allowing prosecutors to present witnesses in other adoption cases handled by Kingsley.