Lee Mongerson Gilley is shown in the 497th District Court at the Harris County Justice Center, 1201 Franklin, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in Houston. He is charged with capital murder in death of his wife, Christa Gilley.
Melissa Phillip/Staff Photographer
Dick DeGuerin, a lawyer for Lee Gilley, leaves the courtroom after discussing motions in his case in front of Judge Peyton Peebles in the 497th District Court in Houston, Thursday, May 21, 2026. Two of the lawyers for Gilley, who is charged with capital murder in his wife’s death and seeking asylum in Italy after escaping the United States with falsified travel documents, asked the court to remove them from the case.
Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle
Bill Stradley, left, Ed McClees and Dick DeGuerin, lawyers for Lee Gilley, walk to the bench to discuss motions in his case in front of Judge Peyton Peebles in the 497th District Court in Houston, Thursday, May 21, 2026. Two of the lawyers for Gilley, who is charged with capital murder in his wife’s death and seeking asylum in Italy after escaping the United States with falsified travel documents, asked the court to remove them from the case.
Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle
Harris County prosecutors want famed defense attorney Dick DeGuerin to be held in contempt of court for a string of recent media interviews about Lee Gilley’s asylum proceedings in Italy, according to court records.
District Attorney Sean Teare’s general counsel, Joshua Reiss, accused DeGuerin of running afoul of Judge Petyon Peebles’ gag order — which the judge put in place following DeGuerin’s earlier remarks about his trial strategy in Gilley’s capital murder case.
Reiss asked for a hearing to debate whether a punishment from the court is merited for the attorney, who has practiced law since 1965. A hearing has not been scheduled, but both sides are due in court in September.
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“DeGuerin understood — and ignored — this court’s order directing that he ‘shall refrain’ from talking to the media,” Reiss wrote in a court filing Wednesday.
The comments center on whether DeGuerin went too far in sharing his perspective on an Italian court order postponing Gilley’s extradition. The overseas court sought clarity from prosecutors on whether they plan to seek the death penalty against Gilley in the death of his wife, Christa Gilley, or whether they’d consider lesser charges that don’t include a punishment of life without parole.
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The Italian court’s order quotes an email from prosecutor Janna Oswald to DeGuerin that explains Teare already said in an extradition packet — which the Justice Department shared with Italian authorities — that his office was not seeking the death penalty and never planned to do so. They declined to file a formal notice of that decision in Gilley’s criminal case file, Oswald wrote.
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Reiss appeared to take exception to DeGuerin’s use of the word “unprecedented” to describe the latest developments in Gilley’s case in media interviews, as well as DeGuerin’s contention that the delayed extradition has complicated his preparations for the trial, according to his filing.
DeGuerin last week told the Chronicle that he didn’t believe his statements violated the gag order as they were limited to what happened in open court or what was explained in court documents.
When reached Wednesday, DeGuerin referred additional questions to an attorney, Brian Wice, who’s representing him in the potential contempt hearing.
“I’d love to tell you what I think about it,” DeGuerin said.
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His attorney, Wice, says Teare’s general counsel is overreaching and a judge is likely to agree.
“Dick’s comments did not come within a time zone of violating Judge Peebles’ gag order,” Wice said in an emailed statement.
The gag order signed by Peebles prohibits attorneys from making comments surrounding events that take place outside the courtroom, but also bars them from discussing the case with journalists at all. The order appears to then contradict itself by saying attorneys can discuss the case as long as it’s limited to what’s in the public record, such as scheduling, and the result of any proceeding, as long as they don’t elaborate on or characterize them.
Gilley removed his ankle monitor and fled the U.S. to seek asylum in Italy with weeks to go until his capital murder trial. Days passed before authorities realized he had left the country. Gilley sought asylum fearing authorities would use the death penalty at trial, but prosecutors said nothing ahead of his escape to suggest they were seeking the death penalty.
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Gilley remains in custody in Italy awaiting extradition.