Draft:Murder of Farah Fratta

Murder of Farah Fratta
Location	Atascocita, Texas, United States
Date	November 9, 1994
Attack type	Murder by firearms Contract killing
Convicted	Robert Alan Fratta, 37 Howard Paul Guidry, 18 Joseph Andrew Prystash, 38
Verdict	All three men found guilty of capital murder Death penalty for all three accused
Convictions	Capital murder
Sentence	Death by lethal injection

On November 9, 1994, 33-year-old Farah Fratta (August 5, 1961 – November 9, 1994) was gunned down at her home's garage in Atascocita, Texas. Investigations revealed that Robert Alan Fratta (February 22, 1957 – January 10, 2023), a police officer and the estranged husband of Farah, had masterminded the murder of Farah by hiring two men to kill her, for which the motive was related to the unresolved divorce lawsuit between the couple and their fight for custody of their children.

Fratta's neighbour Joseph Andrew Prystash (born September 5, 1956) was the middleman recruited by Fratta to plan the murder, and the hired gunman Howard Paul Guidry (born April 15, 1976) was recruited by Prystash to carry out the murder in return. The case remained unsolved for months before Guidry was arrested for an unrelated bank robbery case, and he was therefore linked to the murder, and this also led to the arrests of Fratta and Prystash.

All three conspirators were found guilty of capital murder, and sentenced to death in separate trials. Fratta, who denied masterminding his wife's murder and maintained his innocence, was executed by lethal injection on January 10, 2023, after his appeals against the conviction failed. The remaining two killers, Prystash and Guidry, remains on death row at the Polunsky Unit as of 2024.

Background and murder

Divorce lawsuit and murder plot

Farah Fahmida Baquer, whose parents were from the Iraq, was born in Guildford, Surrey, England on August 5, 1961. In 1983, Farah married her husband Robert Alan Fratta, who was a public safety officer in Missouri City, Texas, U.S. Together, the couple had three children.

However, nine years later, Farah filed for divorce in March 1992, given that the couple's marriage had been fraught with difficulties and conflicts. Farah reportedly submitted that one of her grounds for divorce was due to her husband's bizarre and deviant sexual demands. The divorce lawsuit progressed before the courts for two years without any conclusion reached, and the Frattas fought for the custody rights of their two sons and one daughter.

According to Robert Fratta's co-workers and friends, they heard Fratta expressing on many occasions about his intent to kill his wife due to his embitterment towards her. One of Fratta's friends from the gym said that Fratta told him about his plan to use a gun and shoot her multiple times, while another claimed that he heard Fratta talking about engineering his wife's death as a carjacking-turned-murder and brought a gun along during their time in a nightclub. At least two of Fratta's co-workers from the police force also heard Fratta feeling displeased about the possible child custody payments he need to settle and thought of killing Farah to gain custodial rights of his children.

Others also testified that they had heard Fratta expressing his intention to hire people to kill his wife on many occasions. Fratta had told a female friend that he was looking for hitmen, specifically those of African-American descent, to assassinate his wife. Another friend was consulted by Fratta at a diner on whether he could find a person to murder his wife. Fratta even asked a colleague to help murder his wife.

In 1994, Fratta, then 37 years old, approached his gym friend, 38-year-old Joseph Andrew Prystash, who agreed to help him find a gunman to do the job. Prystash eventually recruited his 18-year-old neighbour Howard Paul Guidry to shoot Farah to death.

Death of Farah and investigations

On the night of November 9, 1994, at Atascocita, Texas, after having dinner with Fratta and their children, Farah remained at her house alone after Fratta brought the children out, the younger two to the church nursery and the oldest to a catechism class. Farah would leave the house for a haircut before she returned home again. At that point, Fratta was not in the house, as he was attending church.

According to court and media sources, Farah was at her house's garage when she encountered Howard Guidry, who acted on the instructions of Fratta. Guidry wielded a gun and fired two shots, which all struck 33-year-old Farah Fratta on the head, killing her on the spot. Farah's neighbours, who lived across from street, reportedly witnessed Farah being shot by Guidry, whom they described to be an African-American man or likely a White man dressed in black; Guidry was indeed African-American. The neighbours witnessed Guidry rushing out of the car and entered the car, and fled the scene; the car was driven by Joseph Prystash as a get-away vehicle.

After the murder of Farah, the police suspected Fratta was involved in the crime, but due to insufficient evidence, Fratta was not arrested and released after some questioning. Various individuals noticed that Fratta did not seem to have any sadness, outrage or concern in his demeanour in the face of his wife's death.

In the absence of Farah, the child custody rights trial proceeded with Fratta on one side and Farah's parents (Fratta's parents-in-law) Betty and Lex Baquer on the other. In December 1994, it was decided by the courts that Farah's parents should be granted the custodial rights to their grandchildren, and Fratta was granted supervised visitation rights for every Saturdays and daily 15-minute phone calls with his children. The Family Court Judge Robert Hinojosa reportedly reprimanded Fratta to be unfit as a parent due to his alleged involvement in the murder, which caused greater harm to his children than himself who possibly instigated the crime, and his conduct and judgement were "seriously impaired". Fratta was also fired from his job due to his alleged connection to the murder.

Meanwhile, the case remained unsolved for months until March 1, 1995, when Guidry was arrested for an unrelated bank robbery case. When Guidry was arrested, the police discovered a .38 caliber Charter Arms revolver in his backpack. A few days later, Mary Gipp, Prystash's girlfriend, informed the police that Guidry was involved in Farah's murder. A detective retrieved the revolver found with Guidry and requested a registration check. Federal firearms records revealed that Fratta had purchased the revolver in 1982. Furthermore, Farah's father identified the revolver as the one Farah had entrusted to him for safekeeping in 1993 and that he had returned to Fratta in the summer of 1994. Lastly, a firearms examiner from the Houston Police Department testified that one of the bullet fragments found in Farah's garage had been fired from the revolver, and another fragment, though too damaged for a definite match, had likely come from a gun made by the same manufacturer.

As a result of Guidry's arrest, Robert Fratta and Joseph Prystash were also arrested for plotting the murder of Farah Fratta. The subsequent confessions of Prystash and Guidry, as well as the testimony given by Prystash's girlfriend, further implicated Fratta as the mastermind of the homicide.

Murder trials and sentencing

Trial of Robert Fratta

After their arrests, all the three perpetrators – Joseph Prystash, Robert Fratta and Howard Guidry – were charged with capital murder, an offence that carries either life imprisonment or the death penalty under Texas state law. All three of them were put on trial in separate courts for their respective roles in the murder.

Fratta was the first to stand trial on April 9, 1996. The prosecution adduced evidence to show that Fratta was responsible for soliciting the murder of his wife, based on the ballistics tests and statements given by the witnesses and Fratta's own accomplices. It was also revealed during the trial that as rewards for the contract killing of his wife, Fratta offered to pay Guidry US$1,000 and Prystash US$2,000 and a jeep. Clinical psychologist Laurence Abrams, a prosecution medical expert, also testified that Fratta harboured both lack of appreciation of other people's feelings and regarded women as "little girls" who could easily be dominated by men.

On April 18, 1996, a Harris County jury found Fratta guilty of the solicitation of Farah's murder, and the trial progressed to its sentencing phase, where the jury could decide between death by lethal injection or a life sentence with the possibility of parole after minimally 40 years. During the sentencing phase, Betty Baquer, the 59-year-old mother of Farah, was allowed to make a victim impact statement, and she labelled her former son-in-law as a "monster" for having caused her daughter's death and the case's aftereffects in their lives.

On April 24, 1996, the jury unanimously meted out the death penalty for Fratta. On May 3, 1996, Fratta was formally sentenced to death by visiting state District Judge Bob Burdette.

Trial of Joseph Prystash

Prystash, who originated from Illinois, became the second person to stand trial on July 1, 1996. Prystash's girlfriend testified against her boyfriend during the trial proceedings, in which the prosecution intended to pursue the death penalty for Prystash.

On July 8, 1996, Prystash was convicted of capital murder, after the jury took 17 minutes to deliberate and reach their verdict. On July 11, 1996, the jury sentenced Prystash to death, with the judge set to impose it on a later date.

On August 2, 1996, Prystash was sentenced to death during an official court hearing, making him the second person to face the death sentence for the killing of Farah.

Trial of Howard Guidry

On March 20, 1997, Howard Guidry, a native of Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, was the third and final accused to stand trial. The jury similarly convicted Guidry of capital murder, and likewise recommended the death penalty for Guidry.

On April 16, 1997, Guidry was officially sentenced to death by a trial court. Guidry's sentence marked the third death sentence issued in the case of Farah's contract killing.

Re-trials of Guidry and Fratta

Guidry's 2007 re-trial

On January 14, 2005, Howard Guidry was granted a re-trial, after a federal court found that the prosecution misused the hearsay evidence and there was mishandling of the evidence and trial proceedings.

On February 19, 2007, Guidry stood trial a second time for the murder of Farah Fratta. The original witnesses, including Joseph Prystash's girlfriend Mary Gipp and Farah's father, returned to court to testify in the re-trial, in which the prosecution continued to seek a conviction for Guidry for having acted on Robert Fratta's orders to kill Farah.

On February 23, 2007, Guidry was re-convicted of the original charge of capital murder.

On March 1, 2007, the jury sentenced Guidry to the death penalty a second time, therefore sending Guidry back to death row for murdering Farah.

Fratta's 2009 re-trial

On October 2, 2007, Robert Fratta successfully appealed for a new trial, after U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon of a federal district court found that the prosecution's case against Fratta heavily relied on the confessions of both Prystash and Guidry, and there were questionable circumstances behind the trial procedure and conduct of the prosecution and police investigators. As such, Harmon directed the case to be remanded for a re-trial. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals also upheld the ruling of Harmon to grant Fratta a re-trial on July 22, 2008.

On May 5, 2009, Fratta stood trial before another jury, with District Judge Belinda Hill presiding over the hearing. The original trial witnesses, including Prystash's then girlfriend Mary Gipp, returned to court to testify on behalf of the prosecution and defence. The re-trial was done without the confessions of both Guidry and Prystash, since the courts barred the prosecution from using it as evidence against Fratta.

On May 14, 2009, the jury returned with their verdict, once again finding Fratta guilty of solicitation of capital murder. The sentencing trial was scheduled to begin on May 25, 2009.

On May 30, 2009, Fratta was re-sentenced to death by the jury. The defence earlier urged the jury to settle on a life sentence on behalf of Fratta's model behaviour throughout his incarceration for the past 15 years, while the prosecution continued to seek the death penalty for Fratta due to the aggravating circumstances of Farah Fratta's death.

Appeals of the trio

At the end of the re-trials of both Howard Guidry and Robert Fratta, the two men continued to appeal against their convictions and sentences. Similarly, Joseph Prystash, the only offender of this case who did not receive a re-trial, also went on to appeal to the higher courts.

On April 26, 2017, Prystash's appeal was rejected by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

On January 8, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Prystash's final appeal. Another condemned inmate, Christopher Young, also lost his final appeal to the Supreme Court on that same day.

On May 1, 2018, Fratta's federal appeal was dismissed by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

On January 8, 2019, Fratta's final appeal was dismissed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

On June 23, 2021, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals turned down Guidry's appeal.

Execution of Robert Fratta

In July 2022, an execution order was underway to facilitate the execution of Robert Fratta.

On October 12, 2022, a Texas judge signed the death warrant of Robert Fratta, whose death sentence was scheduled to be carried out on January 10, 2023.

In a final bid to escape the death penalty, Fratta and two other condemmed inmates scheduled for execution – Wesley Ruiz and John Balentine – filed a lawsuit, claiming that the prison officials were planning to use expired drugs to conduct lethal injection executions of the trio. The trio argued that the use of expired drugs for their upcoming executions amounted to a cruel and unusual punishment, which was in violation of their constitutional rights and several state laws. The lawsuit, however, was rejected by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Sometime after the rejection of the lawsuit, Ruiz and Balentine were separately executed as scheduled on February 1 and February 8, 2023, respectively.

A final appeal was lodged to the U.S. Supreme Court. Fratta's attorneys presented their case to the U.S. Supreme Court, claiming that the trial prosecutors had concealed evidence indicating that a witness had been hypnotized by investigators. This hypnosis caused her to alter her original statement, in which she had reported seeing two men at the murder scene along with a getaway driver. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ruled against the defence and dismissed Fratta's appeal, and ordered the execution to move forward. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles also rejected Fratta's clemency petition a week before his execution, declining to commute Fratta's death sentence to life imprisonment or grant him a 60-day temporary reprieve.

On January 10, 2023, 28 years and two months after the murder of his wife, 65-year-old Robert Alan Fratta was put to death by lethal injection at the Huntsville Unit. Right before the execution could proceed, a last-minute stay of execution was issued after the District Judge Catherine Mauzy ruled that the state should not use the expired drugs to conduct Fratta's execution and those of the other plaintiffs of the prior lawsuit. This ruling was overturned by the higher courts, allowing Fratta to be executed as scheduled; Fratta was pronounced dead at 7:49pm, 24 minutes after he was administered with a single dose of pentobarbital.

Current status of the hired hitmen

As of 2024, both Howard Guidry and Joseph Prystash remains on death row for murdering Farah Fratta.

See also

• Capital punishment in Texas
• List of death row inmates in Texas
• List of people executed in Texas, 2020–present
• List of people executed in the United States in 2023