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Crime and Punishment: The Perfect Wife
Friday 12 Dec 10.00AM
To outsiders, Roger and Penny Scaggs' 35-year relationship seemed the epitome of a happy marriage. Penny was known for her course on Being a Good Wife that she taught through the First Evangelical Free Church of Austin and her husband, Roger Scaggs, a successful CEO, was a well-respected church elder.
But on the night of 6th March 1996, the Scaggs seemingly perfect life ended in a vicious murder. The couple had dinner together and then Roger returned to his office to finish work. When he came home around 9pm he found his wife slumped in a pool of blood in front of her canary-yellow baby grand piano. She was dead.
Roger called 911 and when police arrived they quickly became suspicious of his strangely subdued behaviour. Penny’s murderer had bludgeoned her to death with multiple blows to the head and, after she was dead, stabbed her in the chest and slit her neck open. Even seasoned police officers were shocked by the carnage.
Roger immediately suggested that a vagrant must have noticed Penny’s jewellery while she sat playing the piano. In fact the jewellery she was wearing was gone. A few days later though, investigators found Penny's jewellery, a metal pipe, a knife and a pair of blood-spotted gloves in a dumpster at the offices of APS Systems, Roger’s employer. Police felt they had their man and arrested Roger Scaggs for the murder of his wife.
Two and a half years later in November 1998 the case finally came to trial. Prosecutors alleged that Roger Scaggs killed Penny after dinner, cleaned up the mess and then went to work to dispose of the evidence. They claimed his motive stemmed from an affair he was having with a 26-year-old co-worker. The defence maintained that Roger was a good, religious man who was incapable of the crime.
On 14th November 1998, Roger Scaggs was found guilty. He was sentenced to 32 years in prison and levied a $10,000 fine. In December 1999, Scaggs petitioned for a new trial but was denied. He still maintains his innocence and his daughter has gone to law school, so she can help him prove it.
But on the night of 6th March 1996, the Scaggs seemingly perfect life ended in a vicious murder. The couple had dinner together and then Roger returned to his office to finish work. When he came home around 9pm he found his wife slumped in a pool of blood in front of her canary-yellow baby grand piano. She was dead.
Roger called 911 and when police arrived they quickly became suspicious of his strangely subdued behaviour. Penny’s murderer had bludgeoned her to death with multiple blows to the head and, after she was dead, stabbed her in the chest and slit her neck open. Even seasoned police officers were shocked by the carnage.
Roger immediately suggested that a vagrant must have noticed Penny’s jewellery while she sat playing the piano. In fact the jewellery she was wearing was gone. A few days later though, investigators found Penny's jewellery, a metal pipe, a knife and a pair of blood-spotted gloves in a dumpster at the offices of APS Systems, Roger’s employer. Police felt they had their man and arrested Roger Scaggs for the murder of his wife.
Two and a half years later in November 1998 the case finally came to trial. Prosecutors alleged that Roger Scaggs killed Penny after dinner, cleaned up the mess and then went to work to dispose of the evidence. They claimed his motive stemmed from an affair he was having with a 26-year-old co-worker. The defence maintained that Roger was a good, religious man who was incapable of the crime.
On 14th November 1998, Roger Scaggs was found guilty. He was sentenced to 32 years in prison and levied a $10,000 fine. In December 1999, Scaggs petitioned for a new trial but was denied. He still maintains his innocence and his daughter has gone to law school, so she can help him prove it.
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