A federal judge is threatening to hold high-profile attorney and former Harris County prosecutor Kelly Siegler in contempt of court for successfully evading a subpoena to testify in a death row inmate’s appeal of his conviction.

Officials tried eight times over two weeks in late March and early April to deliver paperwork ordering Siegler to appear, according to court documents. U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison in Houston said Thursday he might sanction her if she fails to accept his court order mandating her presence at a court hearing next week for Ronald Jeffrey Prible, a death row inmate convicted of killing a family of five.

The judge indicated in court he found Siegler’s lack of response to process servers disturbing, likely because court documents focus on her as a key witness in Prible’s appeal.

“I have to draw the harshest possible inference from that,” Ellison said at a status hearing. “I’m very disappointed an officer of the court would take that position, and I’m not ruling out a contempt proceeding.”

Siegler did not respond to inquiries directed to her work email and mobile phone number.

Court rebukes

Siegler — an aggressive prosecutor prosecutor dubbed the “giant killer” — secured death sentences in 19 of the 20 times she pursued capital punishment. After establishing herself as an advocate for crime victims, she went on to host “Cold Justice,” a crime show on the Oxygen network.

But Siegler has faced a series of court rebukes for misconduct that prioritized convictions over fairness and disclosure.

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Lawyers for David Temple, an Alief football coach convicted in his wife’s murder in 1999, said Siegler withheld evidence favorable to the defendant in Temple’s 2007 trial. State District Judge Larry Gist found 36 instances of misconduct in the murder trial, and Temple’s conviction was ultimately overturned because of prosecutorial misconduct. The case is now pending.

Prible is challenging key evidence Siegler used to convict him, including testimony from jailhouse informants Siegler tracked down. His legal team is also arguing that Siegler violated her obligation to turn over exculpatory evidence that could have helped Prible’s defense.

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Prible’s lawyer has argued that Siegler gave just enough information to potential informants at a Beaumont medium security lockup that they were able to fabricate a confession from Prible and then recruit other inmates to bolster their story and credibility.

Prible was sentenced to death in 2002 for the cold-case murder of his friend and the friend’s fiancée in northwest Houston. The couple’s three young daughters died as a result of a fire Prible set, but he was not convicted in their deaths. Prible had been serving a two-year federal bank robbery sentence at the time he was charged with the north Houston murders.

Looking ahead

A lawyer for the Texas Attorney General’s Office representing the state prison director declined to respond to a request for comment about Siegler. Attorney James Eloi Doyle represented Siegler at a previous deposition in the case, but said he no longer represents her.

James Gregory Rytting, one of three lawyers handling Prible’s post-conviction appeal, said his client is prepared to move forward next week with or without Siegler’s testimony.

“It’s scheduled and our client wants the hearing to go forward so we will,” Rytting said. “My client has been waiting for a hearing long enough.”

gabrielle.banks@chron.com