(L-R) Shepard, Sonnier and Dixon
More than a decade after their father was brutally slain in a murder-for-hire sparked by a love triangle, Dr. Joseph Sonnier’s sons hope a civil trial scheduled for May could give them $1 million or more.
Meanwhile, two of the three bars of silver Dr. Thomas Michael Dixon paid David Shepard to kill Sonnier are no longer stored as evidence in Lubbock County – returned in December 2023 to the Amarillo pawn shop Dixon used to cash them in. A third bar remains in evidence.
Before Dixon was convicted of capital murder in 2013, Sonnier’s adult children – Joseph Sonnier IV and James Sonnier – filed a lawsuit. Sonnier’s mother Anna Marie Sonnier also sued but passed away in 2018.
Their lawsuit says:
“Defendant Thomas M. Dixon intentionally or knowingly caused the death of Jospeh Sonnier III by employing defendant David N. Shepard to murder Joseph Sonnier III for remuneration or the promise of remuneration [payment] from defendant Thomas M. Dixon.”
Dixon’s defense simply says, he “… denies generally all allegations of the petition.”
The lawsuit patiently waited through multiple delays while the criminal case proceeded.
Technically, the legal wrangling on the criminal side is not over as Dixon’s legal team raised issues still grinding slowly through the justice system.
But it’s far enough along that Judge John Grace ordered a trial date of May 12 at 9 a.m. for the civil case.
LubbockLights.com reached out to attorneys for both Dixon and the Sonnier family – Kelly Utsinger and Patrick Simek, respectively. They have not responded.
Silver bars go back to Amarillo
At trial, the silver bars were presented as evidence. While the appeals process went on, the bars were kept as evidence. LubbockLights.com asked the Lubbock County District Clerk what happened to them. But her office did not possess them.
LubbockLights.com reached out to the Lubbock Police Department and learned “ … the bars are no longer in our property room and have been released.”
We reached out to Sunshine Stanek, Lubbock County Criminal District Attorney. She said two bars were released back to the Amarillo pawn shop where – according to official records – Shepard sold them.
Stanek said a third bar was kept with the court reporter as evidence.
The plot and murder
In 2012, Dixon – an Amarillo plastic surgeon – and Shepard spent three months talking about “plans for dealing with” Sonnier in Lubbock, according to court records.
Shepard was motivated by the roughly $9,000 worth of silver bars, which Dixon paid him, court records said.
“After Shepard killed Sonnier, Shepard returned to Amarillo where Dixon gave
him three cigars,” court records said.
Dixon’s motivation was his ex-girlfriend Richelle Shetina, now dating Sonnier, a pathologist.
“On July 10, 2012, Shepard entered Sonnier’s Lubbock home through a rear window. Shepard killed Sonnier by shooting him five times and stabbing him eleven times,” court records said.
Three years later Dixon was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison. Shepard also took a plea deal that included him testifying against Dixon and serves life in prison.
Further details are found in the criminal case – appealed all the way to Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. A new line of appeals claiming trial errors (technically called a writ) started in State District Court in Lubbock and remains pending.
“Dixon, an Amarillo resident, divorced his wife after he began a relationship with
Richelle Shetina. In time, the relationship waned and Shetina began seeing Joseph Sonnier, who lived in Lubbock,” a previous appeals court ruling said.
That led to the shooting and stabbing in the 4600 block of 21st Street.
Dixon was aware Shepard was at Sonnier’s home on the date of the murder, according to the court records.
“The two regularly messaged each other while awaiting Sonnier’s arrival home that evening. Dixon contends he thought Shepard was at the home to install a camera that would reveal Sonnier’s alleged unfaithfulness to Shetina,” the appellate record said.
Prosecutors argued Dixon’s knowledge of Shepard in the home was evidence of the plan.
Dixon tried to get rid of the text messages between him and Shepard – deleting them, getting into a pool with his phone and removing the SIM card.
“Dixon did not realize at the time was that his phone had already synced some of the messages with his computer,” court records said.
Police also discovered the gun Shepard used belonged to Dixon.
Civil trial witness list
For the Sonnier family:
- Joseph A. Sonnier, IV – son
- James C. Sonnier – son
- Missy Bartlett – sister
- Marylu Trevino – coworker
- Mary Rodriguez – coworker
- District Clerk – to confirm conviction
- Thomas Michael Dixon – defendant
- Mary Francis Archer Dixon – mother
- Dwayne Gerber – Lubbock Police Department
- Whitney McClendon – Lubbock Police Department
- Garland Timms – Lubbock Police Department
- Zack Johnson – Lubbock Police Department
- Ylanda Pena – Lubbock Police Department
- Paige Fletcher – Lubbock Police Department
- Dustin Gay – Lubbock Police Department
- Joe Moudy – Lubbock Police Department
- Darren Lindly – Lubbock Police Department
- Matthew D. Powell – prosecutor
- Sunshine Stanek – prosecutor
- Darryl Wade Jackson – prosecutor
- Lauren Murphree – prosecutor
- Any and all personnel at Rix Funeral Directors
For Dixon and Shepard:
- David Shepard – defendant
- The same witnesses as Sonnier family
The trials
Dixon was tried twice, the first ending in a hung jury.
Dixon was convicted in the second trial on two counts of capital murder even though there was only one victim.
Prosecutors had two theories of the case – one being capital murder by having a shooting death with a home burglary. The other being capital murder in a murder-for-hire scheme. A Lubbock jury found him guilty on both theories.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals dropped it down to a single conviction of capital murder. To convict Dixon twice for the same crime was a violation of his constitutional rights, the high court ruled.
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