Butch Ainsworth" with her father Pete Spadachene at 4114 Part II – As a Houston Police Offcer, I had the opportunity to work with some real leg- ends in law enforcement and I had the opportunity to work with some real out- standing prosecutors. In Houston, we were fortunate to have prosecutors who were willing to work around the clock providing justice for the victims of predators like William Smith “Butch” Ainsworth. In the “Retired Badge” May/June edition 2012, pgs. 6 & 7, my article titled “Dangerous Encounters” is about some of the memories I had from investigating Ainsworth’s activities. The following article is about some of the memories from Ainsworth’s trials and my work with Texas Ranger Joe W. Haralson. Bethel, in Houston. Determined to force Cheryl Ann to return home, Ainsworth went to his father-in-law’s home armed with three pistols and several rounds of ammunition. Mr. Spadachene refused to allow Ainsworth’s into his home and an angry Ainsworth fred seven rounds, from two of his guns, into the house. As he was breaking in the front door, Mr. Spadachene fred two blasts from his 16 gauge shotgun at the front door. Both shotgun blasts went through the front door striking Ainsworth in the chest. After being shot in the chest, Ain- sworth decided to leave without Cheryl Ann. He drove to a convenience store and went to the beer cooler. Covered in blood, he selected a twelve pack of beer and headed back to his car without pay- ing for the beer. The shocked and fright- ened store clerk called the police. duction case and received 99 years in the Texas Department of Correction. Interestedly, while the Galveston case was pending someone killed a cat and nailed the dead animal to the victim’s door in an attempt to intimidate the two women from testifying. When we talked with the warden about Ainsworth’s time in prison, he told us of all the sadistic acts Ainsworth committed. Torturing cats Ainsworth found on the prison unit was some of the sadistic acts the warden related to us. During Ainsworth’s incarceration, Ainsworth was assigned to late night barn duty because they had to keep him away from other inmates. The warden said this assignment did not last long since Ainsworth would capture barn cats and torture them during the late hours of the night. As the warden told his stories of Ainsworth, you could feel the frustra- tion he felt, dealing with inmates like Ainsworth. It is no surprise the warden believed Ainsworth to be the most dan- gerous inmate he ever had to deal with. Before the prison reform brought on by Ruiz vs. Estelle, the Texas prisons were much different than today. Inmates like Ainsworth were used as building ten- ders to deal with other violent inmates. Texas Ranger Joe Haralson relates a story about a violent inmate in the Di- agnostic Unit of the Texas Department of Corrections who the guards were un- HPD...Cont. on pg 5 After the article about Ainsworth was in print, I had the opportunity to talk with Charles “Chuck” Rosenthal, the Harris County Assistant District Attorney who pros- William Smith “Butch” ecuted him in Harris Ainsworth County. Chuck was one of the prosecutors who was willing to work around the clock to bring justice to the criminals who operated in Harris County. After reminiscing with Chuck about his memories of Ainsworth, I de- cided there were interesting facts that should be added to Ainsworth’s story. Ainsworth is just one on the many in- famous criminals Chuck prosecuted as he worked his way to becoming Harris County’s “chief law enforcement off- cer”. Ainsworth’s prosecution case in- volved domestic violenceand wasinves- tigated by the Houston Police Depart- ment. The story begins four days prior to the shooting incident that occurred on March 14, 1984. Wife Cheryl Ann Ain- sworth had left Ainsworth and moved in In my previous article I wrote that Ainsworth had passed out before being arrested by police. After talking with Chuck, I found out that was not how he was actually arrested. If one of our read- ers was involved in that arrest, I would really enjoy hearing from you. After the shotgun blasts, Ainsworth was losing a lot of blood and after leav- ing the store, he was involved in an ac- cident with a Houston driver. Immedi- ately after the accident, Ainsworth got out of his car with a gun in both hands. Seeing the bloody Ainsworth with guns, the terrifed driver ran. Chuck said, a Marine, who witnessed the accident ac- tually tackled Ainsworth, knocking both guns from his hands and Ainsworth started yelling, “I am an undercover nar- cotic offcer!” “I have been shot, do not call the police.” July 23 - 27, 2012 The Marine restrained Ainsworth un- til police arrived and he was arrested. At the time of this arrest, Ainsworth was out on bond in another case out of Galveston. In this case, he attempted to abduct two women at gun point who he had come across on the beach. Ain- sworth was later prosecuted in the ab-
Posted on: Fri, 02 Aug 2013 11:30:45 +0000
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