Celeste Beard was convicted in Austin, Texas, of capital murder in the death of her husband, Steven Beard. She did not carry out the offense herself. The jury found her guilty as a party to the conduct of Tracey Tarlton, on the charge that she committed murder for remuneration and the promise of remuneration, namely money and Steven Beard's estate. She was sentenced to life imprisonment, the State having agreed not to seek the death penalty. Tarlton, a friend of hers, pleaded guilty to murder, agreed to cooperate with the State and was sentenced to twenty years under that agreement. Celeste Beard denies the allegation.
The case is a single death. No other death has been charged against Celeste Beard, and none is alleged in the court record. Beard's own twin daughters were among the witnesses for the prosecution.
Her husband was a man of considerable wealth. His assets, which at one time totaled more than seven million dollars, were held mostly in a revocable trust. He had been widowed when he met Celeste in Austin in 1993. They married in February 1995. Soon after the wedding he adopted her twin daughters, who were then children.
The money was central to the marriage from the start. A marital agreement promised that her husband would give his wife one million dollars during the marriage, or five hundred thousand dollars if it ended in divorce. In January 1997 he moved five hundred thousand dollars into a revocable trust for her, and the trustee later testified that the fund was used up within about six months. Under his will, she was to inherit the residence, a lake property and one-half of his other assets. He remained free to change that will for as long as he lived.
Less than a year into the marriage, her husband filed a petition for divorce. He withdrew it about two months later. The State used the petition at trial as evidence of motive, and the court of appeals later held it relevant for that purpose. The prosecution argued that a divorce would have left Celeste Beard with far less than his estate, which was the money named in the indictment.
Tracey Tarlton and Celeste Beard met in 1999 and were in regular contact through that summer and autumn. Tarlton later testified for the State about the nature of that relationship and about what Celeste Beard asked of her. The defense called her unstable and said she acted alone to satisfy her own obsession.
The offense took place in Austin on October 2, 1999. Police arrested Tarlton on October 8, 1999, and charged her with injury to an elderly individual. Her husband died on January 22, 2000, and the charge against Tarlton was raised to capital murder. The court of appeals later held that the evidence was sufficient for the jury to find that his death resulted from the events of October 2, 1999, and it left the conflicting opinions of the experts called by the defense to the jury to resolve.
From October 1999 through January 2000, Celeste Beard's expenses exceeded seven hundred thousand dollars, and she presented them to the trustee of her husband's trust for payment.
Celeste Beard was indicted in March 2002. The first count charged capital murder for remuneration. After the trial court indicated it would quash that count, the State moved to amend it so that it named the remuneration as "money and the estate" of Steven Beard, with trust assets included. The court granted the amendment after a hearing on January 6, 2003, over the defense objection. A second count charged injury to an elderly individual. The jury was instructed that it could convict only if it found her responsible as a party to Tarlton's conduct.
In March 2002, days before her own murder trial was to begin, Tarlton accepted a plea agreement. She pleaded guilty to murder, agreed to cooperate with the State and received a twenty-year sentence. The State did not seek the death penalty against Celeste Beard.
The trial was held in Travis County, in the 390th District Court. Testimony lasted more than a month. The central witness was Tarlton, and the defense lawyer told the jury that the case stood or fell on whether she could be believed, arguing that she was testifying to save herself. Celeste Beard did not testify.
The prosecution argued that she wanted her husband dead for financial gain and that she had encouraged Tarlton to act. It supported Tarlton's account with other evidence: witnesses to Celeste Beard's hostility toward her husband and her conduct toward him, her spending, her reaction after his death, the pattern of her contact with Tarlton, her conduct on the day of the offense and afterward, and evidence that she later tried to hire someone to harm Tarlton. Her twin daughters also testified for the State. A recorded telephone call between Celeste Beard and one of her daughters was played for the jury.
The jury deliberated for about two and a half days. In March 2003 it found Celeste Beard Johnson guilty of capital murder and of injury to an elderly individual. The judge sentenced her to life imprisonment, and the jury assessed life imprisonment and a $10,000 fine on the second count.
Celeste Beard appealed to the Texas Third Court of Appeals in Austin. Her brief raised a long list of points of error. They covered the sufficiency of the evidence, including the corroboration of Tarlton's testimony and the cause of death; double jeopardy from convictions for both capital murder and injury to an elderly individual; the indictment and its amendment; evidentiary rulings on relevance, hearsay, telephone-record summaries and a deposition from a civil case; the trial judge's conduct toward a defense witness; and limits on her cross-examination of Tarlton.
On March 23, 2006, a three-judge panel affirmed. The court wrote that "a jury found appellant Celeste Beard Johnson guilty of capital murder and injury to an elderly individual," that the district court sentenced her to life imprisonment, and, in its closing paragraph, "Having overruled all of appellant's points of error, we affirm the judgments of conviction." On the accomplice evidence, it applied the rule that a conviction cannot rest on an accomplice's testimony unless corroborated, and held that the combined weight of the non-accomplice evidence connected her to the offense. On double jeopardy, it held that section 22.04(h) of the Penal Code "plainly authorizes multiple punishments" when conduct violates that section and another, and it left both convictions in place.
Texas charges capital murder under section 19.03 of its Penal Code, and subsection (a)(3) covers murder for remuneration or the promise of remuneration. The court of appeals described the conduct as killing another person in order to receive, or for the purpose of receiving, some benefit or compensation.
Celeste Beard was convicted as a party to Tarlton's conduct, because the jury was told it could convict her only on that basis. Tarlton was an accomplice, and Texas law requires that an accomplice's testimony be corroborated before it can support a conviction. That requirement shaped both the trial and the appeal.
Celeste Beard denies that she asked anyone to harm her husband, and she has maintained her innocence in interviews given since the trial. She disputed Tarlton's account of their relationship, and the defense portrayed Tarlton as delusional and obsessive.
Her daughters testified that she had spoken of hiring someone to kill Tarlton. Celeste Beard denied having said it and said a recording of the conversation had been edited. She was never charged over that alleged plan.
In May 2026, more than twenty years after sentencing, Celeste Beard was serving the life sentence in a Texas state facility and continued to say she was innocent. The Texas Third Court of Appeals affirmed both convictions on March 23, 2006.
1993: Celeste meets her future husband in Austin.
February 1995: They marry; he adopts her twin daughters soon after.
January 1997: Her husband funds a trust of five hundred thousand dollars for his wife.
October 2, 1999: The offense in Austin.
October 8, 1999: Tracey Tarlton is arrested.
January 22, 2000: Her husband dies; the charge against Tarlton becomes capital murder.
March 2002: Celeste Beard is indicted; Tarlton pleads guilty to murder and agrees to cooperate for a twenty-year sentence.
January 6, 2003: The court allows the amended indictment.
March 2003: A Travis County jury convicts Celeste Beard Johnson of capital murder and injury to an elderly individual; sentence of life imprisonment.
March 23, 2006: The Texas Third Court of Appeals affirms both convictions.
May 2026: She remains in Texas state custody, serving the life sentence.