A jury deliberated 10 minutes before convicting a Dallas man of capital murder Thursday in the stabbing deaths of his wife and her two sons.
Robert Sparks admitted fatally stabbing his sleeping wife, Chare Agnew, and her two young sons, Harold Sublet, Jr. and Raekwon Agnew, in a call to 911 on Sept. 15, 2007. Sparks is also accused of raping his two stepdaughters and locking them in a closet inside the family's house on Ezekial Avenue in Rochester Park.
Prosecutors said after Sparks stabbed his wife with a buck knife, he went into her sons' room and pulled the 9- and 10-year-old boys into the kitchen where they were stabbed nearly 50 times each.
Sparks was arrested three days after the bodies were found in the house.
He was taken into custody after leading police on a slow-speed chase through South Dallas in a van that was reported stolen. As police apprehended Sparks he told news reporters that his wife had tried to poison him and that her sons were helping her.
Sparks had been previously arrested in Dallas County on charges of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, assault and evading arrest, according to county records.
Closing arguments in the trial were delayed Thursday morning after the court learned that Sparks apparently attempted to commit suicide by overdosing on pills used to treat depression. Sparks was treated at Baylor Medical Center and was returned to the courthouse after a psychologist determined that he was competent to stand trial, the Dallas Morning News reported.
Sparks' fate will be decided next week during the sentencing phase of his trial. He faces the death penalty or life in prison with no parole.
