A man orig­i­nal­ly sen­tenced to death for four mur­ders in Texas has been released on his own recog­ni­zance after new DNA evi­dence was dis­cov­ered. Robert Springsteen and co-defen­dant Michael Scott were released by State District Judge Mike Lynch after pros­e­cu­tors said they were not pre­pared to go to tri­al as sched­uled, leav­ing Judge Lynch to fol­low through on his promise to the defen­dants that anoth­er delay would mean free­dom for the defen­dants. Lynch said he not only had to con­sid­er the charges but the rights of the men to a tri­al. Springsteen and Scott were both con­vict­ed of cap­i­tal mur­der, with Springsteen receiv­ing a death sen­tence and Scott receiv­ing life, but the con­vic­tions were thrown out on appeal. Now new DNA tests have shown con­clu­sive­ly that the evi­dence retrieved on scene did not belong to Springsteen, Scott or oth­er pre­vi­ous co-defen­dants. The defense lawyers say the new DNA evi­dence exon­er­ates Scott and Springsteen. After already test­ing more than 130 peo­ple, includ­ing friends of Springsteen and Scott, police and fire­fight­ers, and oth­ers, the pros­e­cu­tion is ask­ing for more time to try and find the per­son match­ing the DNA from the crime. Springsteen and Scott had con­fessed to the crimes under what their attor­ney’s call coer­cion and psy­cho­log­i­cal pres­sure, in addi­tion to oth­er peo­ple that con­fessed who the police lat­er deter­mined to be inno­cent. The case will return to court August 12.

(S. Kreytak, ​“Suspects in Yogurt Shop Killings Released,” American-Statesman, June 25, 2009). See Innocence.

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