Entries tagged with “José Garza”

May 19, 2026

City of Austin to Pay $35 Million to Compensate Men Wrongfully Convicted in Decades-Old Murder Case

On May 13, 2026, the city of Austin, Texas agreed to pay $35 mil­lion in com­pen­sa­tion to four men — three sur­viv­ing and one deceased — who spent years under the shad­ow of wrong­ful con­vic­tions, accused of an infa­mous quadru­ple mur­der that DNA proved none of them com­mit­ted. The set­tle­ment, which must still be approved by the Austin City Council, came less than three months after a Travis County judge declared Robert Springsteen, Michael Scott, Forrest Welborn, and Maurice Pierce…

Mar 27, 2025

U.S. Supreme Court Denies Review in Texas Faulty DNA Evidence Case, Despite Prosecutor Confession of Error

On March 24, 2025, the United States Supreme Court denied review of Areli Escobar’s (pic­tured) most recent appeal of his mur­der con­vic­tion, which argued for relief based on the fact that the Texas pros­e­cu­tor had con­fessed error over the mis­lead­ing use of incon­clu­sive DNA evi­dence at tri­al. In his peti­tion, Mr. Escobar’s legal team said Travis County pros­e­cu­tors had relied heav­i­ly at tri­al on com­pro­mised evi­dence ana­lyzed by the Austin Police Department’s crime…