---
title: 'Texas Prosecutors Accuse Former District Attorney of Egregious Misconduct in Innocence Case'
description: 'At a recent press conference in Texas, prosecutors accused former district attorney Charles Sebesta of hiding and tampering with evidence, and of…'
canonical: 'https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/texas-prosecutors-accuse-former-district-attorney-of-egregious-misconduct-in-innocence-case'
section: news
date: '2010-11-02T14:34:00-04:00'
updated: '2025-03-14T14:29:00-04:00'
source: 'Death Penalty Information Center'
---

! At a recent press conference in **Texas**, prosecutors accused former district attorney Charles Sebesta of hiding and tampering with evidence, and of threatening witnesses in order to convict **[Anthony Graves](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/anthony-graves-becomes-12th-death-row-inmate-exonerated-in-texas)** in 1994. Graves was recently exonerated from death row and freed after 18 years of confinement for a crime he did not commit.

Kelly Siegler, a special prosecutor hired to review Graves's case after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit overturned his conviction, said Sebesta indicted a woman without evidence, fabricated evidence, manipulated witnesses and took advantage of victims. Graves was convicted of being one of two men responsible for a fire that killed 6 people in their home. His co-defendant, Robert Earl Carter, admitted two weeks before his execution that he had lied about Graves’s involvement.

Siegler said, “Charles Sebasta handled this case in a way that could best be described as a criminal justice system’s nightmare.” Siegler also went on to say that what occurred in this case was the worst example of prosecutorial misconduct she had ever seen: “It’s a travesty, what happened in Anthony Graves' trial."

B. Rogers, "[Prosecutors blast former DA who handled Graves case](https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Ex-DA-accused-of-misconduct-in-Graves-case-1701027.php)," Houston Chronicle, October 28, 2010. See [**Prosecutorial Misconduct**](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/prosecutorial-misconduct) and [**Innocence**](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocence-and-death-penalty?did=412&scid=6).