After more than two decades, the Texas Attorney General's Criminal Justice Division has locked in a life sentence for Clinton Lee Young III, found guilty of capital murder in the death of Samuel Petrey. As reported by the Texas Attorney General's Office, jurors in Midland County reached their verdict following evidence that Young shot Petrey twice in the head at an oil lease site in November 2001.
Young's criminal actions began with the theft of a .22 Colt Huntsman pistol from an East Texas sporting goods store on November 23, 2001, and soon escalated to carjacking and murder. Captured on surveillance footage with his co-defendant David Page, Jr., they forced Petrey, at gunpoint, to drive them from Eastland to Midland in Petrey's own truck. Although Young attempted to buy another firearm with Petrey's help at a Walmart in Midland, the pair eventually dropped off Page and proceeded to the oil lease site where the murder took place.
Evidence pieced together from various surveillance videos and cell phone records enabled law enforcement to pinpoint the timing of Petrey's murder. The ballistics matched the shell casings found near Petrey's body with the stolen Colt Huntsman pistol, which Young was found carrying after a high-speed chase with the authorities when they tried to apprehend him. Following his arrest, Young was initially convicted in 2003, but that conviction was later overturned on appeal. Although he has already served approximately twenty years in prison, the life sentence mandates that he must serve a minimum of forty years before parole eligibility.
The successful prosecution effort was led by Assistant Attorney Generals Marie Primm, Joshua Somers, and Matthew Ottoway, with Sgt. Investigator David Fugitt taking the lead as the OAG investigator. Despite the lengthy case, Young’s fate is now sealed with a life sentence, reflecting the justice system's commitment to upholding the law, no matter how much time has passed.
