In a significant development that could finally bring some resolution to a notorious Austin murder case, the Travis County District Attorney's Office filed a motion to clear four men originally charged in the brutal 1991 yogurt shop murders. The motion was made on Thursday following revelations linking the cold case to the deceased serial killer Robert Eugene Brashers.
District Attorney José Garza is hopeful that appointing counsel for the accused will finally begin closing this long-standing case. In a motion filed under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, attorneys are to be appointed for Michael Scott, Robert Springsteen, Maurice Pierce, and Forest Welborn, clearing a path toward exoneration decades after being wrongfully implicated in the crime. "It is our hope that having counsel appointed for those wrongfully accused will be the first step in finally closing this case so that all involved can move forward," Garza said in the statement, as stated by CBS Austin.
The four men were arrested and charged in 1999 with the murders of four teenage girls at the 'I Can't Believe It's Yogurt!' store on Anderson Lane in North Austin. The victims were Amy Ayers, 13; Eliza Thomas, 17; Jennifer Harbison, 17; and Sarah Harbison, 15. This filing comes after the Austin Police Department's cold case unit linked Brashers through DNA and ballistic evidence to the murders. Dan Jackson, a detective in the unit, concluded that Brashers acted alone, as reported by KXAN.
Tony Diaz, Michael Scott's attorney since 1999, told CBS Austin about the immense burden his client has shouldered over the years. "It’s been a very heavy, heavy burden," Diaz said, acknowledging the social and personal costs borne by Scott. The four men, though their charges had been dropped, endured the fallout of the case as it persisted unresolved in the public eye.
Attorney Amber Farrelly, representing Springsteen, similarly stressed the need for justice in her client's case. "It's important because it's the right thing to do, and it's justice. Justice has not been done in these cases," she pointedly told KXAN. The exoneration process has yet to fully play out, but this motion signifies a potential end to a long and troubled chapter for the men implicated. While formally the cases against Scott and Springsteen were dismissed "pending further investigation" back in 2008, after appellate courts overturned their initial convictions, the cloud of accusation has persisted, affecting their abilities to secure employment and maintain reputational integrity.
Farrelly indicated to KXAN that despite the dismissals, the impact lingers: "It’s four capital murder charges. So if anyone were to look up your background check or criminal history, it would show an arrest. it would show a charge." She underscored how those charges have continued to affect every facet of their lives.
