1-29-03
Yesterday, the Travis County District Attorney’s Office dismissed all pending charges involving the yogurt shop murders against our client Maurice Pierce. We commend this action by the district attorney and agree there is not enough evidence to prosecute Maurice. However, we regret the district attorney’s decision to take his version of the case to the media. In light of this we are compelled to respond.
Recent statements by a grand juror call into question both probable cause and the validity of the indictments against Maurice Pierce. In the past 11 years, many potential witnesses have made statements implicating themselves in these murders to the same investigators who interviewed Maurice Pierce. The district attorney has described these statements as coerced and unreliable. The so-called confessions of Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott that led to the arrest of Forrest Welborn and Maurice Pierce have also been reportedly attacked as coerced and unreliable. Assertions that Maurice was arrested in possession of a murder weapon were also false. Despite hundreds of items of evidence admitted at trial, not one single piece of physical evidence connects Maurice Pierce to this crime. Maurice Pierce proclaimed his innocence from the beginning, and he is innocent.
/s/Lad Slavik Jr.
/s/Guillermo Gonzalez
/s/Jorge Sanchez
