A man released from jail after being held for three years without a trial, will leave Austin and wants to be left alone.
Maurice Pierce addressed the media on Thursday afternoon. He was released from the Travis County jail at Del Valle on Tuesday after the district attorney's office said they didn't have the evidence to pursue a case against him in one of the city's most notorious crimes.
"As for my incarceration, it has been a very difficult and painful period of time. For three-and-a-half years I was separated from wife and daughter, my family, and my friends and those years I will never be able to regain," Pierce said. "When I was detained and arrested I proclaimed my innocence of all the charges that [were] filed against me and I am standing here today with that same proclamation. I am innocent of any and all charges pertaining to the yogurt shop case."
Pierce was arrested in 1999 along with Robert Springsteen IV, Michael Scott and Forrest Welborn for the Dec. 6, 1991 murders of four girls in North Austin "I Can't Believe It's Yogurt!" shop. Welborn was never indicted for the crime. Springsteen was convicted and sentenced to death. Scott was convicted and sentenced to life.
Pierce did not answer questions. He asked the media not to pursue interviews with him or his family. His statement also said that he wished to "move on with my life" rather than pursue a lawsuit against the district attorney or city for his incarceration.
His lawyer said he would move out of Austin.
"It is time for me to move on with my life. My life will never be the same because of the allegations that were made about me; however, I will try to continue to pursue the many aspirations that I had prior to this case. My wife, daughter and I will now try once again to grow together as a family," he said.
Pierce was surrounded by his lawyers Guillermo Gonzalez, Lad Slavik and Jorge Sanchez, along with his wife of six years, Kimberli, their 10-year-old daughter, and his mother and father, sisters and other relatives. All have maintained his innocence since he was arrested.
"Well, clearly there's a great deal of interest in the situation. I think that we had to address that, not only for the community, but also for the family … certain versions of the facts were put in front of the press and we simply wanted to comment on it," Gonzalez said as his reason for calling the press conference.
Upon his release, Pierce drank a Dr. Pepper, Gonzalez said, "his first one in quite some time." He has also enjoyed eating out and shopping for clothes, the attorney said.
"Mr. Pierce has nothing to do with them," Gonzalez said of contacting Scott, Springsteen or their families.
Pierce's association with this case goes back to just eight days after the murders. He was arrested at Northcross Mall with a gun in his waistband. He told police it was the gun used in the yogurt shop murders. Ballistics test later proved that false. Police interviewed Pierce, Springsteen, Scott and Welborn. But all of then young men were cleared in the investigation. In 1999, a cold case unit took over the case and the four boys became the focus of the investigation. Springsteen and Scott confessed; Pierce and Welborn never did.
During Scott's trial, a woman who was in yogurt shop on the afternoon of Dec. 6, 1991, picked Pierce out of a photo lineup, but the murders happened after 11 p.m.
No evidence was left by the fire set to destroy the crime scene to connect any of the four men to the crime: no fingerprints or DNA.
"I think if this case could have been resolved [with a trial and an acquittal or innocent verdict] without a cloud of suspicion … hanging around, everybody would have preferred that. Speaking from experience, any trial is an extremely stressful situation. I know [the release] saved a lot of people from going through a long stressful period," Gonzalez said.
The state could not use Springsteen's and Scott's confessions against Pierce, so, without a confession, and only circumstantial evidence to connect him to the yogurt shop, the state had to either try Pierce or release him. Rather than risk losing a conviction and not being able to try Pierce again, the state hopes that new evidence will turn up that will be strong enough to convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that Pierce is guilty.
If they find it, the district attorney plans to re-indict Pierce.
"If that happens, we'll be here, ready to pick it up again," Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez would not comment on how much Pierce's defense cost.
"That's something that the county will have settle up with I'm sure," Gonzalez said.
