Forrest Welborn, one of four men wrongfully accused in the 1991 Austin yogurt shop murders, poses for a portrait at Manchaca Springs Saloon, which he owns, on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
A landmark court hearing is set for Thursday in Austin as a state district judge is expected to exonerate the four men falsely accused of killing four teenage girls at a yogurt shop in 1991.
The hearing, which will be livestreamed, is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. in the auxiliary courtroom on the first floor of the Travis County Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center.
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Here’s everything you need to know about the day-long event.
Robert Springsteen, walks out of 167th District Court a free man after prosecutors filed for dismissal on the homicide indictments against him and Michael Scott for the Yogurt Shop Murders in Austin, Texas, on Wednesday, October 28, 2009.
RODOLFO GONZALEZ/Austin American-Statesman
With a photo of sisters Jennifer and Sarah Harbison in the background, Austin Police Department Cold Case Detective Daniel Jackson speaks at a news conference at City Hall about the 1991 I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt murder investigation on Monday, Sept. 29, 2025.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
What were the yogurt shop murders?
The yogurt shop murders are considered by many to be one of the darkest chapters in Austin’s history. Authorities believe a man entered the I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt! shop on West Anderson Lane shortly after the store closed at 11 p.m.
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Inside, the suspect shot the four victims and set fire to the building. One of the girls was sexually assaulted.
Read More: Austin yogurt shop murders: A timeline of the long road from cold case to a DNA match
For years, investigators believed Robert Springsteen, Michael Scott, Maurice Pierce, and Forrest Welborn were responsible for the killings.
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But a breakthrough in the investigation last fall identified a different suspect: The now-deceased serial killer Robert Eugene Brashers, who Austin cold case detectives believe acted alone.
What is this hearing for?
The hearing is expected to result in the formal exoneration of the four men, who were all in their mid-20s when they were arrested for the murders. State District Judge Dayna Blazey is widely expected to declare them “actually innocent,” a legal finding that goes beyond overturning convictions and affirms they did not commit the crime.
The proceeding will also serve as a public reckoning in a case long viewed as one of Austin’s gravest miscarriages of justice — effectively functioning as an official acknowledgment that the men were wrongfully accused and prosecuted.
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A declaration of actual innocence would pave the way for the men or their families to seek restitution from the state and potentially pursue damages from the city of Austin and Travis County.
Kim Pierce, the widow of yogurt shop suspect Maurice Pierce, and her daughter, Marisa Pierce, said he struggled to live a normal life after being wrongly linked for years to one of Austin’s darkest crimes.
Pierce Family Photos
Who were the men accused?
Robert Springsteen, Michael Scott, Maurice Pierce and Forrest Welborn were falsely accused of the killings.
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In 1999, Springsteen and Scott were convicted of capital murder. While their convictions were overturned a decade later, the two men were not exonerated. Their indictments were left standing “pending further investigation,” leaving the door open for prosecutors to revive the charges at any time.
A Travis County grand jury declined to indict Welborn, and prosecutors dropped charges against Pierce after he spent three years in jail. Pierce died in 2010 after a confrontation with an Austin police officer.
All four men were subjected to police interrogation techniques that are now widely discredited for leading to false confessions.
Who were the victims?
The yogurt shop murder victims were Amy Ayers, 13; sisters Sarah Harbison, 15, and Jennifer Harbison, 17; and Eliza Thomas, 17.
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Read More: 34 years since the Austin yogurt shop murders: See photos through the decades
The older Harbison sister and Thomas were employees at the shop. Investigators believe the younger Harbison sister and Ayers visited the shop to get a ride home after it closed.
Who else will be in the courtroom?
Kim Pierce, the widow of yogurt shop suspect Maurice Pierce, and their daughter, Marisa, plan to attend an exoneration hearing Thursday in which Pierce and three other men will be declared innocent. Maurice Pierce died in a confrontation with Austin police in 2010.
Tony Plohetski/Austin American-Statesman
Scott, Welborn and members of Pierce’s family are expected to attend. Springsteen’s attorney said he would not.
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Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis is also invited, but it is unclear whether she will address how the department currently carries out interviews with suspects.
It’s also unclear if any family members of the victims will attend the hearing.
The unusual nature of the proceeding is sure to draw multiple observers from the Travis County criminal justice community.
What are the problematic policing techniques likely to be mentioned?
The four men were interrogated by multiple homicide detectives for hours at a time in 1999, when they became the focus of a special Austin police task force convened to reexamine the murders.
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Austin Police Department Cold Case Detective Daniel Jackson speaks at a news conference at City Hall about the 1991 I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt murder investigation on Monday, Sept. 29, 2025.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
At times, the young men were threatened physically, told about evidence against them that investigators did not have — and promised leniency if they complied. Legal experts say these coercive techniques were common among detectives in the 1980s and 1990s, but often produced false confessions.
Austin was no exception. Detectives from that era obtained dozens of false confessions that led to numerous wrongful convictions, including those of Richard Danziger and Christopher Ochoa.
Last year, Davis said policing had “undergone a remarkable transformation” since that period and that she aimed to move her department away from using those kinds of interview techniques.
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What was the recent HBO series?
Last August, HBO released a four-part documentary series about the case. The series, produced and directed by Margaret Brown, was met with widespread critical acclaim and brought renewed attention to the case as Austin detectives continued working to resolve it.
HBO is expected to film the exoneration hearing Thursday.
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What happens next?
A finding that the men are “actually innocent” will enable them to more effectively seek restitution through civil litigation against the city of Austin and Travis County.