AUSTIN, Texas — A Travis County judge declared four men innocent Thursday in the 1991 Yogurt Shop Murders, formally closing a case that haunted Austin for more than three decades.
Judge Dayna Blazey exonerated Michael Scott, Robert Springsteen, Maurice Pierce, and Forrest Welborn in connection with the murders of four teenage girls at an Austin yogurt shop.
“Today’s decision is not an act of generosity. It is an act of obligation,” said Judge Blazey. “The court can and does state without qualification and hesitation that you are cleared and that your innocence is affirmed.”
With those words, the long wait for justice ended for the three men and the family of Maurice Pierce, who died in 2010. They were exonerated 27 years after being accused of shooting four teenage girls in the head and then setting the North Austin yogurt shop on fire.
“I lost my family. I lost my youth. I lost my adulthood,” said Michael Scott.
Scott is the only one of the four men who testified on Thursday about the pain and hardship he endured. He was a teenager when the murders occurred and was in his twenties when he was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison. Scott served nearly 10 years before his conviction was overturned.
“For decades, I had to carry the burden of wrongful conviction. Every day I have the weight of a crime I did not commit,” said Scott.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE | Hearing set to clear original suspects in 1991 Austin Yogurt Shop Murders case
The hearing began Thursday morning at the 460th District Court.
The Travis County District Attorney’s Office opened by moving to amend court filings and dismiss the case based on actual innocence. District Attorney José Garza and his Conviction Integrity Unit had sought the exonerations.
“It has been over 25 years since the four men wrongfully accused have been waiting for the criminal justice system to clear their names,” Garza said ahead of the hearing.
APD Cold Case Detective Daniel Jackson was the first witness called by the state. He testified that his investigation uncovered no evidence connecting the four men to the murders and that serial killer Robert Eugene Brashers is responsible for the deaths of Jennifer and Sarah Harbison, Eliza Thomas, and Amy Ayers in 1991.
In September 2025, the Austin Police Department announced that DNA linked the killings to Brashers. DNA testing conducted in 2009 had already excluded all four men as suspects, and the convictions of Scott and Springsteen were previously overturned following a 2004 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
“No court ruling can return the years and the love that were taken from me, but it can acknowledge the truth. I am not guilty,” said Scott.
A statement from Springsteen was read in court by his attorney. “I have spent every day for the past 27 years being treated as a monster,” the statement said.
A finding of innocence would entitle the men to compensation of up to $80,000 for each year they were incarcerated. Pierce has since died, but his family could pursue a civil claim.
After the men were exonerated, a statement was released on behalf of the family of Yogurt Shop Murder victim Amy Ayers.
The Ayers family never wanted anyone to be wrongfully convicted for the murder of their precious daughter. They believed the investigators when they were told the original suspects were guilty of this heinous crime,” the statement read.Today represents yet another painful chapter in this decades-long saga. As Amy’s mother Pam Ayers has said – every time something happens in this case it forces her to relive the horrific night of December 6, 1991. Our community cannot begin to understand the pain this family has endured,” the statement said.
Outside the Travis County Justice Complex, District Attorney Jose Garza apologized to the men and their families.
“You were wrongfully accused, and you are innocent. I am so sorry for the role our office played in that tragedy,” said Garza.
The DA also apologized to the teenage girls for the numerous missteps made along the long road to obtaining justice.
“To Amy, Eliza, Sarah, and Jennifer, we are so sorry we have failed you for so long. May you rest in peace knowing the truth of that horrific night has been revealed,” said Garza.
The men are expected to seek financial compensation for the wrongful convictions.