AUSTIN, Tx. (KFVS) – A Travis County, Texas judge officially cleared four young men of the infamous Yogurt Shop Murders that took place in 1991.
Presiding Judge Dayna Blazey told Michael Scott, Robert Springsteen, Forest Welborn, and the family of the late Maurice Pierce that they are innocent.
Judge Blazey then dismissed the charges against each of the men with prejudice, meaning the cases are permanently closed.
The exonerations were achieved through the work of the Austin Police Department — the same agency that initially made the wrongful accusations.
At Monday’s emotional hearing in Travis County court, statements were read on behalf of Springsteen and Welborn. Several members of Maurice Pierce’s family spoke, including his daughter.
Michael Scott read his own statement, “For decades, I have carried the burden of wrongful conviction and the weight of a crime I did not commit. No court ruling can return the life I lost. But I can acknowledge…I am not guilty.”
The legal victory represents a significant milestone for the men and their families, who had long awaited the clearing of their names.
Austin Detective Dan Jackson testified at the hearing, explaining how DNA evidence and a spent .380 shell casing found at the Yogurt Shop crime scene led investigators to Robert Brashers.
After police took DNA from Robert Brashers’ relatives and exhumed his body, they were able to verify he was the “Yogurt Shop Murders” killer.(WMC)
Back in 2018, authorities in southeast Missouri identified Brashers as the killer responsible for the 1998 shooting deaths of Portageville mother and daughter, Sherri and Megan Scherer.
Brashers’ connection to the Yogurt Shop case brought him back into the spotlight and sparked the start of a project at Heartland News.
In her podcast, “Chasing a Ghost,” Kathy Sweeney plans to track the murders and crimes attributed to Robert Brashers.
Look for that podcast series to be released in March.
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