Texas man serving life sentence innocent of double murder, judge says

Associated Press in Waco, Texas
Saturday 20 August 2016 19.14 BST

A central Texas man serving a life sentence for a double murder in 1992 is innocent, as are three codefendants no longer in prison, a state judge has found.

Retired district judge George Allen ruled Friday that Richard Bryan Kussmaul, 45, should be free. His three codefendants each received 20-year sentences and have already been released.

DNA evidence not available two decades ago shows the four weren’t involved in the fatal shootings of 17-year-old Leslie Murphy and 14-year-old Stephen Neighbors at a home near Moody, south of Waco, Allen said in a four-page opinion.

Allen’s recommendation now goes to the Texas court of criminal appeals for a final decision. The state’s top criminal appeals court had ordered a hearing held last month to look into the men’s claims they were innocent.

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At the hearing last month, Long, Shelton and Pitts all testified they gave false testimony against Kussmaul at his trial because a prosecutor promised them probation. They also said their confessions were coerced by a deputy who threatened them with the death penalty.

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