More than thirty years ago, four teenage girls were murdered at a yogurt shop in Austin, Texas. The rest of the story is a lesson in Constitutional Law.
Four teenage boys were identified as suspects by Austin police. The police interrogated the suspects, some of whom implicated all of them in the crime. Two were tried and convicted of murder over twenty years ago. The only direct evidence of their involvement was the statements made to police.
After years in prison, the convictions were reversed on appeal because the evidence included statements made out of court by others without being confronted and cross-examined by the defendants’ lawyers, which is a right guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment.
Contrary to what many people say about such cases, this one was not a case of two guilty criminals getting off on a technicality. Just a few weeks ago, as a result of advances in DNA technology, Austin police discovered that the real murderer was a known now-deceased serial killer named Robert Eugene Brashears. The Austin district attorney stated that the “overwhelming weight of the evidence points to the guilt of Robert Eugene Brashears and to the innocence of…[the defendants]”1
Our constitutional rights are much more than annoying technicalities. Our forefathers designed them to ensure justice, even though it sometimes comes slowly and only after much suffering.
"The History of Our Freedoms" is produced by KEDT-FM in Corpus Christi. Dr. Bill Chriss is a historian and legal scholar. For more on history and the constitution, check out his blog at https://drbillchriss.substack.com/.
1
Austin Sanders and Tony Plohetski, “Truth about Killings ‘a Long Time Coming’,” San Antonio Express-News, 30 September 2025.
