Ex-EMT in Texas pleads not guilty to charges

WACO, Texas (AP) — A first responder who helped evacuate people ahead of a deadly explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a charge he possessed bomb-making materials.

Bryce Reed was arrested last week and indicted Tuesday on a charge of possessing an unregistered firearm. Authorities have not announced any link between Reed and the April 17 blast in West, Texas, which killed 14 people.

Federal investigators allege Reed had materials for a pipe bomb that he gave to someone else. An agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives wrote in a court filing that other investigators told him Reed admitted to having the bomb parts.

Reed's attorney, Jonathan Sibley, said that he agreed with prosecutors to postpone a previously scheduled detention hearing, but would not comment on why. Reed remains in custody.

"We dispute the allegations against him," Sibley told reporters outside the federal courthouse in Waco, about 15 miles south of West.

He also called on federal authorities either to present evidence connecting Reed to the explosion or to say he wasn't connected. The McLennan County Sheriff's Office said Friday that no evidence suggesting a link has been found so far.

"If they have something, let's hear it," Sibley said. "If they don't, let's hear it."

ATF and the Texas State Fire Marshal's Office are scheduled to release findings of their month-long investigation Thursday afternoon.

"The investigation is ongoing and it would be premature to speculate at this time," ATF spokeswoman Franceska Perot said Wednesday.

Reed's trial was scheduled to begin July 15.

Reed became a well-known media figure after the explosion, talking at length about his relationship with Cyrus Reed, a first responder killed in the blast. Although the two weren't related, Bryce Reed frequently referred to Cyrus as his "brother" during interviews and an emotional video played during the memorial for dead first responders at Baylor University.

"My brother and all those who lay with him are heroes now and forever," Bryce Reed said.

However, Cyrus Reed's family members have since said they believe that Bryce Reed wasn't as close to Cyrus as he let on and may have been using the similarity in their names to increase his public profile.

In brief comments to The Associated Press on Tuesday, Cyrus Reed's mother, Lucy Reed, said the family met Bryce for the first time at the April 25 memorial.

"No comment except Bryce is not my son," she said.

Although Reed portrayed himself as a West EMT in the Baylor video and other public appearances after the explosion, he was in fact dismissed two days after the blast, records show.

Questions also have arisen about Bryce Reed's academic credentials and work history.

At least two of the educational institutions listed by Reed on his LinkedIn profile page — the University of Phoenix and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center — say they have no records of him being enrolled.

In an email to the Texas Department of State Health Services last Friday, Christine Reeves of the Heart of Texas Regional Advisory Council wrote that the West EMS administrator, Tom Marek, "asked that I contact you guys that Bryce Reed does not volunteer for West EMS" and was "let go" on April 19.

Marek declined to comment Wednesday. Reeves told the AP she wasn't informed of a reason for the dismissal.

Reed has been a licensed EMT since 2005 and has worked for at least one other agency, an air ambulance service, state records show. No complaints have been lodged against him, and no disciplinary action has been taken, the records show.

Carrie Williams, the spokeswoman for the Texas Department of State Health Services, said the agency initiated an investigation into Reed's license as a result of his arrest. Such investigations are standard procedure when the department learns that an EMT is charged with a felony, she said.

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Robbins reported from Dallas.

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Texas paramedic pleads not guilty to pipe bomb charge

By Lisa Maria Garza

WACO, Texas (Reuters) - A Texas paramedic who responded to a fertilizer plant explosion last month pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to possessing pipe bomb components, his lawyer said, after agreeing to postpone his detention hearing.

A hearing for Bryce Reed scheduled for Wednesday afternoon in Waco was canceled, Daryl Fields, a public affairs officer for the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Western District of Texas, said in a statement.

Reed, 31, faces one count of unlawfully possessing an unregistered destructive device, and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in Waco on Tuesday, Fields said.

Reed entered a plea of not guilty, said his lawyer, Jonathan Sibley.

Lawyers for the prosecution and defense agreed on Wednesday that Reed would postpone his detention hearing, waive his arraignment, enter a not guilty plea and remain in federal custody, Fields said.

Reed was among the first to respond to the April 17 fertilizer plant explosion that killed 14 people and injured about 200 in the town of West. Texas officials on Friday announced a criminal probe into the blast.

The McLennan County Sheriff's office said last week that no evidence linked Reed's arrest to the plant disaster, and the U.S. attorney's office said last week that authorities would not speculate on whether there was any connection.

Sibley told reporters on Wednesday that he is frustrated that federal officials have not said definitively that Reed's arrest is not connected to the explosion.

STRONGER STATEMENT

"There needs to be a stronger statement from federal agencies who said they won't speculate," he said outside the federal courthouse in Waco. "It's unfair because there's no evidence linking him to what happened in West on April 17."

Federal prosecutors said in court papers on Friday that authorities had found a section of pipe 3-1/2 inches long and 1-1/2 inches in diameter, end caps, fuses and explosive powder this month at a home in Abbott, Texas, a town near West.

They said the resident of that home, whom they did not identify, told police the components came from Reed, who was arrested on Thursday.

"We haven't even had a chance to see the proof yet," Sibley said. "I don't think there's any evidence showing he's a danger to the community."

Reed was a volunteer emergency medical technician but was relieved of his role on April 19, two days after the blast, according to an email sent to the Texas Department of State Health Services on Friday by an administrator for West's emergency medical services.

Reed had no history of complaints or disciplinary action filed against him with the state, said Carrie Williams, a spokeswoman for the health services department. No reason was given in the email for his dismissal.

Reed faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Investigators are expected to announce on Thursday the results of a probe into what caused the explosion, a state agency said on Tuesday.

The State Fire Marshal's Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will release the findings of their joint investigation at a news conference, according to a news release from the fire marshal's office.

(Editing by Corrie MacLaggan, Bob Burgdorfer, Gary Hill, Kevin Gray and Mohammad Zargham)

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Texas EMT to plead not guilty to explosives charge

WACO, Texas (AP) — A lawyer for a Texas paramedic arrested on charges of possessing bomb-making material says his client will plead not guilty and had no connection to the fertilizer plant explosion that killed 14 people last month.

Waco attorney Jonathan Sibley said in a prepared statement Saturday that his client, Bryce Reed anxiously awaits his next court appearance Wednesday, which will include a detention hearing.

Authorities arrested Reed on Friday, but stressed that he has not been linked to the April 17 explosion in West.

The statement said Reed remained "heartbroken" about the explosion, in which he lost friends, and wants to continue to help his community rebuild.

Reed was a first responder, but two days after the explosion was "let go" from West EMS for unknown reasons.

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Jurors end 1st day in Texas horse ranch case

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Prosecutors told a federal jury on Wednesday that a man they say is the brother of leaders of Mexico's most blood-soaked criminal organization used the proceeds from their brothers' ill-gotten gains to bankroll his horse-racing stable.

Defense attorneys, however, say the federal government is trying to squeeze Jose Trevino Morales to get to two brothers reputed to be leaders of Los Zetas in Mexico.

The jury deliberated for about two hours Wednesday afternoon before recessing for the night. Deliberations are to resume Thursday morning.

Trevino is the central figure of five men charged in a Texas federal court with using a race horse breeding operation to launder millions of dollars in drug cartel money.

The prosecution's case rises or falls on the testimony of admitted criminals, including a hit man who has admitted involvement in multiple homicides, said defense attorney David Finn of Dallas.

Defense attorneys for Trevino have argued throughout that prosecutors wrongly targeted their client due to the alleged illegal actions of his brothers — Miguel Angel Trevino Morales and Oscar Omar Trevino Morales. Each time Jose Trevino Morales, a U.S. citizen, enters the United States, he is handcuffed and interrogated in the hope of extracting information about his brothers, Finn said.

"He's honest. He's ethical. He's frugal. He's not in the dope business," Finn said of his client.

"The government wants you to engage in what I call 'funky math.' That's zero plus zero plus zero plus zero equals something other than zero," he said.

But federal prosecutor Douglas Gardner said the government case was strong enough for conviction without the testimony of informants and cooperating witnesses.

"I want you to forget about the cooperators," Gardner told jurors. Speaking of Trevino and his co-defendants, he said, "They hang themselves by their actions."

As for motive: "It's about ego. It's about pride. It's about winning the horse race at all costs," Gardner said. "It's not built on sweat, ladies and gentlemen. It's built on the money from his brothers."

The defendants are charged with money laundering conspiracy related to operations of a horse ranch near Lexington, Okla. Prosecutors say ranch operators went through $16 million in horse-related expenses in 30 months. Several other defendants remain at large, including Trevino's brothers. His wife and daughter have pleaded guilty to lesser charges.

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Man sentenced to death in Texas courthouse killing

GALVESTON, Texas (AP) — After disrupting his capital murder trial several times with profanity-filled outbursts, a Texas man erupted in one final chaotic fit when a jury sentenced him to death on Tuesday for killing a bystander while trying to shoot his daughter outside a courthouse.

Bartholomew Granger's courtroom rants against his daughter, prosecutors and the judge had intensified since he was convicted last week of capital murder in the death of 79-year-old Minnie Ray Sebolt, who was walking outside the courthouse in Beaumont when she was shot in March 2012.

Granger, 42, showed no remorse as he admitted opening fire on his daughter and running her over with his truck because she had testified against him in a sexual assault case, but he insisted he didn't kill Sebolt. His daughter and her mother were among three women wounded in the attack.

Even as his attorneys worked to convince the jury to sentence him to life in prison without parole, Granger instead focused on denying the sexual assault allegation, angrily insisting he was not a child molester and denigrating his daughter.

Those outbursts got him thrown out of court, and they culminated Tuesday as Sebolt's daughter began reading a statement after the jury announced its sentence following less than two hours of deliberations.

As Deborah Ray Holst stood in front on him and began reading her statement, Granger shouted, "I didn't kill your mother!" and that he didn't want to hear her statement. Holst then asked Judge Bob Wortham if Granger could be shocked.

"Tase me. Inject me with poison," Granger said.

"I would love to do it myself," Holst responded.

He was removed from the courtroom but returned minutes later with what officials later said was a spit mask — made of cloth and nylon, and used to stop inmates from spitting on guards — covering his mouth.

But he continued to interrupt Holst. At one point a bailiff put his hands over Granger's mouth in an effort to quiet him, but he became increasingly agitated. At least seven bailiffs and deputies were needed to subdue him as Holst finished her statement, saying her mother was a caring person who always had a smile on her face and calling Granger "an evil, evil non-human."

After Holst finished, Wortham told Granger, "I think you removed any doubt from the jury's mind about the correctness of their verdict."

Earlier Tuesday, Granger interrupted prosecutors during their closing arguments in the trial's punishment phase by laughing and saying he wasn't a child molester. Wortham warned Granger about not talking. When Granger held up in the direction of jurors a yellow legal pad with the word "DEATH" drawn on it, Wortham had Granger removed from court for the rest of the closing arguments.

As he testified on Monday, against the advice of attorneys, Granger called his case a "mockery of justice" and a "lynching." He was then restrained and temporarily removed from court.

Following the jury's sentence, Holst said outside the courthouse that she "couldn't be happier" with the decision.

Lead prosecutor Ed Shettle said it wasn't Granger's behavior in court but his actions during the courthouse shooting, his lack of remorse and his potential to hurt others that led jurors to their decision.

"Bartholomew Granger got the death penalty because he deserved the death penalty," Shettle said.

James Makin, one of Granger's attorneys, said he had hoped the jury would have decided against a death sentence, but added: "I'm a realist." Makin said he doesn't believe in the death penalty but acknowledged, "If I had a gun in that parking lot that day (of the courthouse shooting), I probably would have done something with it."

Granger testified during the trial that he emptied the 10-bullet magazine of his illegally purchased semi-automatic carbine, saying he fired toward his daughter. Then, when he saw his daughter was still moving while lying in the street, he ran over her with his pickup truck. The daughter spent three months in a coma.

The trial was moved 75 miles to Galveston, so jurors didn't have to walk past the crime scene each day.

Granger's daughter, now 22, was among the witnesses who testified against him.

Prosecutors said Granger parked outside the courthouse for hours, then ambushed the women when they appeared at the courthouse in the late morning. Sebolt also was outside at the time, accompanying a relative to the courthouse. She was shot twice and died in the revolving door at the courthouse entrance.

Granger subsequently came under fire from police, abandoned his bullet-riddled truck about three blocks away, walked inside a construction business and took several people hostage. At some point he was wounded and eventually overpowered by his captives, and police moved in to take him into custody.

___

Follow Juan A. Lozano at http://www.twitter.com/juanlozano70.

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Obama heads out on new jobs tour - first stop: Austin, Texas

By Roberta Rampton

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will travel on Thursday to Austin, Texas, the first stop in a new series of day trips designed to draw attention to policies and programs that help spur the economy, and build support for his economic policies, the White House said on Sunday.

In Austin, Obama will visit a high school and a technology company, and will talk with entrepreneurs and workers about proposals he made earlier this year to boost jobs and training.

Despite often saying that his top priority is creating more jobs, Obama's proposals have been overshadowed by debates over reforms to gun and immigration laws as well as efforts to reduce the deficit.

Unemployment in the United States fell to 7.5 percent last month, the lowest level since Obama took office.

"Things are getting better, but our economic recovery is not as strong as it could be and far too many middle class families are still struggling," said Josh Earnest, Obama's deputy press secretary.

"There are things Washington could be doing right now to help American businesses, schools and workers," he said, explaining the tours are designed to engage Americans and push Congress to act.

In February, Obama said he wanted to invest in manufacturing "hubs" around the country, spend $50 billion on roads, bridges and other infrastructure, and raise the minimum wage to $9 per hour from the current $7.25.

Most of the proposals require Congressional approval, but there have been few signs of broad support for the measures on Capitol Hill.

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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Texas Prosecutor and Ex-Governor Agree: No Death Penalty for Being Black

Former Harris County, Texas, prosecutor Linda Geffin had no idea what was at stake the day the defense team she was up against called psychologist Walter Quijano to the stand to testify in the murder trial of Duane Buck.

“I’m not sure anyone realized it at the time,” Geffin tells TakePart. “I’m not even sure I was in the room. I didn’t snap to it.”

Asked in open court if “the race factor, black” increased Buck’s risk of reoffending, Quijano answered “yes.” The so-called expert went on to testify that being either African American or Latino “increases the future dangerousness for various complicated reasons.”

 

 

In Texas, “future dangerousness” is one of the key factors in determining whether a person is eligible for capital punishment. By allowing Quijano’s testimony to stand, Harris County, in effect, established that race can be used as a significant justification for meting out the death penalty.

In other words, being black is one more box to fill in on the death penalty checklist.

Geffin’s prosecution team benefited from the defense’s lack of judgment. Buck was, in fact, sentenced to die.

Years later, Buck’s sentence has resurfaced, and Geffin has had to face what she was a part of. With Buck still in prison, and the executioner at the door, Geffin is trying to make amends.

“This is not a cat and mouse game,” says Former Texas Governor Mark White. “This is about seeking justice.”

Yes, Buck is guilty; but Geffin, along with key other figures in the state of Texas, is now demanding he receive a new sentencing hearing.

“I’ve heard people say, ‘He’s guilty, forget about it.’ That’s so far away from how we’re looking at it,” she says. “If we don’t seek to correct this mistake, it could be any one of us.”

Former Texas Governor Mark White agrees.

White, along with Geffin and 100 more state justice leaders have sent a statement of support to Harris County D.A. Mike Anderson, urging a new sentencing hearing for Duane Buck that isn’t predicated upon his race.

White and Geffin are also seeking passage of the Texas Racial Justice Act, which would allow those sentenced to the death penalty to present evidence that racial discrimination played a role in their legal treatment.

“This is not a cat and mouse game,” says White. “This is about seeking justice.”

White oversaw 19 executions while in office from 1983 to 1987. Yet, he says, his experience as a lawyer made him as thorough as possible in meting out the ultimate punishment. A single legal loose end was enough to prevent an execution from going through under his watch.

These days, he argues, politicians are not so thorough, by choice or by incompetence, or by both.

“Let’s not let a man be executed based on frailties of his own counsel,” says White. “There is nothing wrong, or weak, or liberal, about saying, ‘Let’s be fair to the defendant.’ Fairness is at the foundation of our criminal justice system. Right now that system is an absolute disaster. The obstinacy shown by those denying Buck a resentencing is a reflection both on them as individuals, and of our criminal justice system.”

Geffin is more diplomatic: She remains employed in Harris County as a senior assistant county attorney.

Yet, she admits, “I am frustrated. It seems the right result is crystal clear. We have a golden moment to right a wrong. Harris County is known across the country as the death penalty capital. This is a chance to show we stand for justice. I hate to see that opportunity lost.”

Though she’s cautious with her words, Geffin is fully bold in her stance on Buck’s case. 

“I’ve always been inspired by Elie Wiesel, who said: ‘There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.’ ”

Does Duane Buck deserve a new sentencing hearing? Explain why or why not in COMMENTS.

Related Stories on TakePart:

• Will Texas Execute a Man for Being Black?

• Troy Davis Death Penalty Puts USA in Bad Company

• Death Row’s Damon Thibodeaux Is 300th Person Set Free by DNA

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Matthew Fleischer is a former LA Weekly staff writer and an award-winning social justice reporter in Los Angeles. Email Matt

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Obama heading to Texas for Bush museum dedication, fundraising

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is headed to Texas to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with former President George W. Bush in what could serve as a powerful reminder of the ongoing struggle against terrorism in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Obama is due to attend the dedication on Thursday of Bush's presidential library at Southern Methodist University, along with former presidents Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter and hundreds of Bush administration alumni.

While Democrat Obama and Republican Bush have deep political differences, they share a common belief that the United States must defend itself against violent extremism.

The September 11 attacks defined Bush's eight years in the White House and last week's Boston Marathon bombing handed Obama another challenge to homeland security.

"They failed because, as Americans, we refused to be terrorized," Obama said last week, referring to those who set off bombs near the marathon finish line. "They failed because we will not waver from the character and the compassion and the values that define us as a country."

Bush used similar language to rally Americans.

Certain issues require a common response regardless of political party, said David Yepsen, director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Center at the University of Southern Illinois.

"They may get to the office as a conservative or a liberal but there are real forces that move them to the pragmatic center on a variety of issues and national security is one of them," Simon said.

Obama is expected to begin his trip by headlining a $10,000-a-plate fundraising dinner on Wednesday evening for the Democratic National Committee at the Dallas home of major Democratic donor Naomi Aberly.

Obama has hosted a number of such fundraisers to help raise money for his party in the hope that Democrats can wrestle control of the House of Representatives from Republicans and add to the Democrats' Senate majority in 2014 midterm elections.

Without adding Democratic seats, Obama may find it difficult to overcome Republican opposition to many of the priorities of his second term, such as closing tax loopholes enjoyed mostly by the wealthy and stricter gun control.

Thursday's dedication of Bush's library and museum has put the 43rd U.S. president back in the limelight he has largely avoided since leaving office in January 2009.

At the time, the United States was laboring under the burden of two wars and a collapsed economy. Bush's approval rating at the time was 33 percent. A Washington Post-ABC poll this week put his approval rating at 47 percent, basically equal to Obama's.

The museum exhibits cover major points of Bush's presidency and offer visitors an opportunity to decide how they would have responded to those challenges.

A central features of the museum concerns the September 11 attacks on the United States.

Obama has found himself pursuing some of the same policies that Bush began, such using drones on military targets and trying to overhaul U.S. immigration laws.

Obama is expected to speak at the dedication along with the former presidents.

"Regardless of the times when they served and their political and policy differences, there is a commonality of experience that the president believes binds them together," said White House spokesman Jay Carney.

After visiting Bush in Dallas on Thursday, Obama is scheduled to attend a memorial service at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, for the 14 people killed when a fertilizer plant exploded last week in West, Texas.

(Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Karey Van Hall, Toni Reinhold)

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Czechs to send funds to blast-hit Texas town

PRAGUE (AP) — The Czech Republic plans to donate 4 million koruna (some $200,000) to help the Texas town of West recover from a devastating fertilizer plant explosion.

The government decided to the provide aid in solidarity because a significant number of people in the town of 2,700 have Czech roots. The blast damaged numerous homes in the town.

The Foreign Ministry says Czech Ambassador to the U.S. Petr Gandalovic visited West last week and talked to Texas Gov. Rick Perry, West Mayor Tommy Muska and other officials about how to help.

A ministry statement Wednesday said the money will go toward repairing property in the town.

Thousands of Czechs, mostly from the eastern part known of Moravia, settled in Texas more than 100 years ago.

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Student arrested in Texas college stabbing attack

CYPRESS, Texas (AP) — A student went on a building-to-building stabbing attack at a Texas community college Tuesday, wounding at least 14 people — many in the face and neck — before being subdued and arrested, authorities and witnesses said.

The attack about 11:20 a.m. on the Lone Star Community College System's campus in Cypress sent at least 12 people to hospitals, while several others refused treatment at the scene, according to Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department spokesman Robert Rasa. Two people remained in critical condition Tuesday evening at Memorial Hermann Texas Trauma Institute, spokeswoman Alex Rodriguez said.

Diante Cotton, 20, said he was sitting in a cafeteria with some friends when a girl clutching her neck walked in, yelling, "He's stabbing people! He's stabbing people!"

Cotton said he could not see the girl's injuries, but when he and his friends went outside, they saw a half-dozen people with injuries to their faces and necks being loaded into ambulances and medical helicopters.

Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia said it was not immediately clear what type of weapon was used, but there were indications when calls came in to the department that "students or faculty were actively responding to work to subdue this individual."

"So we're proud of those folks, but we're glad no one else is injured any more severely than they are," Garcia said.

Michelle Alvarez told the Houston Chronicle she saw the attacker running toward other students and tried to back away. She said she didn't even feel it as he swiped at her.

"He came running and swinging at my neck, as I tried to get out of the way," she said.

Student Michael Chalfan said he was walking to class when he saw a group of police officers also running after the suspect. He said one officer used a stun gun to help subdue the man.

Lone Star officials initially urged people on campus, about 25 miles northwest of downtown Houston, to take shelter and be on alert for a second suspect. But the sheriff's department said authorities believe just one person was responsible.

"It was the same suspect going from building to building," department spokesman Thomas Gilliland said.

Garcia said buildings still were being searched hours later, and authorities would not provide more details about the suspect including his name. Long lines of vehicles carrying students and staff streamed off campus as law enforcement directed traffic away from the school.

Teaundrae Perryman said he was in class when he received a text message from a friend and went outside to see a young woman being loaded into an ambulance with what appeared to be stab wounds to either her neck or head. He said he didn't receive an email alert from the college until 11:56 a.m.

"I was concerned but I wasn't afraid because I was with a large group of people," the 21-year-old said, later adding, "The police got to the scene very quickly."

One student said she learned one of her classmates was stabbed after leaving the school's Health Science Center building.

"I called to check on another classmate who was still inside the building and she said the classroom was on lockdown and she said one of the classmates had been stabbed," said Margo Shimfarr-Evans told KHOU-TV. "It happened in the hallway."

Courtland Sedlachek, 18, was in class when his phone started buzzing along with the phones of everyone else in class. The room was temporarily locked down, but students were let out and off campus a short time later, in what Sedlachek described as an orderly evacuation.

The attack came three months after a different Lone Star campus was the site of a shooting in which two people were hurt. The suspected gunman in that incident is charged with aggravated assault.

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Associated Press writers Nomaan Merchant, Terry Wallace and David Warren in Dallas contributed to this report.

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Man arrested for threat against investigators in Texas probe

KAUFMAN, Texas (Reuters) - Texas Rangers have arrested a man for threatening investigators looking into the killings of a Texas prosecutor and his wife, officials said on Wednesday.

Nick Morale, 56, of Terrell, Texas, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with making a terror threat, said Lieutenant Justin Lewis, spokesman for the Kaufman County Sheriff's Department.

He was being held on $1 million bond.

Morale was accused of making a telephone threat against a county official on a tip line for the case, Lewis said. There appeared to be no other connection to the killings of District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife on Saturday or Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse on January 31, Lewis added.

"At this time there is nothing to link Mr. Morale to the murders of Mike and Cynthia McLelland or Mark Hasse," Lewis said.

He said the investigation into the killings was ongoing.

(Reporting by Chris Francescani; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Andrew Hay)

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Texas man found guilty in wrongful conviction case

SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) — A West Texas jury on Wednesday convicted a man for the murder of an Austin woman whose husband was wrongfully convicted of her slaying and spent nearly 25 years in prison before being exonerated.

Jurors in San Angelo found Mark Alan Norwood guilty of capital murder for the 1986 killing of Christine Morton, who was attacked in her north Austin home. Prosecutors said Norwood beat the woman to death.

He was sentenced to life in prison, but is eligible for parole after 15 years. Jurors deliberated for about three hours before returning their verdict.

Morton's husband, Michael, was initially convicted in her death in 1987, but he was exonerated and freed in 2011 after new DNA testing was done on a bloody bandanna found near the couple's home. Investigators said the DNA evidence led them to Norwood, whose DNA was in a national database as a result of his long criminal history.

Michael Morton hugged Norwood's mother outside the courtroom after the trial. He also hugged Norwood's brother, Dale.

Morton told the Austin American-Statesman that what he was feeling was "a mixed bag. It's not a celebration, and it's not a happy day."

"Michael and his family are pleased that justice, at last, has been provided for the memory of Christine Morton," John Raley, Morton's Houston-based attorney, said in an email. Raley spent years working for free on the case after teaming up with the Innocence Project.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, whose office handled Norwood's prosecution, said no verdict can bring back Christine Morton's life or "recover the devastating years that her husband Michael Morton spent unjustly imprisoned for her murder."

"We can only hope that today's verdict provides some much-deserved, but woefully delayed justice for a family that suffered so terribly for so long," Abbott said in a statement.

Norwood's sister, Connie Hoff, said her brother had been railroaded because prosecutors had introduced evidence from the 1988 death of Debra Masters Baker in Austin during the trial. Norwood, 58, also has been charged with capital murder in the death of Baker, who lived near the Mortons.

Hoff said her family is now going through what the Morton family went through when he was convicted.

"This is history repeating itself," she told the American-Statesman.

During closing arguments earlier Wednesday, prosecutor Lisa Tanner told jurors they need to convict Norwood "and not let evil walk out of this room with you."

One of Norwood's lawyers, Ariel Payan, suggested to jurors during closing arguments that the evidence gathered from the bandanna was contaminated.

DNA testing wasn't available when the blood on the bandanna was initially tested in 1986. The testing wasn't done until Michael Morton's attorneys spent years lobbying for it.

Prosecutors also told jurors that a gun Norwood stole from the Mortons' home and later sold linked him to the murder. Morton testified at the trial, telling jurors about the missing gun.

The trial was held in San Angelo after being moved from Williamson County, near Austin, because of publicity in the case. The Texas Attorney General's Office was not seeking the death penalty.

Last month, a special hearing known as a court of inquiry was held to examine whether state District Judge Ken Anderson acted improperly in 1987 when, as Williamson County district attorney, he prosecuted Michael Morton. Morton's lawyers have accused Anderson of intentionally hiding evidence.

Anderson has denied any wrongdoing. A decision by a judge on whether Anderson should face criminal charges in the case might come next month. Anderson also is being sued by the State Bar of Texas for his conduct in the Morton case.

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Texas bill would require DNA testing before death-penalty trials

By Corrie MacLaggan

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A law proposed in Texas would require all biological evidence collected in cases in which the state is seeking the death penalty to undergo DNA testing before trial, a change intended to reduce the risk of an innocent person being put to death.

Texas executes more prisoners than any other state. The bill's Democratic author, state Senator Rodney Ellis, said he was unaware of any other state having a similar law.

His proposal has also won the backing of the state's Republican attorney general.

"This law is a safeguard to help ensure no innocent person will be executed in Texas," said Attorney General Greg Abbott, who announced his support for the proposal at a press conference on Tuesday.

"If you're innocent, you're going to find out that your exoneration will come sooner," Abbott added. "If you are guilty, justice will be more swift and more certain. This law will also help prevent the seemingly endless appeals that do nothing more than game the system and delay justice."

Texas has executed 493 people since capital punishment was reinstated in the United States in 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Virginia has had the second-largest number of executions, 110.

There have been 303 post-conviction DNA exonerations in the United States, according to the Innocence Project. Of those exonerated, 18 served time on death row and an additional 16 were charged with capital crimes but did not receive a death sentence.

"We know that sometimes we get the wrong person," said Ellis, who represents parts of Houston. "There may be more men and women serving on death row today who did not commit a crime for which they were convicted."

Ellis pointed to the case of Michael Morton, an innocent man who spent nearly 25 years in prison for the murder of his wife before DNA evidence exonerated him. While Morton did not face the death penalty, Ellis said his case exemplifies the problem of wrongful conviction.

"Texas state government has been sensitized to the failures of its criminal justice system through the exoneration cases and particularly through the Michael Morton case," said Kathryn Kase, executive director of the Texas Defender Service, a nonprofit that aims to improve the quality of representation afforded those facing the death penalty.

Abbott said conducting DNA testing before a trial rather than after would prevent people who have been convicted from asking for repeated tests of evidence.

Under the proposal, the state would pay for the DNA testing. Abbott and Ellis said they weren't yet sure how much that might cost.

Stephen Saloom, policy director at the Innocence Project, a non-profit legal clinic dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people, said Ellis' bill was a good idea, but that he was uncertain whether such legislation was necessary.

"This should already be happening as a matter of practice," he said.

All states except Oklahoma have laws allowing post-conviction access to DNA evidence, although the laws vary, according to the Innocence Project. Some of the laws don't allow access to DNA in cases in which the defendant confessed to the crime or don't require adequate preservation of DNA evidence, the Innocence Project says.

Abbott and Ellis both support the death penalty.

Abbott said he did not believe Texas has executed any innocent people, noting that the state has an exhaustive process in place to ensure that doesn't happen.

Ellis was not so sure.

"I just don't know," he said. "I worry about it."

(Reporting by Corrie MacLaggan; Editing by Scott Malone and Leslie Gevirtz)

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