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Four Men Exonerated in Yogurt Shop Murders Case to Receive $35M Settlement From City of Austin
The deal would compensate three men and a fourth family after judges cleared them in a case later tied to another suspect.
- On Tuesday, the city of Austin reached a tentative $35 million settlement with four men wrongly accused of the 1991 yogurt shop murders of four teenage girls. Robert Springsteen, Michael Scott, Forrest Welborn, and Maurice Pierce will receive compensation pending city council approval.
- Springsteen, Scott, Welborn, and Pierce were arrested in 1999 after investigators pursued thousands of leads in the unsolved 1991 murders. Springsteen and Scott were convicted following coerced confessions; critically, no physical evidence ever linked any of the four suspects to the crime.
- DNA evidence linked serial killer Robert Eugene Brashers to the 1991 crime, leading to the men's formal exoneration in February. Brashers died in 1999 during a police standoff, and investigators confirmed he acted alone in the murders.
- Austin City Manager T.C. Broadnax stated the settlement "closes the final chapter of a devastating story in Austin's history." The city council must still approve the payment, expected within about a week.
- Ongoing negotiations regarding police reforms aim to prevent future wrongful convictions and protect vulnerable individuals in the justice system. The settlement includes provisions banning unsupervised interrogations of underage suspects, a key safeguard pushed by reform advocates.
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22 Articles
They were wrongly accused of a grisly murder - now they’re being paid $59 million
The city of Austin will pay US$35 million (NZ$59m) to three men and the family of a fourth who were wrongly accused of the 1991 rape and murder of four teenage girls at a yogurt shop, a case that initially sent one of the men to death row and another to life in prison, under a tentative settlement.
·New Zealand
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Associated Press News+14 Reposted by 14 other sources
Men wrongly accused of grisly yogurt shop murders in Texas reach $35 million settlement with city
The city of Austin will pay $35 million to three men and the family of a fourth who were wrongly accused of the rape and murder of four teenage girls at a yogurt shop in 1991, a case that initially sent one of the men to death row and another to life in prison, under a tentative settlement reached T
·United States
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources22
Leaning Left7Leaning Right3Center10Last UpdatedBias Distribution50% Center
Bias Distribution
- 50% of the sources are Center
50% Center
L 35%
C 50%
15%
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