Texas Criminal Justice System

On Feb. 19, 2026 Judge Dayna Blazey formally declared four men innocent in the 1991 Austin yogurt shop murders after Austin police announced in September 2025 that DNA tied the crime to deceased serial killer and rapist Robert Eugene Brashers — a link investigators say was supported by a bullet casing consistent with the gun Brashers used when he killed himself in 1999. Two of the exonerated men, Michael Scott and Forrest Welborn, attended the hearing (Robert Springsteen did not; Maurice Pierce died in 2010), prosecutors apologized, and attorneys are pursuing restitution and considering civil suits, though officials say the case remains technically open as investigators seek additional DNA to fully close it.