Defense attorneys in Austin's
Yogurt Shop Murders case say new DNA evidence proves someone else, not their clients, did it.
Sara and Jennifer Harbison, Amy Ayers and Eliza Thomas were found shot to death in a North Austin yogurt shop that was set on fire in December 1991.
Travis County juries convicted Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott for the crimes but the convictions were overturned on other grounds.
They are scheduled for new trials in 2009.
Evidence taken from the 1991 crime scene where the four teenage girls were murdered was tested recently using a method not available during Springsteen and Scott's trial in 2001 and 2002.
Springsteen defense attorney Joe James Sawyer says the advanced forensic testing revealed unknown male DNA on internal swabs taken from three of the four girls and that those DNA profiles did not match any of the men accused.
"The state has relied on allegations charges and tainted witnesses -- people saying our clients confessed. It was all words, all a house of cards, used to deprive our clients of nine and a half years of their lives and what we're offering is what they should have been offering -- scientific evidence," Sawyer told KEYE's Nanci Wilson Wednesday afternoon.
Both Springsteen and Scott confessed to the crimes, but there was no physical evidence tying them to the crime scene. Fifty other people also confessed to the crime.
Defense attorneys say they will be filing a motion asking for their clients to be released from jail.
We contacted the Travis County District Attorney's office about the new test results. But as of late Wednesday afternoon, no one has returned our call.
