Collin County DA admits Michael Blair should not be on death row

Months after DNA evidence proved that a hair used to connect Michael
Blair to Ashley Estell did not belong to either person, the Collin County DA
has finally admitted that Michael Blair's conviction cannot stand. On death
row, he is case number 999122, but he won't be there for long.


Don't worry, though. Because this man has confessed to other brutal
sexual assaults, he won't be freed. Ever. But a Texas DA, a Texas jury and
several appeals courts almost had the blood of an innocent man (in this
case) on their hands. He was convicted because he was a known child
molestor who showed an interest in the case. If the process moved as
quickly as death penalty proponents wished it did, he'd be dead by now.

John Roach released this statement today:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

JOHN R. ROACH

Criminal District Attorney

COLLIN COUNTY COURTHOUSE

2100 BLOOMDALE RD., SUITE 20004

McKINNEY, TEXAS 75071

www.collincountyda.com

May 23, 2008

In November 2006, in light of the pending appellate litigation and the
potential outcome from that, I assembled a select group of
investigators and prosecutors from my office and assigned them the task of
re-investigating the Michael Blair capital murder case. Since then, the
Team has expended over 5,000 hours, interviewed more than 50 witnesses
and spent over $47,000 on its investigation. They exhaustively reviewed
records, files and evidence related to the case as well as tracking down
new leads and information. DNA testing was performed on a number of
items of evidence that had never before been DNA tested. The result: the Team
discovered no new evidence connecting Mr. Blair to Ashley Estell as well as no new evidence demonstrating Mr. Blair's guilt.

However, through its work, the Team identified at least one other person of interest. This person not only exhibited suspicious activity after the murder, much as Mr. Blair did, but this person cannot be scientifically excluded as a contributor to a piece of DNA evidence in the case.
Unfortunately, despite strenuous efforts, the Team has been unable to eliminate or conclusively connect this person to the offense.

At this time, the expert hair comparison testimony in trial that connected
Ashley Estell and Mr. Blair has been disproved by DNA testing of a type
that was not available at the time of the trial in 1994. None of the
hairs belong to either Ashley Estell or Mr. Blair. No other credible,
individualized forensic evidence connects Ashley Estell and Mr. Blair.

Although Mr. Blair has not been exonerated, I believe the evidence as
it now stands meets the criteria for relief under the law. There is no
good faith argument to support the current conviction in light of the facts
and the law as they now exist. Therefore, under my duty to not only uphold
the law but to see that justice is done, the State is joining today with
the defense team in its request for relief.

This case remains in litigation and under investigation. Accordingly, this office cannot comment further on the matter at this time.

John R. Roach

Criminal District Attorney

Tim Wyatt

Collin County Public Information

210 S. McDonald St., Suite 626,

McKinney, Texas 75069

http://www.co.collin.tx.us