AUSTIN, Texas — A Travis County court held a post-conviction hearing this week for a more than 30-year-old murder.
In 1992, Allen Andre Causey was sentenced to 50 years in prison for the murder of 21-year-old Anita Byington in Austin the previous year. But the Innocence Project of Texas claims Causey has been falsely imprisoned for decades. It's now working to exonerate him after he served 30 years in prison and is now on parole.
The advocates say Causey was coerced into confessing to the murder and there was neither forensic evidence nor eyewitnesses who could link him to the crime. They have also discovered two new witnesses that didn't previously testify who can point to another suspect.
One of those witnesses was an on-again, off-again girlfriend of this potential suspect. The woman declined to be named for safety reasons. She testified in the post-conviction hearing that this man came to her friend Regina's house, where she was having a sleepover the night that Byington was found dead. She testified that the man was asking for her help moving a car at an apartment complex.
Regina also testified, saying she remembered that night and the man asking her friend for help as well.
The defense also brought in Dr. Amy Gruszecki, a forensic pathologist who testified about the changes in forensic studies since the initial trial in the '90s. In a statement the Travis County District Attorney's Office released Friday afternoon, the office apologized to Byington's family because it said two witnesses called Friday morning debunked a theory of Byington's death from the first trial.
The statement read in part:
"The State’s previous theory of her death included an allegation that Ms. Byington was somehow involved with drugs. We now know that to be false. We hope to seek justice for Ms. Byington and her family and ensure that the person who killed her is held accountable."
The DA's Office also said that before and after Causey’s trial, an investigation into the Homicide Unit at the time revealed that it had elicited at least eight false confessions. During Causey's trial, he was convicted largely from his statement that implicated his involvement in the murder. His defense at the time argued his confession was false.
The Innocence Project of Texas said its goal is not to upset Byington's family, but to exonerate Causey for a crime it says he didn't commit.
"Nothing we are doing is intended to diminish the pain that we know that they are experiencing, but we all have a collective obligation to pursue the truth," said Jessi Freud, senior staff attorney for the Innocence Project of Texas.
But Anita Byington's cousin, Kristina Byington, sees it differently.
"She was murdered," Kristina Byington said. "She was beaten to death, and Allen Andre Causey was convicted of that murder. The jury heard all the evidence. The appellate court heard all the evidence. He was rightfully convicted,"
Kristina Byington said she feels like all the evidence pointing to Causey's guilt that they heard during the first trial in the '90s is being left out now.
"All of these hearings are going to be very one-sided," Kristina Byington said. "They have been so far, and they're going to continue to be."
She also raised concerns about the two women who testified in court on Friday morning.
"They're not being cross-examined, they're not be scrutinized," Kristina Byington said. "We don't know what their motives for testifying are 32 years after the fact."
She hopes this will make it to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. But no decision can bring back her cousin or take away her family's grief.
"She's the closest thing to a sister I ever had, and I've missed her this whole time," Kristina Byington said. "I've missed her a lot."
In response to the apology from the DA's Office, Kristina Byington released a statement on Sunday, reading in part:
"The Travis County District Attorney’s Office released a statement apologizing to the Byington family for the State’s previous theory of death, which they claim included an allegation that Ms. Byington was somehow involved with drugs. There are countless issues in which the Byington family is owed an apology by District Attorney Garza, apologies which we’ve been waiting for, but this clearly isn’t one of them.
"The Byington family categorically rejects this 'apology' and considers it to be a slap in the face. Their statement is an attempt to deflect from the current DA’s Office’s misconduct in 2023-2024 where they have embarked with Causey’s attorneys on a goal to cast doubt on his conviction through a one-sided presentation that excludes all of the evidence of Causey’s guilt.
"Anita Byington was never characterized as a drug user by in the original 1992 prosecution. Our family has obviously been involved in this case since day one, and we are very aware of what did and did not occur. At the time of the murder, the media characterized Anita as a drug user, but the prosecution always maintained the opposite: Anita Byington was taken there by an individual she had just met, who was involved with drugs, and she was killed by Allen Andre Causey and Bobby Harrell, two admitted crack cocaine users."
You can read more from Kristina Byington about Anita Byington's murder here.
The defense said it plans to bring in more witnesses during the post-conviction hearing. As of 11 a.m. Friday, the next set of witnesses are expected to discuss DNA and forensics.
The next hearing days are still being scheduled, but there are expected to be at least two to three more.