AUSTIN, Texas — The Travis County District Attorney’s Office and the Innocence Project of Texas are continuing their work trying to exonerate a man who was convicted of a murder more than 30 years ago.
Allen Andre Causey was convicted of killing 21-year-old Anita Byington in East Austin in 1991 and was sentenced to 50 years in prison. After serving 30 years, Causey is now out on parole and fighting for his innocence.
What happened during the “Polanco Era”?
Causey’s attorneys claim he was coerced into a confession by the homicide detectives at the time. This was during the so-called “Polanco Era," a period where Austin Police Department Det. Hector Polanco allegedly coerced several people into false confessions.
“At the time, the injustice was multiplied by them convicting the wrong person – Andre Causey – and allowing the actual perpetrator to remain free to commit these additional crimes,” Mike Ware, Causey’s attorney and the executive director for the Innocence Project of Texas, said.
Joe Martinez was an investigator with the Travis County DA’s Office who was assigned to investigate cases during the “Polanco Era." On Thursday, he testified that in his findings, the methods those detectives used to coerce false confessions were unethical and “totally out of control.”
Martinez said Polanco was more concerned with his clearance rate, or the rate at which detectives solve cases and charge people. Polanco’s was 100% at the time, which Martinez said is an unrealistic goal.
Causey’s attorneys claim there is another man to blame for the murder of Anita Byington. The man was allegedly with Byington and four other friends the night she was killed.
Why this new suspect?
The same man who Causey's team claims was responsible for Byington's murder was arrested for a burglary and attempted sexual assault in 1999. The DA’s Office said that arrest is what spurred them to investigate him further and his possible connection to Byington's murder.
During Thursday’s hearing, Jenna Fechner, an investigator with the DA’s Conviction Integrity Unit who was assigned to investigate Byington’s case, said all signs point to this one man. She said he was with Byington the night she was murdered, and his semen and blood were found on Byington’s clothes.
Fechner also said a day after Byington’s murder, this man had an injury on his arm, but he told police it was because his arm fell into his stove while he was making breakfast. She said police considered him a suspect and took his fingerprints and biological samples, but there were a number of other elements they missed.
Fechner said police didn’t check what the man was wearing, didn’t try to seize his clothes, didn’t go to his house or interview his family and didn’t search his car.
How did Causey get involved?
Allen Andre Causey first became involved in the case when a few witnesses reported having seen a “suspicious black male” driving around the crime scene the next morning. These witnesses said he was acting nervous, dropped his keys and was checking out the scene.
Even though Byington's cause of death was found to be blunt force trauma and there were obvious signs of a struggle, detectives found no injuries on Causey.
In Causey’s trial in July 1992, Det. Michael Huckabay, who worked during the "Polanco Era," testified under oath that the only evidence they had against Causey was the typewritten confession and the witnesses who saw him go by the crime scene.
Why have this hearing now?
The court had a brief hearing back in January to introduce two new witnesses to the case who would implicate this other man in the death of Anita Byington.
“I mean, her testimony completely changes the case,” Ware said.
Ware said the DA’s Office discovered the witness back in 2000 but didn’t disclose it to any of Causey’s defense attorneys. Ware said it was something Causey's attorneys just discovered recently.
The woman testified that she had an on again, off again relationship with the man Causey’s attorney believes is guilty. In January, she testified that the night of Byington’s murder, this man came to a friend’s house who was hosting the witness at a sleepover and asked her to move a car. It was later discovered that the car belonged to Byington.
But Thursday, the court focused on proving this man’s guilt of the murder – that it was him who killed Byington and not Causey. Causey’s defense also brought in two women to testify, one of whom was the victim of this man’s attempted sexual assault in 1999. The woman said she was testifying because she doesn’t want this man to hurt another human being again in this world.
How does Byington's family feel?
Anita Byington’s cousin, Kristina Byington, has been vocal throughout this court process. She maintains that Causey was the one to kill her cousin. And she said because one side is the DA’s Office trying prove this other man is guilty and the other is Causey’s attorneys who think he's innocent, she thinks the hearings are one-sided.
“They’re getting the answers they want, they’re asking what they want and they’re leaving out what they want,” Kristina Byington said. “There’s no scrutiny, there’s no cross-examination. There’s a lot being left out.”
Kristina Byington was also hurt by the way the attorneys with the DA’s Office presented evidence on Thursday. They put photos of her cousin's dead body from the crime scene on the big screens without a warning. It was the first time Kristina Byington saw those pictures in full color.
“They didn’t give us any warning – just all of a sudden, those large, close-up pictures of the crime scene of her dead, beaten body where it was found,” Kristina Byington said. “There was no warning whatsoever, and I think that’s wrong.”
She said she will keep fighting to prove that Causey is the one who killed her cousin.
Causey’s defense plans to call two more witnesses to the stand during the second day of the hearing, which is set to start Friday morning.