HOUSTON, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- Texas death row inmate Anthony Graves is getting a second bite of the apple in a series of hearings that could lead to a new trial on multiple murder charges.
The Houston Chronicle said Saturday that Graves, after spending 12 years in prison, was being allowed to argue that he did not take part in the 1992 slayings of a grandmother and five children in Somerville, a town west of Houston.
The Chronicle said the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in March "that the prosecution in his 1994 trial withheld from the defense two crucial statements." U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent ordered that Graves receive a new trial by Sept. 12 or be released.
Graves' attorney, Jeff Blackburn, argued that he is innocent and has been unlawfully held for 15 years. Blackburn, along with University of St. Thomas journalism professor Nicole Casarez and her students, uncovered evidence they say shows Graves is innocent, the Chronicle reported.
