Travis County District Attorney José Garza is pushing back against a new political ad from Gov. Greg Abbott that accuses Garza of “releasing a confessed murderer,” noting that the state’s highest criminal court overturned Allen Andre Causey’s conviction before Garza’s office dismissed the case.
The ad features Kristina Byington, the first cousin of Anita Byington, a 21-year-old college student who was found beaten to death in East Austin in 1991, after a night out with friends. Causey signed a statement confessing to the killing following lengthy questioning that was overseen by a now-former Austin police sergeant and detective who became famous for eliciting coerced confessions. Causey was convicted in 1992 and sentenced to 50 years in prison.
“Our family thought we had received justice,” Kristina Byington says in the ad, speaking directly to the camera. “In 2022, her killer was released on parole until the murder charges were dropped by DA Jose Garza.”…