Travis County District Attorney’s Office Files Motion to Notify Men Previously Accused of Yogurt Shop Murders of Exculpatory Evidence and Asks Court to Appoint Counsel
Travis County, TX — Today, in the 167th Criminal District Court, the Travis County District Attorney’s Office filed a Texas Disciplinary Rule of Professional Conduct 3.09 notice of exculpatory evidence and motion for appointment of counsel for four men previously accused of committing the Yogurt Shop Murders. This notice comes after the Austin Police Department’s announcement on September 29, 2025, that DNA, ballistics, and modus operandi linked the murders to known serial killer Robert Brashers. Providing notice of exculpatory evidence and moving to have counsel appointed for those previously accused is an initial step towards clearing the names of Michael Scott, Robert Springsteen, Maurice Pierce, and Forest Welborn.
Texas Disciplinary Rule of Professional Conduct 3.09 requires the prosecution to, “(d) make timely disclosure to the defense of all evidence or information known to the prosecutor that tends to negate the guilt of the accused or mitigates the offense…” Although criminal charges are not currently pending against the four accused men, because the cases were dismissed pending investigation, the four have never been eligible for an expunction and have suffered collateral consequences.
“It has been 34 years since December 6, 1991, when the lives of four young girls were taken,” said Travis County District Attorney José Garza. “During that time, four men were falsely accused and two were wrongfully convicted. We are grateful to APD for never giving up their search for the truth, and for identifying the real killer: Robert Brashers. Thirty-four years is too long for anyone to have to wait for the criminal legal process to be over, and it is our hope that having counsel appointed for those wrongfully accused will be the first step in finally closing this case so that all involved can move forward.”
In 1999, Michael Scott, Robert Springsteen, Maurice Pierce, and Forest Welborn were arrested and charged with four counts of Capital Murder for the 1991 homicides. All four were teenagers at the time of the crime.
Mr. Scott and Mr. Springsteen were tried and convicted in 2001 and 2002. Mr. Springsteen was sentenced to death, and Mr. Scott to life in prison. At the trials, the primary evidence against both were lengthy statements they had given to law enforcement. Both claimed at trial that the technique used to elicit the statements led to the false confessions and that the evidence presented at trial was not consistent with the alleged statements. No other forensic, physical, or eyewitness evidence tied them to the crime.
Scott and Springsteen’s cases were overturned by the Criminal Court of Appeals (CCA) due to a constitutional violation, using the statements of one defendant against the other defendant, and sent back to Travis County in 2006 to be retried. In 2008, when new DNA testing excluded all four suspects, TCDA dismissed Scott and Springsteen’s cases pending further investigation after they had spent 10 years incarcerated.
A grand jury no-true billed the case against Mr. Welborn, and although Mr. Pierce was indicted, his case was dismissed pending further investigation prior to trial. Mr. Pierce was killed during an officer-involved incident in 2010.
All four men lived under the shadow of committing these horrific acts until this September.
Robert Brashers is known to have committed at least eight murders, including the Yogurt Shop Murders. The evidence linking him to the Yogurt Shop Murders includes DNA, ballistics, and modus operandi.
The Travis County District Attorney’s Office Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU)
In 2021, the Travis County District Attorney’s Office Conviction Integrity Unit, under Travis County District Attorney José Garza, was reorganized and given more resources. Over the last four years, the CIU has participated in multiple separate historical case reviews and agreed that defendants were entitled to relief in eight cases.
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(A copy of the “TEXAS DISCIPLINARY CODE OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT 3.09 NOTICE DISCLOSING NEW EVIDENCE OF ACTUAL INNOCENCE AND MOTION FOR APPOINTMENT OF COUNSEL” for Michael Scott, Robert Springsteen, Maurice Pierce, and Forest Welborn is available by submitting an open records request to DAOpenRecordsRequests@traviscountytx.gov)