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Teen freed after judge reverses convictionAUSTIN (AP) - A girl accused of beating a toddler to death left a state youth facility Wednesday and rejoined her family for the first time in three years after a judge ordered her release following last week’s reversal of her conviction.Fourteen-year-old Lacresha Murray, sporting an orange jumpsuit from Giddings State School, hugged and embraced family members and supporters as she arrived at her grandparents’ modest Austin home.State District Judge John Dietz ruled after a morning detention hearing that Lacresha be placed in the custody of her grandparents under strict supervision.“I am willing to do anything that I can to get her home and try to get back into a normal life,” said Shirley Murray, Lacresha’s grandmother, who hugged lawyers and supporters after the ruling.Lacresha has been in state custody since she was charged with capital murder at age 11 — the youngest person in Texas to face such a charge. After two trials, she was eventually convicted of injury to a child and sentenced to 25 years for the beating death of toddler Jayla Belton.Jayla died May 24, 1996, of massive internal injuries, including a severed liver, after spending the day in the home Lacresha shared with hergrandparents and five brothers and sisters. The family often baby-sat for Jayla and other children.Prosecutors have contended that Lacresha was angry about having to baby-sit and kicked, beat and stepped on the toddler.The teen quietly left the state school about 50 miles east of Austin with her grandmother and her lawyers, said assistant superintendent Lynda Smith.“She was just happy to be going home,” Ms. Smith said.Diefz’s ruling came despite a plea for caution from Jayla’s mother, Judy Shaw, who urged the judge to “protect the safety of our community,” and testimony from a caseworker at the Texas Youth Commission facility who said Lacresha had become more disruptive while in custody.“Number one, I don’t find Lacresha is a flight risk,” said Dietz, who has presided over both of her trials. “I believe that suitable care can be provided by her grandparents with certain restrictions.”Lacresha won’t be allowed around children under 10 years old by herself, she can’t leave Travis County without the court’s permission, and she will attend school in an alternative setting, Dietz said.Last week, the 3rd District Court of Appeals remanded Lacresha’s case to juvenilecourt, throwing out the conviction by saying the statement she gave police should not have been used at her trial.The court said the statement — in which the girl, after lengthy questioning, told investigators she might have dropped and kicked the little girl — resulted from an illegal interrogation when the girl was “isolated and alone.”Defense attorney Keith Hampton argued for Lacresha’s release, but Lacresha’s caseworker at Giddings for the past seven months said the girl has not progressed.“She has become more disruptive. She’s extremely belligerent towards staff,” said Janene Roch, adding that Lacresha has been sent to a special security unit in the facility several times.In one incident, Lacresha pulled the chair from underneath another inmate when she became angry about the television being turned off, Ms. Roch said. Last week she hit a wall after having an argument with another youth, she said.In other situations, Lacresha was “roughhousing” with the other inmates who were not comfortable with it, Ms. Roch said.Mrs. Murray said her granddaughter often referred herself to the security units to escape from the other children.“I have taught her that. Yousee trouble, then you move yourself away from trouble,” she said. First Assistant District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg said prosecutors and Jayla’s family want Lacresha to receive treatment.“We all believe that if that is going to happen at all, it’s going to happen in the Youth Commission and it will happen in a detention capacity rather than at home with Murrays,” she said.Prosecutors will almost certainly seek reconsideration of the reversal before the appellate court or ask the Supreme Court to look at it, Ms. Lehmberg said.If needed, the case almost certainly will be retried, she said.The case has been high-profile in the state capital, where dozens of protesters have gathered monthly outside the courthouse where the case was pending.Columnist Bob Herbert of The New York Times also has championed her cause, writing several columns arguing that the supposed facts of the case don’t add up. Herbert suggested that another relative might have beaten the child.Other critics say District Attorney Ronnie Earle sought a conviction to help his re-election campaign or was biased against Lacresha because she is black. Earle is white.
Newspaper Details
Port Arthur News
Port Arthur, Texas, US
Thu, Apr 22, 1999
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Jared T.
NA, NA 14 Aug 2023
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