Lawyer Disbarred For Withholding Evidence During Murder Trials; Suspects 'Actually Innocent'

A former public prosecutor from Dallas County, Texas has surrendered his law license after the state's bar said he withheld evidence that could have absolved two wrongfully convicted men during their trials for the 1999 murder of a pastor.

The State Bar of Texas said Richard Jackson failed to inform the defense attorneys of Dennis Allen and Stanley Mozee about evidence that could have cleared their clients' names in the capital murder case in 2000, local newspaper the Dallas Morning News first reported.

Due to this, Allen and Mozee would spend over 14 years in prison for the murder of Rev. Jesse Borns Jr., who was stabbed 47 times and left for dead in his store in Austin on April 6, 1999. They were released on bond in 2014 and their convictions were thrown out in 2018. In the next year, Judge Raquel Jones declared the two "actually innocent" after new DNA testing further helped clear their names, the New York Times has learned.

"This case is not about someone disbarred for making a mistake or a prosecutor who accidentally or even sloppily failed to turn over favorable evidence. This is someone who repeatedly and intentionally hid favorable evidence from two defendants who were on trial for their lives," said Nina Morrison, a lawyer with the Innocence Project in New York organization that helped clear Allen and Mozee's name.

Texas judges, prompted by a 2018 grievance complaint filed by the Innocence Project in New York and Innocence Project, reviewed the cases and found Jackson had withheld several pieces of evidence that could have helped Allen and Mozee. The evidence included secret deal negotiations with jailhouse informants, mismatched witness descriptions of the two and false information from witnesses, among others.

Following the state bar's conclusions, Jackson surrendered his law license last month, effectively disbarring him. A three-page order from the Supreme Court of Texas dated April 13, 2021 also prohibited Jackson from practicing law in the state.

According to the order, "Jackson's resignation is in the best interest of the public, the profession, and (Jackson.)"

Jackson, however, maintained he had handed over the evidence to Allen and Mozee's defense and still believes the two are guilty, his lawyer, Bob Hinton, said as per the Dallas Morning News.

Allen, now 52, was quoted by the New York Times as saying Jackson's disbarment was "a step in the right direction" and that it "signifies his admission of guilt."

"You can’t make up for everything that you took in the prime of my life, along with trauma anguish, along with the abuse in prison, along with the death threats, along with the attempts on my life," Allen said.