Jurors spent week four in the capital murder trial of Yogurt Shop Murders defendant Michael Scott considering DNA evidence and testimony from several of Scott’s high school friends. Notably, alleged Scott-acquaintance Chandra Morgan took her second turn at the stand as a witness for the state — and provided a version of events that differed from what she told the court during the trial of co-defendant Robert Springsteen, convicted and sentenced to death last summer.
On Sept. 4, Morgan testified that she was with Scott, Springsteen, and Maurice Pierce (in jail awaiting trial) on the afternoon of Dec. 6, 1991 as the three boys allegedly cased the North Austin “I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt!” shop with the intent to rob it later that day. Forrest Welborn, whom two separate grand juries have failed to indict, stayed in the car, she said. Later that fateful evening, Morgan and the four boys met up again and drove to a park near Gullett Elementary — and that, she testified, is when she noticed the butt of a gun sticking up from Scott’s waistband. During Springsteen’s trial, Morgan testified that she had seen a gun sticking out from Springsteen‘s waistband. During cross examination last week, Morgan admitted that she wasn’t sure which boy had the gun. Furthermore, during Springsteen’s trial Morgan said the car the boys drove that night was a rusted two-door Honda; on Sept. 4, she said the car was a large American model. Morgan — who was 13 years old at the time of the murders — said she and the four boys had taken LSD and were drinking beer that day, and that as a result her memory is foggy. Ultimately the jurors will have to weigh her credibility.
In other trial news, Dept. of Public Safety DNA experts testified that none of the DNA from the crime scene matched Scott, Springsteen, Pierce, or Welborn. Testimony continues this week.
This article appears in September 13 • 2002.