Barring any late-breaking news on the Clinton debacle, 60 Minutes is scheduled to examine the Lacresha Murray case on Sunday. Murray was twice convicted in the 1996 beating death of two-year-old Jayla Belton, but her supporters have charged that the now-teenager (she was 11 at the time of Belton’s death) was railroaded into making a confession without a lawyer present and that the Travis County medical examiner sloppily handled Belton’s autopsy. Their complaints received very little airing in Austin’s mainstream media, but in November and December of last year The New York Times‘ Bob Herbert wrote a scathing six-part series supporting Murray and condemning Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle and the Austin Police Department, and now the story is attracting national attention (see “Media Clips,” Vol. 18, No. 16). The Austin Chronicle investigated the charges in the article “Justice Denied?” in August (Vol. 17, No. 48).

Locally, 60 Minutes airs on K-EYE (channel 42, cable channel 5).

Media tips: lnichols@auschron.com

This article appears in January 15 • 1999 and January 15 • 1999 (Cover).

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