The Stayed Execution of Marcus Druery

Marcus Druery sits on death row awaiting execution by the people of Texas. He was scheduled for execution on 1 August 2012. His execution was stayed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to allow consideration of his claim the he is not mentally competent to be executed.

I summarize his case by extracting from the adverse opinion in Druery v. State (2007):

On October 30, 2002, Druery went to Skyyler Browne's apartment on the Texas State Technical College campus in Waco where both were students. Browne was commonly known by his nickname "Rome." Druery asked Rome to travel with him to Bryan; Rome hesitated but eventually agreed to go. Rome, who was known to have sold marijuana, took his cell phone, $400 to $500, his gun, and some marijuana. No one at the school ever saw him again. Druery later told a Texas Ranger that, after he and Rome had traveled from Waco to Bryan, they partied into the night, but Rome wanted to go home. Druery recounted to the Ranger that Rome called a girlfriend, and the girlfriend picked him up from the Contiki Club in an orange Cadillac. Law enforcement, however, was never able to locate an orange Cadillac. 

Joquisha Pitts and Marcus Harris told a different story. Pitts was Druery's former girlfriend, and Harris was Druery's younger friend who was still in high school. Pitts recounted at trial that she had known Rome for only a couple of days when she witnessed his murder. She accompanied Druery and Rome to the Contiki Club, and on the way, the group picked up Harris, as well as some ecstasy tablets and some embalming fluid, which is put on cigarettes and smoked to produce a high. Harris recounted at trial that this was his first meeting with Rome. Around 1:00 to 1:30 a.m., at Druery's suggestion, Druery, Rome, Pitts, and Harris left the Contiki Club to go to rural property owned by the Druery family. Pitts drove Druery's car as Druery navigated because she had never been there before. Neither Pitts nor Harris was aware of Druery's plans.

During the drive to the country, Druery claimed that someone was following them, and he repeatedly asked Rome for his gun so he could shoot whomever it was. Rome refused. Once at the property, Druery unlocked the gate and drove the group the rest of the way to a stock pond. Using the vehicle's headlights for illumination, each member of the group took turns shooting Rome's gun at bottles they had thrown into the water. At this time, Druery called Pitts to the car and told her he was going to kill Rome, saying he wanted Rome's "stuff." Pitts reminded Druery that Druery had a two-year-old son, and she ultimately believed that Druery was "just playing." 

After he shot the gun, Druery claimed that the ammunition had run out, and he returned to the driver's seat of the car. Pitts saw that Druery was taking bullets from the car's console, wiping them clean with a rag, and placing them in the pistol's magazine. Druery then called Harris to the vehicle, telling him that he planned to shoot Rome, but Harris believed that Druery was "tripping" on embalming fluid that he had smoked. Druery then ordered both Pitts and Harris to sit in the car. 

Standing near the pond, Rome pulled his jacket or a hood over his head to block the wind as he attempted to light a pipe or cigar filled with marijuana. Druery skulked toward Rome under the cover of darkness, held the gun within six inches of Rome's head, and fired. As Rome's body fell, Druery fired a second shot into Rome's neck, and then he fired a third shot into Rome's body as it lay on the ground. Pitts and Harris began to cry and scream, and both saw Druery kneel over Rome's body. Druery returned to the vehicle with Rome's cellular phone, money, marijuana, and gun. He attempted to calm his hysterical companions by giving each forty dollars. 

Soon thereafter, Druery obtained some gasoline (perhaps with Harris's assistance) and poured it on Rome's body. He set it ablaze, and the three left as the body 497*497 burned. During the drive, Druery instructed Pitts and Harris on how to respond to questions about Rome. He told them to say that Rome's girlfriend picked him up in an orange Cadillac to take him to get his sister in Washington D.C. and that they didn't see him again. The next day, Druery returned to the pond with Pitts and two others, burned the body a second time, and threw the body into the pond. Later, Harris assisted Druery in disposing of the murder weapon. 

Pitts eventually went to the police and told them that she was scared and wanted to get it off her chest. Harris told authorities that he thought he would die because he believed Druery would not want to leave any witnesses to the killing. ... 

Here, neither Pitts nor Harris was an accomplice as a matter of law or as a matter of fact. Neither witness was indicted for the capital murder or a lesser-included offense of the capital murder, and the evidence does not show that the witnesses could have been so charged. ... 

[T]heir testimony was corroborated. Appellant does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to show the murder, and indeed, such a challenge would be laughable. He confessed to the murder to four friends and acquaintances: Chasiti Hall, Angela Minor, LaKeisha Green, and Charles Kennard. The victim's body was recovered on Druery property from a stock tank.

I oppose any execution in which the person to be executed may be innocent of the crime for which they are to die. In all other cases, I stand mute. I neither support nor oppose the execution. In the case of Marcus Druery, I stand mute.

The Case of Preston Hughes III: Brain Teaser #6

From Officer F.L. Hale's police report, we learn that he collected the following evidence from Preston Hughes' Apartment:

Evidence recovered inside Apartment 138A, ( suspect's apartment ) 

(1) Pair of silver rim percription [sic] eye glasses. These glasses were recovered from the three cushion couch, against the south wall of the livingroom [sic]. Laying between the cushion [sic]. The eyeglasses were recovered and placed inside a clear plastic bag and kept in officer's care, control, and custody until hand carried to the latent lab to be printed. 

(1) Pair of blue jeans: recovered off the southeast bedroom floor, approximately 5 feet south of the north wall and 2 feet east of the west wall, in front of the dresser. The blue jeans were recovered and placed inside a clear plastic bag and kept in officer's care, control, and custody until tagged in the police property room. 

(1) Blue short sleeve shirt; recovered off the southeast bedroom floor,approximately 3 feet north of the south and 6 feet east of the west wall, in front of the chest of drawers. The shirt was recovered and placed inside a clear plastic bag and kept in officer's carem [sic] control and custody until tagged in the police property room. 

(1) Short sleeve blue shirt; recovered on the floor in the southeast bedroom, near the closet. Approximately 3 feet south of the north wall and 5 feet west of the east wall. Inside the left front shirt pocket was a gold wrist watch. The band is broken. The watch is a Bulova, black face with (4) diamond, 12.3,6,9 The watch was left inside the shirt pocket. The shirt and watch was recovered and placed inside a clear plastic bag and kept in officer's care, control, and custody until tagged in the police property room. 

(1) U.S. Army knife, with sheath: recovered from southwest bedroom closet recovered from southwest bedroom closet [sic regarding the repetition], inside cardboard box, found on floor. The knife and sheath were found seperated [sic] inside the cardboard box. At this time I recovered the knife and sheath, both were kept sererapted [sic] and placed inside a clear plastic bag and kept in officer's care, control, and custody until tagged in the police property room. 

(1) Maroon pullover shirt; recovered on the dining room table. The shirt was recovered and placed into a clear plastic bag and kept in officer's care, control, and custody until tagged in the police property room. 

(1) Small clear plastic bag, containing a green leafy substance. Recovered on the dining room table in plain view. The plastic bag was recovered and placed inside a clear plastic bag and kept in officer's care, control and custody until tagged into the property room. 

No other evidence was found inside apartment 138A.

Now here's the property invoice for the material turned over by CSU Officer F.L. Hale to Property Officer F.L Martin. For clarity, the notations in red were on the document when I received it from Barbara Lunsford. Also for clarity, not all the items in the inventory were collected at Preston Hughes' apartment. The other items were collected from the crime scene, from either of two hospitals, or the morgue.

Be aware that this brain teaser has nothing to do with the marijuana found on Preston's desk. That would be too easy. It is clear from Hale's police report that he took possession of the marijuana while at Preston's apartment, and did not relinquish possession until he allegedly turned it over to the property room. It is equally clear from the property invoice that the marijuana (of which Hale claimed sole possession) did not make its way to the property room.

Be aware also that this brain teaser has nothing to do with the eyeglasses recovered by Officer Hale from Preston's apartment. We'll deal with those glasses in detail soon. For now it should be sufficient to note that Officer Hale did not claim to turn the glasses over to the property room. Instead, he claimed to have turned them over to the fingerprint unit. While I would like to see the receipt from the fingerprint unit, there is no reason to expect the eyeglasses would appear on an invoice intended for the property room.

Now you're all set up and ready to go for the brain teaser.

For 10 points, identify which items were taken from Preston's apartment but not mentioned in Hale's report or property invoice.

I suggest you review the photos in The Searchers.

Go.

ADDENDUM (31 July 2012):

Oscar Anon earns the 10 nugatory points for being first with the correct and obvious answer. If you look at the two photos in The Searchers that show Preston's fold out bed, you won't see any sheets or blankets. Preston claims on his blog that there was a sheet on the bed when he left, that he masturbated and the sheet was stained with his semen. He and others suggest the HPD intended to use that stain to plant his DNA in Shandra's rape kit.

I do not believe that is correct. While working on another case, just today, I was reminded that the first person ever exonerated by DNA was David Vasquez of Virginia, and that happened in 1989. The police searched Preston's apartment in 1988. I suspect they were not anticipating that DNA samples would soon be leading to exonerations.

I have no doubt that Preston used at least one bed sheet. The mattress does not appear as if it has been used unprotected. I also suspect that the HPD did indeed take the sheet and sent it directly to the crime lab for testing. That's why the sheet is not included in the invoice of evidence turned over to the property room at 2:58 AM.

I suspect the police were hoping that Shandra was a secretor. That means her blood type could be determined from her other bodily fluids. If they could identify Shandra's blood type on the sheets, and Preston was not a secretor and/or Preston did not have the same blood type as Shandra, then they would have been able to argue she must have been inside his apartment recently.

I suspect that Shandra turned out not to be a secretor. Most people are not. I suspect they then planted the glasses in Preston's apartment so that they could argue she had been in there recently, maybe the very night of her murder.

 <-- Previous                           Table of Contents                              Next --> 

The Case of Preston Hughes III: Brain Teaser #5

Here's a quick one for zero points:  What the hell did I do with Brain Teaser #3?

Now Brain Teaser #5, for 10 points.

In The Searchers, I state with confidence that there were no visible blood stains or droplets on any of Preston's clothing. None. I claim also that the police, the crime lab, and (possibly) the prosecutor knew that to be so.

You win the 10 nugatory Skeptical Juror points by being the first to provide a compelling explanation of either:

1. Why I am incorrect, or

2. Why I am correct.

Go.

ADDENDUM (29 July 2012):
Ten nugatory points to Oscar Anon. Allow me to summarize the points he made and add some of my own.

We can be confident that there was no visible blood on the clothing for the following reasons:

1. The jeans, shoes, and socks are either white or pale enough that any blood stain would be obvious. There is no blood visible in any of the photos. It would be statistically unlikely if in each case substantial blood was apparent only on the portions not visible in the photos.

2. The clothing was not tested until three days before the trial. If they State believed there was visible blood stains of any size on the clothing, they would have tested it sooner.

4. The HPD didn't (at least initially) test individual stains to unambiguously determine if they were blood. The HPD treated large areas of the clothing with a Luminol like substance. Luminol, and the similar substances, are used to detect blood that is otherwise invisible. The testing was designed to give them some idea which areas they might subject to definitive blood tests. Luminol type testing, at best, can indicate only possible areas of blood. The test returns false positives for many ingredients, and is therefore never to be used as the sole determinant for the presence of blood.

5. No blood was found during the subsequent, more definitive testing. The State attempted to leave the impression that the follow-on testing was unable to discriminate between between human blood and animal blood because there insufficient blood remaining to test after the initial Luminol type testing. That's a generous interpretation. The more straightforward interpretation is that there was no blood identified by the more definitive testing.

6. The State did not show the jury those portions of the clothing on which the testing was conducted. That would have made it clear to the jury that there were no visible blood stains on the clothing. Instead, the State showed the jury only those areas of the clothing where even they conceded were no visible signs of blood. They showed the clothing with the samples removed, but did not show the samples.

In summary, there was no visible signs of blood, nor was any detected during any non-ambiguous testing. The State nonetheless left the jury with the impression that substantial amounts of blood had been discovered on multiple areas of the jeans and shirt.

 <-- Previous                           Table of Contents                              Next --> 

The Case of Preston Hughes III: The Searchers

My favorite John Wayne movie is The Searchers.

From Wikipedia:

The Searchers is a 1956 American Western film directed by John Ford ... set during the Texas-Indian Wars. The picture stars John Wayne as a middle-aged Civil War veteran who spends years looking for his abducted niece (Natalie Wood) ...

The film was a commercial success, although it received no Academy Award nominations. It was named the Greatest American Western of all time by the American Film Institute in 2008, and placed 12th on the ... Institute's 2007 list of the Top 100 greatest movies of all time.

Wayne played a more complex, far less likable character than usual. His hatred of Indians played a significant role in the movie. Also, he was somewhat testy when one of his young co-searchers asked about the fate of one of the kidnapped girls.

What do you want me to do? Draw you a picture? Spell it out?

Don't ever ask me! Long as you live, don't ever ask me more.

As unpleasant as Searcher John Wayne was in the movie, he never went so far as to plant evidence in an effort to send someone to their death. On the other hand, one or more of those who searched Preston Hughes' apartment may have.

From the police report of Apartment Searcher F.L. Hale:

Upon entering the apartment Officer Hale was lead [sic] into the living room and shown a pair or precription [sic] silver rim glasses. These glasses were found between the cushions of a three cushion couch, against the south wall of the living room.

Officer Hale was then lead [sic] into the southeast bedroom and shown a pair of blue jean [sic], two blue shirt [sic] on the bedroom floor.

Inside the closet of the southwest bedroom Officer Hale was shown a large knife wedged inside a cardboard box, found on the floor, next to the knife was a sheath.

On the dining room table was a maroon pullover shirt, a clear plastic bag containing green leafy substance.

The Knife and its Sheath

Knife and Sheath (found in closet of southwest bedroom)

As you already know from On Being Blunt and Marcell's Neck, that knife could not have been the one that transected Shandra's carotid artery and perforated Marcell's. The knife in the image above has a single-edge blade. The knife that entered Shandra's neck and Marcell's neck had a double-edge blade. That knife in the image above has a 1" wide blade. The knife that ended the life of both Shandra and Marcell had a 5/8" wide blade, or thereabouts.

There is a small stain, possibly blood, on the tip of the blade. Hughes claims it is rabbit blood from months earlier. Though the knife shown above supposedly inflicted four stabbing wounds and two cutting wounds, and though it supposedly transected / perforated two carotid arteries and two jugular veins, and though it supposedly did so soon before the photo was taken, the apparent blood staining seems neither as copious nor as fresh as one might expect.

One might expect also that the sheath would have bloodstains (and possibly blood spatter) on it. It does not, at least based on the image above.

The state offered no evidence that the knife and/or sheath had been washed. The knife has a leather handle and the sheath loop is made of fabric. No one made any mention of the handle or loop being damp. The police did not report that any of the sinks or towels gave any indication of a recent blood cleanup. The police elected not to perform any Luminol testing to reveal any efforts to hide a bloody cleanup.

And, oh yeah, I almost forgot, the blood still has what appears to be some blood on its tip. If Hughes or anybody attempted to clean that knife of blood, he missed a rather obvious spot in plain view.

Given that the knife is not the murder weapon, I am not surprised that the prosecution was clearly uninterested in seeing it tested. It would be far better for them if they could just show the knife to the jury and tell them that it was the murder weapon and have the jury believe that. But the State needed expert witnesses to tell the jury that it was the murder weapon, so here is what they did and did not do.

• The State did not attempt to fit the knife into Shandra's neck wound. It would not have fit.
• The State did not test the blood on the knife until the same day their searcher of blood was to testify.
• The State Blood Searcher (I"m reluctant to call him a forensic expert) did conduct a test for the presence of blood during the midst of the trial, while sitting in the witness box, while the jury was in recess.
• The State Blood Searcher did declare that the knife tested positive for blood.
• The State Blood Searcher did explain that he could not determine whether the blood was human or animal.
• The medical examiner did not testify.
• The State did rely on a last-moment, fill-in, medical examiner
• The State did not ask about the neck wounds having no blunt edges.
• The last-minute, fill-in, medical examiner did not volunteer that the neck wounds had no blunt edges.
• The last-minute, fill-in, medical examiner did opine that Hughes' knife was consistent with the wounds, though it was not.
• The State did repeatedly describe the knife to the jury as the murder weapon.

It is particularly egregious, in a case filled with egregiousness, that the State Blood Searcher conducted only a test that could not even discriminate between animal and human blood. In fact the test could not discriminate between blood and carrots, or beets, or radishes, or horseradish, or broccoli, or cauliflower, or apricots, or beans, or blackberries, or Jerusalem artichokes, or turnips, or cabbages, or even onions, potatoes, or apples. The test could not discriminate between blood and tobacco, or between blood and black tea. If improperly conducted, the test could fail to discriminate between copper and nickel salts, or other chemical oxidizers.

The test is more properly used to determine the absence of blood rather than its presence. if the test sample does not turn red, then you know the item has no blood on it. If the test sample does turn red, then you really don't know what you have. You certainly don't have enough to send a man to death row.

By testing the knife just before the State Blood Searcher testified, the State did not provide time for the defense to seek the opinion of an expert. The State also prevented any timely follow-on testing to determine whether the substance was human or animal blood, or turnips, or blackberries. To this pathetic and surprise forensic analysis, the defense objected. The judge, of course, overruled the objection, cleverly opining:

Apparently you've got something that many defense lawyers have always wanted; that is, you're seeing the actual testing right before your very eyes.

Holy Judicial Crap, Batman!

The Jeans
Here's a pretty good look at the jeans:

Jeans (found in master bedroom)

I've enlarged this image substantially on my computer and I can't see any drops of blood, much less any substantial blood spatter. Let's see how the State Blood Searcher described what he found on those jeans.

Q. And what did you do with the blue jeans?

A. I used a chemical reagent that would enhance and cause a fluorescence of any blood or possible blood that was detected or placed on that pair of blue jeans.

Q. Now, I note on these blue jeans there's some holes that appear to be cut out of the blue jeans. I'm holding the blue jeans up for the jury to see and for you to see, also. Do you know how these holes came to be in these jeans?

A. Yes, I do.

Q. How did they come to be there?

A. I put those in there myself.

Q. Why did you cut these holes out of these jeans?

A. Again, I was attempting to do secondary testing in those substances that I got a positive reaction for the chemical that I used.

Q. When you tested the jeans the first time, did you get any reaction?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. What was that reaction?

A. I got a positive reaction for the presence of blood.

Q. Okay. Does the test that you use provide you with sufficient information to say what kind of blood that was?

A. No, sir.

Q. Could you even distinguish whether it was human blood or animal blood?

A. No, sir, I could not.

Q. The best you can say through the test is that there was some kind of blood on the jeans?

A. There was an indication that blood was present on these blue jeans.

Q. Did you attempt, by cutting out those little spots, to do further testing on it, to develop a blood type or something like that?

A. Yes, sir.

Q  Was there sufficient sample to develop a blood type?

A. No, sir, there was not.

So it's not surprising I can't see any blood on Hughes' Jeans. Neither the police nor the crime lab could see any either. (Stand by for a Brainteaser on how I know this.)

On the knife, the State Blood Searcher applied two chemicals that make some substances (including blood) turn turn the reagent red. On the clothes, the Blood Searcher applied a single chemical that makes some substances (including blood) glow in the dark. In each case, the problems are the same. The testing cannot discriminate between human and animal blood; the testing cannot even discriminate between blood and many items found around the house, such as vegetables, fruits, copper, and nickel. Those chemicals that make blood glow in the dark react even to bleach.

Shirt #1

The jeans appear in a second photo taken by Apartment Searcher F.L. Hale.

Jeans and Blue Shirt (found in master bedroom)

With respect to the jeans, the photo is not as helpful as the previous photo, since it was taken from further away. However, this longer shot provides the only image currently available for the blue shirt just beyond. You won't be seeing a close up of that shirt anywhere in this post.

The State Blood Searcher claims to have found blood on the knife, the jeans, and a blue shirt. I'm not sure which of the blue shirts he tested, but I will show both of them in this post. The observations about the quality of the blood testing apply regardless of which shirt was actually tested.

Whatever shirt was tested was subjected only to a non-definitive test, one that could not discriminate between human blood and animal blood; one that could not discriminate between blood and carrots, or beets, or potatoes, or tea, or bleach, ad nauseum.

Q. Did you do any similar testing on the blue shirt, which is here on the table before me and which is marked as State's Exhibit No. 19?A. Yes, sir.
Q. What test did you perform on this exhibit?
A. I again used the chemical reagent to react with the area that was positive or that gave an indication that blood was present.
Q. Okay. Now, on this blue shirt there appears to have been a magic marker or circle drawn or something on here. Do you know what that is?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What is that?
A. That is the area that I reacted my chemical with, that gave me a positive reaction for the presence of blood.
Q. And again, is that test sufficient for you to be able to give an opinion as to whether not that blood is human or animal blood?
A. No, sir, it is not.
Q. It merely tells you there was some blood on that shirt?
A. That's correct.
Q. Again, was there sufficient sample for you to do any further evaluation to determine blood type or something of that nature?
A. No, sir, there was not.

Shirt #2
Here at two shots of the second shirt. It may or may not be the one on which the State Blood Searcher allegedly found blood.

Blue Shirt (found in master bedroom)

Note also that the Blood Searcher searched for blood on a pair of shoes as well. He found none. I suspect the shoes may be those shown in the first of the two photos above. Take note of the shoe. They might help you in explaining how I know that no blood stains were apparent on any of the clothing.

I guess this is as good a time as any to mention a third serious problem with the non-definitive testing used exclusively by the State Blood Searcher. It can't discriminate fresh blood from old blood, or fresh radish juice from old radish juice. From the cross examination of the State Blood Searcher.

Q. Now, is there anything about the tests you ran, either on the knife or on the clothing, that gives any indication how long the stains that
or the materials that you tested for had been on there?
A. No, sir.
Q. Could it have been for years?
A. I would imagine that's possible, yes, sir.

Conclusion

This post is long enough already. We will continue the search of Preston's apartment in later post in this series, after two brainteasers. In this post, we have discussed the three items subjected to (rather pathetic) blood testing. Those items were the knife, the jeans, and one of the two blue shirts.

The jury heard that the knife, the jeans, and the blue shirt each had blood on it. That's not my take-away from our search of Preston's apartment, from our hearing of the State Blood Searcher's testimony. My take-away is as follows.

There may have been blood on the knife. Preston claims it was rabbit blood, months old. Nothing the State Blood Searcher did contradicted that.

Whatever substance was on the knife, it was certainly not in copious amounts. One would have expected the murder weapon (and its sheath) to be pretty much covered in blood. Alternatively, one would have expected to see evidence of a clean up had Preston cleaned the knife recently.

The testing on the knife is, however, is of know consequence. The knife cannot be the murder weapon. The blade has one too many sharp edges and it is too wide by almost a factor of two.

Whatever the State Blood Searcher found on the jeans and shirt, assuming he found anything at all, was not there in copious amounts. In fact, the neither the police nor the crime lab nor the prosecutors office could see any blood at all.

 <-- Previous                           Table of Contents                              Next --> 

The Case of Preston Hughes III: Floor Plan

It's now time to turn our attention to Preston Hughes' apartment and the search thereof. I've prepared a floor plan of his apartment based on a sketch created by Officer F.L. Hale (and provided to me by Barbara Lunsford) and some dimensions provided by Officer Hale in his HPD report. Here's my source material, sketch first then text.

The front door to the apartment faces to the west and opens into a small foyer. To the north of the foyer is the kitchen. This kitchen is approximatley [sic] 7 feet 5 inches by 6 feet. On the north end of the kitchen is the dining room, which is approximately 7 feet 8 inches by 9 feet 9 inches. At the southwest corer of the dining room is an opening to the living room. The foyer also leads to the living room. The living room is approximately 12 feet 4 inches by 15 feet 6 inches. On the southwest corner of the living room is a hallway which lead [sic] to the two bedroom [sic] at the south end of apartment. Along the east wall of the hallway is a bath room, approximately 5 feet by 10 feet. In the southwest corner of the apartment is the master bedroom. This room is approximately 11 feet 8 inches by 14 feet 19 inches. The closet is in the at the [sic] northeast corner. The second beroom [sic] is in the southwest corner of the apartment an [sic] is approximatly [sic] 11 feet 4 inches by 14 feet 1 inch.

Officer Hale's dimensions are only approximatley approximatly approximately correct. I was not able to completely reconcile them with the 6 straight sides of the apartment perimeter. Based on Hale's dimensions, the outside walls of the rooms would not have lined up so nicely.

Here's the floor plan I put together based on Sgt. Hale's information.

Hopefully, the floor plan will help you orient yourself as we follow Officer Hale's footsteps when he photographed the items in the apartment.

The floor plan has already helped me narrow down which of the apartments Preston Hughes lived in. I know that his bedroom windows looked south at the Lakewood Village apartments. His apartment was somewhere along the southernmost row of the Lakehurst apartments. I therefore took the floor plan I created, scaled it, rotated it, modified the perspective, and overlaid it on a Google satellite view to see which of the apartments matched.

You must click to enlarge if you hope to have any decent chance of seeing my floor plan laying atop the two possible apartments. Note that the view is from the north, looking south.

There are four upper and four lower units on the second building from the left, just beneath the fence. Either one of two of those upper units could have been (and must have been) Preston's apartment. I provide an enlargement of that building to make my point (and my floor plan) more apparent.

To help you better orient yourselves, I turn once again to Frankenmap.

I added the oval to show which building Preston lived in. Note that in this view, north is to the top of the screen.

As I understand it, there was a bus stop at the corner of Westheimer Boulevard (southernmost road in Frankenmap) and Crescent Park Drive (easternmost road in Frankenmap). Preston, when coming home from work, normally got off the bus at Westheimer and Crescent Park. In other words, he got off at the lower right corner of Frankenmap. He then walked up Crescent Park Drive to his apartment. He did not cut through the field. It would have been well out of the way.

On the night of the murder, he slept through his stop then caught a cab ride to the parking lot of his apartment complex. Once again, there was no need for him to cut through the field.

In the next post in this series, we will begin exploring the interior of his apartment, and view the evidence as the HPD claims to have found it.

ADDENDUM (26 July 2012):
Reader anonymous comments by asking multiple pointed questions.

Tsj,The argument you have presented this far is compelling. Why hasn't or wont an innocence project pick up this case? 

Is it because there was evidence that Shandra was raped and PH had been accused of rape twice before? 

Also, why did Preston say on the stand that he walked through that path that night? 

Is your arguement that he is legally innocent but not actually innocent?

I provide my somewhat lengthy response in this addendum rather than in the comments.

Anon,
Most people gave not a passing thought that Preston might actually be innocent until Barbara Lunsford began researching and writing about his case. The evidence is seemingly overwhelming. Someone had to first see through that. That person was Barbara Lunsford. I became interested in the case because of her writing. 

As far as I know, Preston had been accused of rape once before, not twice. He pled guilty, he argues to avoid a lengthy prison sentence. I suspect, as I explained in The Big Sleep, that is why the police homed in on him so quickly. 

Regarding Preston being in the field that night, you anticipate what I will be writing of when I get around to discussing his confessions. Preston was in the field that night. I have argued only that he did not walk through the field on his way home from work, as some readers suggested he may have. 

Careful readers of my blog, Preston's blog, and Barbara's Mystery Crime Scene know that Preston explains that after he arrived home, he took his dog for a walk in that field. I will have additional details about his walk in that field later in the series, when I talk about his confession.
I accept that Preston is legally guilty. That's why he's on death row. He was found guilty by a jury, and his trial has been ruled constitutionally acceptable by all appellate courts so far. 

I believe that Preston is actually innocent. 

I write all the time about people who are legally guilty but actually innocent. 

So that you are aware, I do not throw myself so thoroughly into cases where I do not believe the person to be actually innocent. I am deeply involved in two other cases where I have committed myself to seeing someone freed. Those two cases already demand much of my time. I didn't realize when I started writing about Hughes that I would be so thoroughly drawn in. Now I overwhelmed.

 <-- Previous                           Table of Contents                              Next -->