uring a police interrogation in 1986, Steve Thomas admitted to raping a thirteen-year-old girl and implicated Arthur Mumphrey as his accomplice in the crime. Police made a deal with Thomas, offering him a fifteen-year sentence in exchange for his “truthful testimony” against Mumphrey.
At trial, Thomas testified to the same horrific details he had relayed to the police during his interrogation. In addition, another witness testified that he saw Thomas and Mumphrey one night and Thomas told him all about the crime while Mumphrey stood silent, tacitly endorsing the story. The victim testified that she did not look at the faces of her attackers and could not identify them. Mumphrey was convicted.
Mumphrey was paroled in 2000, but he failed to meet the strict terms of his parole and returned to prison in 2002. Post-conviction DNA testing on the rape kit evidence confirmed that Thomas was indeed one of the perpetrators, but the other perpetrator was not Mumphrey.
Mumphrey was released on January 27, 2006, and was granted an official pardon by Governor Rick Perry on March 17, 2006.
Because of the false testimony of Steve Thomas, Mumphrey spent nearly eighteen years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
