DNA evidence points to new suspects in Blair case

Michael Blair’s lawyers presented new DNA evidence in a hearing Thursday morning at the Collin County Courthouse. The DNA evidence, which was recovered from fingernail clippings taken from Ashley Estell, allegedly does not contain any of Blair’s DNA but does include the DNA of at least two unknown males, according to records filed in a petition by Blair’s attorneys.

Ashley Estell was abducted on Labor Day weekend in 1993 from a Plano park while her family attended a soccer tournament. Estell’s body was found the next day lying on a dirt road nearly six miles from the park. Blair was convicted of capital murder in 1994 for the death of Estell.

The case received so much media attention that the Legislature created a group of laws called Ashley’s Laws which required neighborhoods to be notified of registered sex offenders and lengthened prison sentences for repeat offenders.

Blair’s lead attorney in the appeals process, Roy Greenwood said that a suspect once overlooked by the prosecution may be one match for the DNA found on Estell’s fingernails.

“We have DNA reports saying that that is not Michael Blair’s DNA underneath that little girl’s fingernails,” Greenwood said.

Josh Crowley, a convicted sex offender and a referee at the soccer fields on the day Estell disappeared, may be asked to provide DNA evidence, Greenwood said.

“We would like to find Josh Crowley and have his DNA sample taken and show that the fingernail evidence is his,” Greenwood said. “That would be a nice capper to this thing. We not only clear Michael Blair but we showed who did it. Crowley was a referee at the soccer fields at the time that Ashley disappeared and he became a person of interest because he disappeared after she disappeared. And he didn’t pick up his check that afternoon.”

Greenwood said that jury knew about Crowley but were not aware that he pleaded the Fifth Amendment when asked about the case.

“He was later interrogated and convinced the police that he didn’t have anything to do with it,” Greenwood said. “He is a child molester. According to our investigators he has been convicted in at least four states of various sexual abuse cases. He took the Fifth Amendment and we say that is probable cause. If you want to clear your name then come down here and testify.”

If Crowley is currently on probation or parole anywhere in the country for a recent conviction he could be forced to provide the state with a DNA sample. The district attorney’s office has also agreed to track down and find Crowley, according to Greenwood.

Without a DNA connection to his client, Greenwood feels that the Collin County District Attorney’s Office lacks sufficient evidence to keep Blair on death row.

“If Michael Blair gets a new trial ordered the District Attorney is not going to be able to prosecute,” Greenwood said. “There is no evidence in my opinion to re-prosecute and besides he has four life sentences. They have said that 50 times but ‘Where’s the beef?’”

John Roach, the Collin County District Attorney, asked 366th District Court Judge Nathan White not to allow the new evidence to be heard because the DNA tests were conducted by the defense without informing the prosecution. White signed the petition which will now be sent the Court of Criminal Appeals.

Greenwood said he feels that White and the Court of Criminal Appeals has been fighting his client’s appeals process since the beginning.

“They have been fighting us day one for five years and today we got more cooperation. Three major states, Ohio, Pennsylvania and somebody else have all ruled in their supreme courts that a conviction cannot stand on eyeball hair identification,” Greenwood said. “Texas never got that question before, but they had it with this case and it wasn’t raised. Had the Court of Criminal Appeals, who is totally responsible for our screw ups in this, done right they would have ordered a hearing on that too. Then we would be dealing with not only factual innocence, but a review of the sufficiency of evidence.”

Regardless of who is later tried for the death of Estell, Blair would never be allowed to leave prison because he is also serving three consecutive life sentences for sexually abusing children. Greenwood admitted that Blair was a sex offender, but pointed out that justice must still be sought.

“Part of this case, our supplemental motion, is not only to pursue our claims as to represent Michael Blair and get him off death row into another prison cell, but to find who did it,” Greenwood said. “These tests can do that.”