Ahead of Election Day, Gov. Greg Abbott released a campaign ad that accuses Travis County District Attorney José Garza of releasing a "confessed killer." It doesn't mention that the state's all-Republican Court of Criminal Appeals threw out the man's conviction last year, or that there is evidence someone else may have committed the crime.
The ad highlights the case of Anita Byington, a 21-year-old woman who was murdered in East Austin in 1991. The following year, a jury found Allen Andre Causey guilty of the murder. But last year, the CCA struck down that decision.
Five of the court's nine judges signed onto the ruling. They cited "DNA implicating an alternate suspect, testimony from witnesses contradicting parts of Causey's confession, and allegations of police misconduct" as justifications for their decision.
The judges ordered a Travis County court to revisit the case, which could have led to a new trial for Causey. Garza, whose office had investigated the matter at the request of the Innocence Project of Texas, instead decided to dismiss the murder charge. Garza's dismissal of the case‚ but not the CCA opinion that preceded it, is mentioned in Abbott's recent campaign ad.
Mike Ware, executive director of the Innocence Project of Texas, said that's misleading.
"I just don't understand the reasoning of why it's 'tough on crime' to convict innocent people and to fight ... the efforts of innocent people to be exonerated," Ware said.
Abbott's campaign has featured the case in ads and social media since at least March, citing it as the reason to create a new statewide prosecutor's office.
"Texas WILL NOT be soft on crime," Abbott wrote on Facebook in March. "That's why I am pushing for a chief state prosecutor to ensure accountability, represent the people's interest in justice, and prevent rogue DAs from denying victims' families — like Anita's — from the closure they are owed."
KUT reached out to Gov. Abbott's campaign but has not heard back.
Trial and error
In last week's advertisement, Byington's cousin, Kristina Byington, calls Causey a "confessed killer" multiple times. Causey did sign a three-page document confessing to Anita Byington's murder in 1991, but he later said he didn't write it and wasn't sure what he was signing.
The Austin Police Department's homicide unit was known to coerce suspects into false confessions during that time under the leadership of Sgt. Hector Polanco. Polanco was one of four officers who handled the investigation into the Byington murder as well as the probe into the city's infamous yogurt shop murder. Those also involved false confessions and led to multiple wrongful convictions.
Causey's own confession was called into question decades later, when the Travis County DA's office and the Innocence Project of Texas pushed to clear his name. He said Polanco beat and threatened him before he signed the confession, though Polanco denied doing so.
The Court of Criminal Appeals opinion doesn't directly address that claim, but it said Causey's case deserves another look due to prosecutors' "unknowing use of false testimony" during the original trial. The judges stopped short of declaring him "actually innocent."
Ware said the governor's campaign ad also ignores the fact that another man, Kevin Harris, was identified as a possible suspect in Byington's murder. He compared the situation to what happened with the yogurt shop murders: Innocent men were convicted, while the real perpetrator walked and committed more crimes.
"The actual perpetrator, as in the Andre Causey case and as in the yogurt shop case, is out there committing more crimes," he said. "That makes no sense to me."
Harris, who had told police he was with Byington the night she was murdered, served as a witness for the prosecution in Causey's 1991 murder trial. According to new evidence presented by Causey's attorneys and reviewed by the CCA, Harris had lied in that testimony. Forensic testing also showed that Harris' semen was mixed with Byington's blood on her clothing, while Causey's DNA was not found to be present in that evidence.
Harris' ex-girlfriend also testified during a court hearing in 2024 that she was with Harris the night Byington was murdered, that she helped Harris move Byington's car and that he had what she identified as Byington's purse with him at the time.
Police did not suspect Harris at the time, and prosecutors relied on his testimony in the trial to convict Causey. He has since been accused of assaulting women in both Travis and Harris counties.
In his Travis County case, Harris was accused of forcing his way into a woman's home and choking her in 1999. In the course of pursuing those charges, Travis County prosecutors later indicated they had evidence Harris was involved in Byington's murder. Prosecutors also said there was evidence Harris sexually assaulted Byington, tampered with evidence and gave a false statement to police. But there's no indication they investigated further at the time.
Harris was convicted of the 1999 assault after a trial and was sentenced to a year in jail. He was also accused of sexual assault in Harris County in 2024, but that case was dismissed this year.
KUT reached out to Harris for comment but he did not respond.
APD did not say whether Harris was currently under investigation for Byington's murder, though Travis County DA Garza said his office could reexamine the case.
"Mr. Causey was wrongfully convicted of a crime he did not commit. His conviction was overturned by the all-Republican Texas Court of Criminal Appeals," Garza said. "We will continue seeking justice for Anita Byington and will continue fighting to hold the actual perpetrator accountable."
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