Anita Byington case: Convicted killer's claim of innocence goes to Court of Criminal Appeals

AUSTIN, Texas - Allen Andre Causey, a man who was convicted of murder more than three decades ago, is fighting for his innocence. That claim is making its way through the courts. 

He was convicted for the death of Anita Byington, 21. She was found beaten to death on August 11, 1991.

August 26, 2024, would've been her 55th birthday. 

Her cousin, Kristina Byington, went to the spot where she was killed behind an apartment complex in East Austin to pay her respects. 

"She had a future ahead of her. She was in college. She was funny. She was animated. She was beautiful. She lost everything, everything she would have become," Kristina said.

After a trial in 1992, Causey was sentenced to 50 years in prison and was released on parole two years ago. 

He's been working to clear his name. 

"I think he is so pleased to be back in court and able to finally prove what his trial lawyer desperately tried to prove at trial, which is that his confession was false and that he was not the perpetrator of this horrible crime," Jessi Freud, senior staff attorney at the Innocence Project of Texas said. 

Causey's attorneys at the Innocence Project say along with the forced confession, evidence was withheld and there was false testimony at his trial.

A district judge agreed with three out of four of their points, but ruled there was not enough evidence for an actual innocence finding. Now the case is going to the Court of Criminal Appeals.

"We, of course, were very pleased with the district court's decision. She found that basically he got a completely unfair trial, that police officers got on the stand and perjured themselves, that other state witnesses got on the stand and perjured themselves. We've proven that. There was exculpatory evidence that should have been disclosed to his trial attorneys that was not disclosed by the district attorney's office at the time. It was the same crew of Austin Police Department detectives that railroaded Chris Ochoa and Richard Danziger, the same crew back in 1988, and they railroaded Mr. Causey," Mike Ware, executive director of the Innocence Project, said. "We are a little bit disappointed that she evidently found that there was not quite enough evidence to reach that fourth point. Hopefully, the Court of Criminal Appeals will revisit that." 

Kristina disagrees with Causey's claim, and she believes he is still guilty. 

"We're hoping that they will look at all the evidence and rule against Causey and uphold the conviction so that justice is served," she said.

Court filings point to another possible suspect, Kevin Harris, who was last seen with Anita on the night of her death. The judge's ruling reads: "While the newly discovered evidence inculpates Kevin Harris, it does not constitute affirmative evidence of Applicant's innocence."

Kristina is frustrated with the reopening of the case and claims the DA's office didn't communicate with her. 

"This whole process, it feels like the murder happened again, going through these hearings and everything, it's the traumatization, and the DA's office has not made it any easier at all. They made it more difficult," she said. 

Terry Keel, Kristina's attorney, says, "the judge saw through it and denied relief on the actual innocence. It's really an amazing thing. It gives me a lot of faith that at the end of the day, the system still works in some regards. We just don't have a good district attorney here for victims."

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Alan Byington, another one of Anita's cousins, has a different opinion. 

"There was a tremendous amount of evidence against the man that Anita was last seen with. All this information was kind of shocking. My parents and I were not aware of this evidence at the time, 30 years ago," he said "I believe Andre Causey is innocent and nothing to do with the murder of my cousin. The police didn't do their job 30 years ago at all to try and find the actual rapist and murderer."

The Travis County District Attorney's Office released the following statement:

"The murder of Anita Byington was a tragedy, and our hearts continue to break for her family and loved ones. The goal of the District Attorney’s Office in this case is to identify the person responsible for Anita’s murder and hold them accountable.  We agree with the Judge’s recommendation in this case that Mr. Causey be granted a new trial because the trial prosecutor withheld evidence during the original murder trial. In addition, new evidence recently came to light that placed an alternate perpetrator at the scene of the crime and showed that the alternative suspect engaged in a cover-up. Because of this evidence, we believe that Mr. Causey is innocent and that the alternative perpetrator should be brought to justice. The District Attorney’s Office will continue to work through appropriate legal channels to achieve that goal."

Read the full statement from The Innocence Project of Texas here:

"Andre, his wife Dellanda, and all of us on Andre’s legal team, are grateful to the Judge for her patience in handling and hearing this case over the past nearly two years. We feel very positive about the Judge’s recommendations for relief on three of our four claims, which were made based on a review of the entire case record, including the original trial evidence. On our Brady claim, the Judge found that, despite a court order issued by the trial judge ordering production, the trial prosecutors failed to disclose material exculpatory evidence that supported Andre’s account of his interrogation. The Judge also found that two material witnesses gave false trial testimony, one of whom was an Austin police officer who supervised the homicide unit, all of which deprived Andre of a fair trial. While we disagree with the Judge’s reasoning for why she did not make an actual innocence finding, we are hopeful that the Court of Criminal Appeals will do so as the evidence of innocence is compelling and overwhelming and includes new DNA evidence forensically linking the true perpetrator to the crime, as well as testimony from credible newly discovered witnesses which completely disproves the singular piece of evidence against Andre, the police-typed confession. Andre would like a judicial acknowledgement that he is innocent, and we strongly believe he deserves that because the evidence proves he did not commit this crime. We sympathize with Anita Byington’s relatives; when the police and trial prosecutors get it wrong, it is not just the innocent person and their loved ones who suffer."