The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered Texas’ highest criminal court to reconsider its denial of a new trial in a decades-old Cooke County capital murder conviction, after the current district attorney said he could not support the verdict.
In 1997, Michael Newberry was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of murdering 62-year-old Granville Hanks while attempting to commit a robbery. Newberry then sought to challenge the conviction several times, including alleging in his third attempt in 2024 that the then-prosecutor had withheld information that could have swayed the jury’s decision.
A visiting Texas judge then recommended last year that Newberry receive a new trial. But the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals — the state’s highest criminal court — rejected that finding in September based on its “independent review of the entire record,” without offering additional details. Judge David Newell was the sole dissent on the nine-person panel.
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court took the rare step of granting Newberry’s petition and vacated the appeals court’s judgment.
“This is a significant step for the Supreme Court to take, so we would hope that the Court of Criminal Appeals would take that into consideration,” said Mark Lassiter, Newberry’s attorney. “Mr. Newberry deserves a new trial because he was denied due process.”
The high court’s ruling also hinged on an April briefing by Cooke County District Attorney John Warren, who wrote his office concluded following a “thorough investigation” that the original prosecutor had intentionally withheld evidence favorable to Newberry.
“As this Court has observed, it is always a ‘remarkable’ step when the State of Texas — or any sovereign — seeks to vacate a judgment in a capital murder case,” Warren added. “But, after a full investigation of the evidence and an exhaustive review of Petitioner’s trial, the State no longer had confidence in the verdict.”
Following the Monday ruling, Warren declined to comment on pending matters. Though the district attorney had previously said he would dismiss the case if the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals had ordered a new trial, according to WFAA.
State District Judge Janelle Haverkamp, who originally prosecuted Newberry, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from The Texas Tribune.
Newberry, who is now 46, currently remains behind bars at the Beto Unit in East Texas.
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