DNA expert recants testimony, prompting new challenge to Texas death row conviction
Forensic specialist William Watson has recanted his 2002 testimony and alleges prosecutors misrepresented his findings, fueling a fresh legal bid to overturn Jeffrey Prible’s murder conviction.
William Watson, the DNA analyst who testified at Jeffrey Prible’s 2002 trial, submitted a declaration on August 28 recanting his earlier opinions and asserting that modern forensic methods would change his answers. He alleges that Harris County prosecutors, including former assistant district attorney Kelly Siegler, mischaracterized his scientific conclusions during both opening and closing statements. Prible was convicted of murdering Steve Herrera and Nilda Tirado, whose three children perished from smoke inhalation after a fire was set at the home.
A 2020 federal ruling had vacated the conviction due to prosecutorial misconduct, but the Texas appellate court reinstated it on procedural issues. Prible’s attorneys now argue that Watson’s recantation, together with new scientific evidence, undermines the basis of the conviction and request a review by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
Why it matters
The recantation could lead to the release of a man who has spent nearly 24 years on death row.
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