By C1 Staff
BEEVILLE, Texas — A ripped up disciplinary report pointed investigators to Robert Pruett in the killing of Corrections Officer Daniel Nagle in 1999.
KWTX reports that Pruett has been appealing the conviction, arguing his innocence with the help of the Texas Innocence Network.
The defense has hit on a number of inconsistencies in the investigation and trial. Pruett says the reason why his name was on the disciplinary report found on Nagle’s body was due to the officer writing him up for taking his lunch out into the yard.
“They say I killed him over this. The state’s theory is that I killed a man over a peanut butter and jelly sandwich,” Pruett said.
Attorneys gained a stay of execution for additional testing on the note, but only turned up an inconclusive palm print. There is also no DNA of Pruett’s at the scene.
A second issue is that no other officers saw the murders, only inmates, who then changed their stories after being promised favors or something of value from the prosecution, according to Pruett’s attorneys.
Other theories on who killed Nagle have emerged, including a ring of officers who were indicted for colluding with inmates to traffic drugs. Rumors say Nagle was going to expose their operation.
Further investigation found no connection with that theory, and the prosecution remains convinced that Pruett is the killer.
A cut on Pruett’s hand is the main evidence aside from the disciplinary note tying him to the crime. He claims he got it while weight lifting, but the prosecution says he got it while stabbing Nagle.
At the time of Nagle’s murder, he was serving 99 years for another murder.
The courts will decide if Pruett gets a new trial or goes through with his execution. So far, both of Pruett’s appeals have been denied.