The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles had unanimously recommended the innocence pardon after DNA testing cleared Arthur Merle Mumphrey of the crime and proved that Mumphrey's brother, Charles Ray Mumphrey, had committed the assault.
"The trial court has determined that Arthur Mumphrey was wrongfully convicted and served 18 years in prison for a crime his brother committed," Perry said. "My action today cannot give back the time he spent in prison, but it does end this miscarriage of justice."
Mumphrey, now 42, had been sentenced to 35 years in prison for the crime and was released on bond in January. Montgomery County District Attorney Michael McDougal petitioned the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles for a pardon based on innocence; the pardon was supported by state District Judge Kathleen Hamilton.
DNA testing was granted by the trial court in 2005 and the district attorney's office reopened an investigation of the crime. During that investigation, the brother, Charles Ray Mumphrey, told authorities that in 1986 he had admitted his participation in the assault but authorities thought he was covering for his brother. A co-defendant in the assault, Steve Thomas, received a 15-year sentence after testifying for the state at trial that Arthur Mumphrey had participated in the assault. Charles Ray Mumphrey was a juvenile at the time of the assault.
Because the statute of limitations on the crime has passed, authorities said Charles Mumphrey cannot be charged with the assault.
