MIDLAND, Texas — A civil lawsuit has been filed by Clinton Young against Midland County, Ralph Petty Jr and former Midland County District Attorney Albert Schorre Jr. and Teresa Clingman.
All of these people and entities are being sued for their judicial and prosecutorial misconduct towards Young under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Young served close to 20 years on death row after he was found guilty of murdering Doyle Douglas and Samuel Petrey back in the 2002. Then on June 20, 2003, Young was sentenced to Texas' death row for execution at the Polunsky Unit. After multiple tries of filing a postconviction application for a writ of habeas corpus, it was not until 2019 when current Midland County DA Laura Nodolf discovered the dual employment of Ralph Petty Jr, as a prosecution in the District Attorney's Office and a law clerk for district judges.
In the lawsuit by Young, it states that Petty worked on over 300 cases as both a lead prosecutor and law clerk during his career in Midland County. Young would go on to present evidence showing how Petty's work for the prosecution during his case and his work for the Judge during the trial was a conflict of interest and denied Young his constutional right to due process.
Judge Harle with the 385th District Court of Midland also found that the work Petty was doing as a prosecutor, while also talking with district judges led to favorable wins for the prosecution. Schorre Jr. and Clingman were both also involved in this due to their knowledge about Petty's work for both judges and the DA's Office.
The judge could go on to recommend that Young's conviction should be vacated. Then in September 2021, the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals ended up agreeing unanimously with the district court.
Despite the TCCA vacating the conviction on September 22, 2021, it took until October 29, 2021 for Young to be released from death row where he would be held in Midland County Jail until his bond was posted in January 2022.
People can find the entire lawsuit and a statement by the Clinton Young Foundation on their Facebook page.
We will continue to update this story as we receive more information.