Grand jury indicts former death row inmate for capital murder in Harrison County
By Robin Y. Richardson
The Marshall News Messenger
A special grand jury convened Friday and indicted former death row inmate Clinton Young in connection with a 21-year-old capital murder case that occurred in Harrison County.
“The grand jury here met; the Attorney General’s Office presented it. It was a special grand jury,” Harrison County District Attorney Reid McCain confirmed.
“He was indicted for capital murder,” said McCain.
“He (allegedly) killed somebody here (in western Harrison County) and somebody in Midland,” McCain said, recalling some of the facts of the case. “It was one long crime spree. He was never arrested or indicted here. He was arrested and indicted in Midland. He was tried in Midland for capital murder and got the death penalty.”
Now as a result of Friday’s capital murder indictment in Harrison County, Young has been arrested by the Vicksburg, Mississippi Police Department and awaits extradition.
According to a Sept. 22, 2021 article published in The Texas Tribune, Clinton Young was convicted in a 2001 Midland County murder in which he insists he was framed.
In September 2021, The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals tossed out his capital murder conviction and death sentence after it was discovered that a prosecutor in the case also worked for the judge, the article stated. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals determined he was denied the right to a fair trial and an impartial judge.
Young, 38, had been on death row since 2003, The Texas Tribune reported.
“Judicial and prosecutorial misconduct — in the form of an undisclosed employment relationship between the trial judge and the prosecutor appearing before him — tainted [Young’s] entire proceeding from the outset,” The state’s highest criminal court ruled. “As a result, little confidence can be placed in the fairness of the proceedings or the outcome of Applicant’s trial.”
The appeals court ordered Young to be removed from death row, and on Sept. 22, 2021 granted Young’s petition for a new trial.
Young was accused at age 18 of participating in a 2001 drug-related crime spree with co-defendant 20-year-old David Page that led to the double murder of two men — one in Harrison County and the other in Midland — for use of their vehicles during a 48-hour window.
Young was convicted in the Midland murder of Samuel Petrey and sentenced to death after Page testified against him. Page took a plea deal and was given 30 years in prison on an aggravated kidnapping conviction.
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