Setting the Record Straight on Colton Pitonyak’s Wrongful Conviction

On August 2nd, 2020, the Austin American-Statesman published my opinion editorial, “We should reimagine the legal process to overturn faulty convictions.” In the piece, I argue that new evidence has raised enough doubt about Colton Pitonyak’s conviction to merit a new trial. I was one of his post-conviction lawyers, and working on his case solidified my belief that America has a massive problem when it comes to wrongful convictions. Too often, the system values finality over accuracy.

In response to my editorial, the presiding juror for Pitonyak’s trial, Alan Stuber, wrote a brief response into the Austin American-Statesman. Below are his comments:

I served as the presiding juror in Colton Pitonyak’s 2007 trial. Mr. Perri’s argument would be much stronger had he chosen anyone else as the focus of his commentary. I strongly believe that Colton Pitonyak (alone) did in fact kill Jennifer Cave.

Pitonyak stated during the trial that he must have killed Jennifer as he was the only other person there at the time — he just couldn’t remember the details. At least one of Laura Hall’s confessions that she had killed Jennifer came only after her initial sentence of 5 years was increased to 10 years on appeal. Mr. Perri also omits the fact that Pitonyak had served time for drug possession and continued drug use after release.

I found many faults in the police and prosecutor actions but in this case, they convicted the right person.

Alan Stuber, Austin

Mr. Stuber, the jury foreman, claims that the jury got it right. However, Mr. Stuber’s letter is surprising considering that he signed an affidavit in 2014 swearing that new evidence of Hall’s confession to the murder “would have created reasonable doubt in my mind as to whether or not Colton Pitonyak was the killer of Jennifer Cave.”

My point was that the jury did not hear all of the facts, and it’s vital to reimagine our post-conviction system to afford a new trial to people like Pitonyak when new evidence raises a reasonable doubt about their guilt.

It’s important to set the record straight: while Mr. Stuber may not agree with me today, his sworn affidavit demonstrates that even the jury foreman isn’t convinced that the jury got it right. Moreover, seven of the twelve jurors have agreed to look at the new evidence, and all of them said it raised a reasonable doubt about Pitonyak’s guilt.