The Williamson County District Attorney’s Office dropped murder charges against Patric Fairs, prompting his release from jail after more than 14 months of imprisonment.
Fairs, a University of Texas graduate who played for the Longhorn basketball team in the 1980s, had been arrested in October of 2011 and charged with murder in the 2006 death of his then-fiancee, Philise Lateria Estes.
According to Fairs’ attorney, several pieces of evidence, including DNA and fingerprint evidence, had not yet been tested.
Fairs’ defense team said that after several requests, the DA’s office issued a “full release” of the evidence file including 4,500 pages of documents, reports, photographs and 25 DVDs, After review, defense attorneys found that many pieces of evidence had not yet undergone testing. “The items which we discovered and requested forensic testing should have been identified by the previous prosecutor, and should have been forensically tested before this case was ever presented to the grand jury,” defense attorney Jennifer Earls said in a press release.
According to Fairs’ defense team, Fairs had cooperated with law enforcement by issuing statements and submitting to DNA testing during the initial investigation.
His lawyers said Fairs intends to return to Ontario, Calif. where he lives with his current wife and runs basketball training camps.