56 Days And a Wake Up. The Preston Hughes III case

On September 26, 1988 the cover of People Magazine featured a cover photo of Mike Tyson and his then wife Robyn Givens. The cover was titled "A Cry For Help". On that same day in Houston, TX, Preston Hughes began his cry for help. Tragiclly two young people were brutally murdered in the woods on that evening. The victims were LaShandra Charles, 15 and her 3 year old cousin Marcell Taylor. All though Marcell was dead when police arrived and LaShandras carotid artery had been severed, one detective claims he "calmy" interviewed LaShandra. This is despite other accounts from responding officer list LaShandra as "unconscious" when they arrived. Supposedly LsShandra gave the name "Preston", which lead police to Preston Hughes III. A search of Prestons apartment yielded a knife which clearly had no blood on it. Preston clothes did not show any signs of human blood besides a "presumptive" test. Police got Preston to confess with the understanding that he would be able to go home and make work the next morning. However, his confessions did not match the elements of the crime and part of the story was spoon fed to Preston, because it was obvious he knew noting about the murders. 24 years later, Preston sits on Texas Death Row with 56 days and a wake up before his scheduled exeuction date. Tune in this Thursday as our guest will be John Allen who has been advocating Prestons case.

Preston Hughes III