Former Death Row Inmate Killed in Texas Car Crash

Tarrant County, TX A recent Texas auto accident killed a man who had just been released from prison, where he was languishing on death row.

Michael Toney was convicted in 1999 for a 1985 bombing that killed three people in Lake Worth. The case had gone unresolved for 14 years until a jailhouse snitch testified to authorities that Toney, incarcerated on an unrelated charge, had admitted to the crime.

Grits for Breakfast, a justice blog based in Texas, reported on October 5 that there was no physical evidence connecting Toney to the bombing and that the conviction relied largely on the testimony of his ex-wife and former best friend.

The jailhouse snitch since recanted his story, which he claimed was fabricated in an effort to win early release from jail. Nonetheless, Toney was convicted and sentenced to death.

According to the Texas blog, Toney's defense team later uncovered 14 documents that Tarrant County prosecutors had allegedly withheld from his defense during trial. In December the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned Toney's conviction, calling the trial unconstitutional.

Toney was released in September, but remained the prime suspect in the case. As reported by the Star Telegram, the attorney general's office dropped the charges against him, saying it needed more time to examine the evidence. The attorney general did, however, retain the right to retry Toney later on.

They'll never get the chance. A month after his release from death row, Toney died in a single-vehicle accident during the first weekend of October. There were reports that Toney was painting his residence in the country and had picked up a dog at a local compound as a companion.

Relatives of the bombing victims remain steadfast in their belief that the case is now closed. Susan Blount, whose daughter and husband died in the bombing, told the Star Telegram she considers Toney's death the end of the case.

"I don't mean to bring religion into this, but God works in mysterious ways," Susan Blount said. "He got out of prison, and he should not have gotten out of the prison."

However, a spokesperson stated that the attorney general's office is "fully committed to thoroughly investigating the 1985 murders…That investigation continues."