On Wednesday, 1 August 2007, the Dallas Morning News reported that DNA evidence has connected Gerald Edmond Pabst to a rape and murder regarding which he passed a polygraph “test” (emphasis added):
The Dallas County district attorney’s office announced today it charged a 55-year-old Ohio man in connection with a 21-year-old murder.
The district attorney’s office says DNA connects Gerald Edmond Pabst to the 1986 murder of Galua Crosby in Garland. Mr. Pabst was arrested at a bar in Geneva, Ohio. He had previously passed a polygraph regarding his involvement.
Ms. Crosby was bound, sexually assaulted and shot three times in the head at her Garland home. Another man, Clay Reed Chabot sentenced to life in prison for the crime in 1986.
Mr. Pabst testified at Mr. Chabot’s trial. Mr. Pabst testified that he had no agreement with prosecutors but his murder charge was dismissed a week later.
Mr. Pabst plead guilty to misdemeanor theft for items taken from Ms. Crosby’s home and was given a 30-day sentenced. He was given credit for time already served.
Mr. Pabst is now in custody at the Dallas County Jail.
In a follow-up report dated 2 August 2007, the Morning News indicates that Pabst in fact passed the polygraph twice (emphasis added):
The Dallas County district attorney’s office is looking into whether a man was unfairly convicted in the 1986 rape and murder of a Garland woman after a recent DNA test connected another man to the crime.
Gerald Pabst was arrested on a capital murder charge Tuesday, two decades after he testified that Clay Chabot attacked Galua Crosby. Mr. Chabot was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
“We want to make sure we’ve got the right characters in jail,” Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins said Wednesday. “This is not to say Mr. Chabot did not participate in this crime.”
But the Innocence Project, a nonprofit legal organization that seeks to exonerate wrongly convicted people through DNA evidence, says Mr. Chabot is innocent and was convicted based on lies that Mr. Pabst told a jury.
“The entire case the jury heard 21 years ago rested on Gerald Pabst’s story,” said Nina Morrison, an attorney with the Innocence Project, which is representing Mr. Chabot. “Clay has always maintained he had nothing to do with the crime.”
Mr. Watkins said Mr. Chabot, 48, could get a new trial. DNA does not link him to the crime.
Ms. Morrison said that the Innocence Project has been talking with the district attorney’s office and that she hopes Mr. Watkins will decide to join them in asking state District Judge Lana Myers to set aside Mr. Chabot’s conviction and ask for a new trial.
Mike Ware, who oversees the district attorney’s new conviction integrity unit, said the office is not ready to make a decision.
Mr. Pabst, now 55, was a suspect in the death of Ms. Crosby, 28, shortly after her slaying, Mr. Watkins said. He was charged with murder but never tried, even though he had a pawn ticket for Ms. Crosby’s stolen radio and her husband’s pocketknife.
Mr. Pabst, who lived in Terrell at the time, testified that he was at the home on the night of the slaying only because Mr. Chabot forced him to go with him to collect a drug debt.
He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor theft charge for taking items from Ms. Crosby’s home and was sentenced to 30 days in jail.
During the investigation, Mr. Pabst passed two polygraph tests, the results indicating that he didn’t take part in the slaying. At Mr. Chabot’s trial, Mr. Pabst testified that he was in another room when Mr. Chabot raped and killed Ms. Crosby.
The state argued that Mr. Chabot was angry about the poor quality of $450 worth of methamphetamine he had bought from Doug Graham, Ms. Crosby’s husband, five days before her death, according to the Innocence Project.
Mr. Graham, who could not be reached for comment, testified at the trial that he had offered to buy back the drugs but that Mr. Chabot refused, according to the Innocence Project.
Mr. Chabot testified at his trial that he wasn’t angry enough to kill Ms. Crosby.
The gun used in the crime did belong to Mr. Chabot, but Mr. Watkins said Mr. Chabot had lent it to Mr. Pabst, who returned it after the slaying.
Former state District Judge Janice Warder was the original prosecutor in the case. She could not be reached for comment.
Mr. Watkins said prosecutors are looking into possible wrongdoing by the district attorney’s office.
Ms. Morrison said that at previous court hearings in the 1990s another attorney for Mr. Chabot looked into whether prosecutors made a deal with Mr. Pabst for his testimony even though he told the jury they had not. Ms. Morrison said that nothing came of those hearings but that she believes the district attorney’s office is looking into the issue again.
Mr. Pabst declined to be interviewed at the Dallas County Jail, where he is being held in lieu of $500,000 bail.
The district attorney’s office said DNA linked Mr. Pabst to the crime in June.
Mr. Pabst pleaded guilty to two DWI charges and resisting arrest in the 1980s. No criminal record was found for him in Ohio, where he lived immediately before his arrest.
Mr. Pabst was arrested at a bar near Geneva, Ohio, which is not far from Cleveland, said George Espinoza, an investigator at the district attorney’s office.
Mr. Watkins said Mr. Pabst’s arrest shows that DNA can help solve old cases and free those who are wrongly convicted. Dallas County has recorded 13 DNA exonerations since 2001, the most of any U.S. county.
“This is just another example of what DNA can do for this county,” Mr. Watkins said.
The district attorney’s office has not been able to find Ms. Crosby’s family.
“I don’t think they’re around anymore,” Mr. Watkins said. “We’re just doing justice for her.”CASE UPDATE
What happened: The Dallas County district attorney’s office has announced it will investigate whether prosecutors believe Clay Chabot was unfairly convicted of raping and killing a Garland woman in 1986.
What’s next: The Innocence Project, a nonprofit legal group, plans to ask a judge to vacate Mr. Chabot’s conviction based on new DNA evidence. The district attorney’s office could oppose this or join the group in its request. If the conviction is vacated, the district attorney’s office must decide whether to try Mr. Chabot again. If the conviction stands, Mr. Chabot will serve out his sentence.
The example of Gerald Pabst underscores the folly of relying upon polygraph chart readings to “clear” suspects. Polygraph “testing” has no scientific basis and is easily fooled through the use of simple countermeasures that polygraphers have no demonstrated ability to detect.
What a story. I have to follow this story. The Innocence Project is great.
That’s how FUK”D up the court systems are these days…the courts are going to “decide whether or not to try mr. Chabot again” come the fuk on they have enough evidence that someone else did it and there all on some skandolous bull shit!!! for real…and then he may half to serve out his sentence???Hes already missed his sons whole entire life for what?? A crime that someone had to hurry up and close so they had to blame somebody. What the FUCK?!?!obviously they had no evidence whatsoever or else they would not have found the right guy 20something fucking years later. see how lazy people are???this poor guy and his son-i feel for you!! someone should def have to pay for this-ya know not that it wasn’t enough that he is serving his whole life in prison for a crime that he didn’t commit,they find the person who actually did do it-and they “might” let him out? ha-i think the mother fuckers who put him here w no evidence and lyin to save there own asses should half to sit in prison and rot to death for the rest of there lives!!
I was a guest at this hearing today. They had the medical examiner’s report and the forensic studies. The pictures of the crime scene were horrific…nothing like what is shown on tv. I am a student studying to become a court reporter. My college had a field trip to be guests at this hearing of the murder of Galua Crosby in April 1986. How could this guy live for 22 years knowing what he did and knowing that he sent an innocent man to jail????? Wow…what a story.
this is ridiculous, they need to let this man go and give him his life back, the whole reason they convicted him was based on the testimony of pabst and now they know he lied and there gonna try chabot again, this isnt what our justice system is about. these damn DAs dont want to admit when there wrong, they have no evidence supporting him being involved in this crime and if they do try him again, im sure they wont be able to convict him.
Clay is my step-father. My Mom recently married him. He is one of the most kind men that I’ve ever met in my entire life. It’s comforting to see these positive comments towards Clay. My Mom let his son, Harley, and his girlfriend, Lauren, move in with us last year and they recently found their own place down here in SW Florida. Harley is a very kind man just like Clay. My Mom is very anxious for Clay to come home. She has been waiting since 2008.
Now an innocent man is dead only after being coherced by a the criminal mastermind of clay can you be forgiven. Poor journalism and lust for fame lay to blame. Pabst was having an affair so yes it was found there.
Jakob, what is meant by your post?
Who is the innocent man? Forgive me for asking. I just recently became interested in this case after I stumbled upon it. Mr. Pabst was my mother’s lover at one point and then a family “friend” who lived in a trailer on our property in Terrell. Possibly right after I ran away from the house to live with my grandmother in the 80s.