Pinkerton and Darnell Hartsfield were each indicted on five counts of capital murder late last year after Hartsfield was convicted of aggravated perjury for testimony he gave a special grand jury investigating the case.
State District Judge Clay Gossett told the Tyler Morning Telegraph there was no choice, but to move the trial to Bowie County.
"Everyone agreed that it was the best thing to do to ensure a fair trial. There is just too much publicity surrounding the case," he said.
Gossett said his motion even omitted adjoining counties as possible host sites for the trial in a case that has remained unsolved for 23 years.
"My motion allowed the trial to be moved from even adjoining counties, because the case is too well known in the area," he said.
THE MURDERS
On Sept. 23, 1983, several unknown suspects made their way into the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Kilgore and abducted five people.
The suspects then took the five victims to a rural oil field on Walter King Road, where they were shot in the head and left for dead. An oil field worker discovered the bodies the next day.
Mary Tyler, 37; Opie Ann Hughes, 39; Joey Johnson, 20; David Maxwell, 20; and Monte Landers, 19, were found shot to death. All five were shot at least twice.
Autopsy reports indicated Mrs. Hughes was shot in the back as she tried to flee and Johnson was shot in the abdomen.
The Kilgore Police Department, Rusk County Sheriff's Office, the FBI, the Tyler Police Department crime unit, Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and Texas Rangers all joined in the investigation, scouring the murder scene and the restaurant for clues, but the case soon grew cold.
In 2002 new life was breathed into the decades'-old case through the advances in DNA technology and a grand jury began hearing weeks of evidence in 2003.
TRIAL SET
Pinkerton is the first of the two men to be tried for the murders. Gossett that said after the state attorney general's lead prosecutor, Lisa Tanner, asked the trial be moved to McLennan or Ellis counties, he chose Bowie County.
Gossett said the Rusk County district clerk's office was notified by McLennan County that could not accommodate the venue change, and a personal visit to Ellis County revealed that county could not handle a trial such as the KFC case.
Gossett said the costs incurred by moving the trial north to Bowie County were minor compared to a retrial if an appellate court ruled the trial should have been moved and was not and declared the trial a mistrial.
"I believe the trial will last about six weeks, with four weeks of that figure being to pick the jury," he said. "This is just a guess, it could take more time or could take less."
Gossett also re-enforced a November 2005 gag order in the case by ordering all entities involved in the case from releasing autopsy reports of the murder victims to the media and the general public.
The added order was granted by the judge after the Houston Chronicle attempted to obtain the documents through an open records request and was denied.
The Chronicle then filed a lawsuit against the state attorney general's office, but has not responded to Gossett's court.
Kenneth Dean covers police, fire, public safety organizations. He can be reached at 903.596.6353.
e-mail: news@tylerpaper.com"> news@tylerpaper.com
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