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Thursday, June 26, 1997

Newspaper: Slaying suspect denies killing Liberty student

LIBERTY, Texas (AP) - An oil field worker charged in the stabbing death of the daughter of a former city councilman denies he is the murderer.

Instead, suspect Robert Brice Morrow claims he knows who killed Myra Elisabeth "Lisa" Allison, the Houston Chronicle reported Wednesday.

A grand jury is investigating the 1996 slaying of the 21-year-old, who was a student at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. She was killed while home on vacation, after taking her family's car to be washed.

Morrow, 27, jailed without bond, told the Chronicle he has given the name and details to a Texas Ranger assigned to the case.

Morrow said people can corroborate his account, including his description of how his blood got in the Allison car. The newspaper, however, said it has been unable to reach those people as well as the man Morrow insists was responsible for the murder.

Morrow said the man admitted the slaying a couple of months after the killing while they and a third man were sharing rock cocaine.

"But he said that it was an accident - that he didn't mean to," Morrow said.

According to Morrow, the killer persuaded Miss Allison to give him a ride from the car wash, the car got a flat tire, and she started "freaking out" and wanted him to hurry and change the tire.

She tried to get out of the car, he accidently knicked her cheek with a knife he was using to cut cocaine, then chased her down and beat her, Morrow said. The man killed her because he feared she would report him, Morrow said.

He claims he later got a ride in the car from the man and bled in the car after getting into a fight with yet another man and was shot in the leg while smoking dope.

Morrow's attorney, Gary Bunyard, declined comment Wednesday on the newspaper report, citing a gag order.

Prosecutor Mike Little also cited the order and said "my response will be with evidence and testimony when we try this case."

Morrow said he fears he will not get a fair trial because the case is "politically connected." Miss Allison's father is a former councilman, her uncle is a police officer and the judge hearing the case lives across the street from her family.

Bunyard tried unsuccessfully to have state District Judge W.G. "Dub" Woods Jr. removed from the case. Woods and Little also are fighting an attorney general's ruling requiring that they release public documents leading to Morrow's arrest.

Woods ordered the probable cause and search warrants sealed and issued the gag order on those involved in the case.

An appeals court in Beaumont is considering a request from the Chronicle to overturn the order sealing the records.

Morrow talked despite the gag order, saying "What do I have to lose?" Conviction of capital murder carries a possible death sentence.

Morrow acknowledges he has a criminal record, which includes prison time in Texas for forgery and in Louisiana for house burglary and illegal firearm possession. Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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