Bio

Preston Craig Hughes III was born on December 24, 1965, in Erie County, New York (Buffalo). As a child, he was reportedly sexually abused. He was previously charged with rape in Buffalo, a charge that was dismissed after the alleged victim failed to appear in court. He moved to Houston, Texas, in 1983, graduated high school, and worked as a warehouse employee. At the time of the September 1988 murders, Hughes was on probation for the aggravated sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl, he later told reporters he had believed she was 17.

Murder Story

On the night of September 26, 1988, Houston police officers were alerted to a vacant field behind a restaurant in Houston, Texas. The area was near an apartment complex where Preston Craig Hughes III lived. Officers found 15-year-old Shandra Charles badly wounded but still alive. They also found her 3-year-old cousin, Marcell Taylor, dead at the scene. Both victims had suffered multiple stab wounds to the neck and chest.

Before she died, Shandra Charles spoke with Houston Police Officer Donald Hamilton. According to the trial record summarized by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Charles said that someone named “Preston” had tried to sexually assault her and then stabbed her. Based on that statement, officers went to a nearby apartment complex located about 100 yards from the vacant field. The apartment manager gave police a list of tenants, and Hughes was the only tenant named Preston.

At about 2:30 a.m. on September 27, 1988, officers went to Hughes’ apartment. Hughes allowed them inside and answered questions. He later agreed to go with officers to the police station for further questioning. During the questioning, Hughes admitted that he knew Shandra Charles through a mutual friend. Officers also learned that Hughes had a prior record involving sexual assault cases. Based on Charles’ dying identification, Hughes’ proximity to the crime scene, his admission that he knew Charles, and the information about prior sexual-assault cases, police arrested him at about 4:30 a.m.

After his arrest, police advised Hughes of his Miranda rights and continued questioning him. Court records state that Hughes gave two written statements admitting that he stabbed both victims. In the first statement, he said he was walking through the field with a knife when someone touched him from behind, and he began stabbing before realizing it was Shandra Charles. In the second statement, he gave a different account and said he encountered Charles and the child on the trail before the stabbing occurred.

The State also presented physical evidence. TDCJ’s case summary states that police found Charles’ eyeglasses inside Hughes’ apartment and evidence of blood on his clothing. Reuters later reported that police found a knife, blood on clothing, and Charles’ eyeglasses on a couch in Hughes’ apartment. Hughes disputed the evidence and claimed that police planted it.

At trial, Hughes did not accept responsibility for the murders. He testified that he was framed by police and claimed that his confessions were coerced after officers struck and threatened him. The jury rejected his defense and found him guilty of capital murder. Court records state that the jury convicted Hughes on May 3, 1989. After the punishment phase, he was sentenced to death on May 4, 1989.

Hughes appealed his conviction and death sentence. On direct appeal, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals first considered trial issues, including jury-selection and punishment-phase claims. On rehearing, the court affirmed the trial court’s judgment. The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari on June 6, 1994.

Hughes later pursued state and federal habeas relief. On October 21, 1996, he filed a state habeas application, which was denied by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on September 13, 2000. He filed a second state habeas application on April 24, 2001, but it was dismissed as an abuse of the writ on November 14, 2001. A federal district court later denied habeas relief, and the Fifth Circuit affirmed that denial on June 5, 2008.

In the years before his execution, Hughes continued to maintain his innocence. Reports from 2012 noted that his attorneys and supporters challenged aspects of the case, including the reliability of Charles’ dying statement, the apartment search, and evidence-handling issues. State attorneys defended the conviction, and the courts did not halt the execution.

Preston Craig Hughes III was executed by lethal injection at the Huntsville Unit in Huntsville, Texas, on November 15, 2012. He was 46 years old. Reuters reported that he was pronounced dead at 7:52 p.m. Central Time. TDCJ lists him as execution number 492 in Texas since the state resumed executions.