Clinton Lee Young, III, was released from the Harrison County Jail recently after his bond was reduced in Harrison County’s 71st District Court by Presiding Judge Sid Harle. Young posted bond and was released from the Harrison County Jail on August 29, 2022, according to jail records. He had been arrested on August 15, 2022, on a Capital Murder warrant related to the 2001 shooting death of Doyle Douglas. Young’s bond was initially set at $5 Million.
According to the Court Order, Young was required to report to Pre-Trial Services at the Harrison County Supervision and Corrections department within 24 hours of his release and will continue to report in person each month. He was required to be fitted with a GPS tracking device before his release and pay any fees related to the device. Young is also required to check in with the department by phone every week.
Young is not allowed to have any intentional contact with family members of either Doyle Douglas or Samuel Petrey. He’s not allowed to possess any firearms per the order and has been advised not to break any laws.
The order does allow Young the freedom to travel anywhere in the United States for work with the approval of Pre-Trail Services, provided that Young gives his supervising officer a work travel schedule in advance if it’s practical. Should the supervising officer decide it’s more practical for Young to keep and submit a travel log, that would also be permitted. Young is able to travel to Cass County to visit family according to the order. He is also allowed to travel in connection with his Midland County criminal case, as well as the case in Harrison County. That permitted travel includes going to Harris County, where Young’s legal team is based. He was required to surrender any passport he may have had.
Aside from the travel permitted by the order, Young is confined to an area within a half mile of his residence except for medical emergencies, for which he can travel as needed without prior approval. Young is also allowed to travel to medical appointments, shop for necessities and accomplish reasonable errands, though he must seek approval to shop and run errands.
Young is required by the order to pay $15.00 per week to the Harrison County Community Supervision and Corrections Department. He can’t use any controlled substances or alcohol and must submit to periodic drug testing. Young is ordered not to have any contact with “persons or places of disreputable or harmful character, including any person, other than a family member, who is an active member of a criminal street gang.” He is also required to report any contact with law enforcement to his supervising officer within 24 hours.
According to an indictment from a Harrison County Grand Jury, Clinton Lee Young, 38, of Ore City, has been charged with Capital Murder regarding the 2001 shooting death of Doyle Douglas, 41. The crime took place in Harrison County.
The indictment alleges Clinton Young committed Capital Murder two possible ways, by killing Douglas during the attempted commission of a robbery or by killing Douglas during an attempted kidnapping.
Paragraph A of the indictment reads:
“While in the course of committing and attempting to commit the Robbery of Doyle Douglas, intentionally cause the death of Doyle Douglas by shooting him with a deadly weapon, namely a firearm.”
Paragraph B of the indictment reads:
“While in the course of committing and attempting to commit the kidnapping of Doyle Douglas, intentionally cause the death of Doyle Douglas by shooting him with a deadly weapon, namely a firearm.”
If a jury finds Young guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of either paragraph, he will be convicted of Capital Murder.
Young was arrested on August 15, 2022, for a Harrison County Capital Murder warrant while in Vicksburg, MS., by the Vicksburg Police Department and Warren County Sheriff’s Office. He was then extradited to Harrison County and booked into jail.
According to court documents, Young, who was 18 at the time of the murders, and David Page, who was 20, went on a crime spree that involved killing two men and stealing their cars. Douglas was killed in Harrison County. Samuel Petrey, 52, was carjacked and kidnapped in Eastland, TX, and was later killed at an oilfield site in Midland County.
The 2003 trial was held in Midland County, with two former Harrison County District Attorneys participating, current County Court at Law Judge Joe Black and Attorney Rick Berry. Black and Berry presented part of the state’s case focused on the events in Harrison County, while the Midland County District Attorney presented the part of the state’s case focused on the events in Midland. According to the Texas Tribune, Page, who received a 30-year prison sentence following a plea deal, testified that Young shot Petrey, but Young maintains his innocence and says he was framed. The Texas Tribune reports Young says he was “sleeping off a methamphetamine high” during the murder. Young was sentenced to death for the crime.
More than 15 years later, in 2019, Midland County District Attorney Laura Nodolf made a significant discovery during a budgeting process. She found that a recently retired assistant prosecutor, Weldon Ralph Petty, had, for more than a decade, worked simultaneously for the Midland County District Attorney’s Office and as a clerk for several of the county’s Elected District Judges. One of those judges was the judge who presided over Young’s 2003 trial. According to the Texas Tribune, Petty wrote several of the prosecution’s motions regarding Young while working for the judge.
The conflict of interest by the Midland prosecutor led to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturning Young’s guilty verdict on September 21, 2021, and ordering a new trial. He was ordered back to the Midland County Jail to await a decision from prosecutors on whether they would pursue a new trial. The same day, Nodolf said she had recused herself from the case and said to avoid the “appearance of a conflict,” she would not participate in any other prosecution regarding Young. Petty gave up his license to practice law.
According to the Clinton Young Foundation, a foundation that advocates for the man’s innocence, Young was released from the Midland County Detention Center on January 21, 2022, after the foundation posted his bond. The foundation’s website says it crowdfunded 15% of the $150,000 cash bail.
The Texas Attorney General’s Office is prosecuting the case.
