Case Overview
In November of 2012, Rickey Cummings was wrongfully convicted of Capital Murder and sentenced to death by lethal injection for the murders of Tyus Sneed and Keenan Hubert. Despite Rickey’s claim of innocence and no tangible evidence connecting him to the crime – NO weapons connected to the shooting, NO DNA/forensics tying Rickey to the crime scene, and NO witness of the crime – Rickey was found guilty.
From the onset, the State relied heavily on ‘circumstantial evidence’ throughout Rickey’s trial – neighborhood rumors that Rickey held Hubert responsible for the murder of his friend, Emuel Bowers that occurred in April 2010, and Rickey’s presence in the Lakewood Villas apartments (where his grandmother lived) before and after the crime.
During Rickey’s trial, which began in October 2012, in efforts to bolster their weak case, the District Attorneys presented evidence alleging that Rickey sent and deleted text messages that were interpreted as ‘admission of his guilt’ (which was known by the state at the time to have not belonged to him), testimony from two witnesses; Nickoll Henry, who claimed to have allegedly seen Rickey through a crack of her door immediately after the shootings with a gun in his hands, and Micha’el Atkins, who testified to have allegedly heard Rickey say he was going to shoot someone. The State also presented photos and a rap video that Rickey was not in, as proof of his alleged gang ties. While their entire case was circumstantial, their presentation and the fact that Rickey’s trial Attorneys (who allowed the DA’s unscrupulous words and tactics to go unimpeded) were ineffective was enough for the ALL white jury to convict Rickey and sentence him to be murdered by the State of Texas.
Since the trial, both “witnesses” have recanted their statements and admitted coercion from the District Attorney and/or Detective [Reference: Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus, page 49; Affidavit of Michae’l Atkins, Witness].
Since his conviction, Rickey and his legal defense team have not only completely dismantled the DA’s case against him with the use of several leading expert witnesses (Reference: Affidavit from Linguistic Expert, Robert A. Leonard, PhD; Affidavit from Gang Expert, Charles Rotramel; Affidavit from eye-witness expert, Roy S. Malpass PhD), but they have also proved that the DA’s “witness” testimonies were false (see Affidavit by Micha’el Atkins and Janet Gilger-VanderZanden) and discovered that then District Attorneys Abel Reyna, Greg Davis and Michael Jarrett knowingly used false testimony and evidence to convict Rickey. They also used ILLEGAL post-indictment hearings before the trial began to spy on the defense team, threaten potential defense witnesses and to keep material evidence hidden. All of which were a violation of Rickey’s constitutional rights. Rickey’s legal team has also discovered evidence of Alternative Suspects (see petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus, June, 2021 and Alternative Suspects Chart) that was completely ignored by then Lead Investigator, Steve January, and intentionally violated Rickey’s constitutional rights during his trial.
Despite having the evidence to prove his innocence and that the DA knowingly and intentionally violated Rickey’s constitutional rights during his trial, Rickey still remains on Texas Death Row.