HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A paperwork glitch delayed the anticipated Monday release from prison of a man who admitted to killing his two stepsons in 1986.
Attorneys for Edward E. Graf Jr., 62, and some of his relatives had waited all day outside the Walls Unit prison in Huntsville in anticipation of his release.
However, Graf’s attorneys said late in the day that prison officials hadn’t received documents from the parole board that would have allowed Graf’s release. They say they’re now uncertain when he might get out.
The delay was “extremely frustrating and very disappointing,” said Walter Reeves, one of Graf’s attorneys. However, Michelle Tuegel, another of Graf’s attorneys, said the release is “a good thing,” even if it comes in two weeks. “We can all hang in there,” she said.
Graf pleaded guilty last week in Waco to two murder counts as jurors deliberated in a retrial. An appeals court had overturned his original conviction. The plea deal carried a 60-year sentence but counted his 28 years already served. The combination of “good time” made him immediately eligible to apply for parole.
Texas’ highest criminal court had granted Graf a new trial after a panel of fire experts concluded that arson investigators who testified against him at his first trial were wrong.
Graf’s parole under the Super Intensive Supervision Program is to last for 32 years, until he turns 95.
Clare Bradburn, the mother of the boys killed in the fire — Jason Graf, 8, and Joby Graf, 9 — wanted her ex-husband to remain in prison for the rest of his life. But she said she finds comfort in the fact that he admitted he killed her sons and that he will be under the highest level of supervision by parole officials.
Graf must wear an ankle monitor with GPS capabilities, will have a strict curfew and must fill out a detailed weekly schedule.
District Attorney Abel Reyna said wherever Graf goes, he will “wear the badge of a child killer.”
