David Stoker

Hale County, TX

David Stoker

Nov 9, 1986 (Hale Center)

David Wayne Stoker was sentenced to death for the murder of David Mannrique (Manrique), a clerk at an Allsup's convenience store in Hale Center, Texas. Mannrique was shot three times and robbed of $96.81. No physical evidence placed Stoker at the store or established that he owned the gun that killed the victim. Five months after the crime, Carey Todd told police that Stoker had confessed to him and had given him the murder weapon, which Todd then gave them. At trial, Todd denied under oath that the prosecution gave him any incentives to testify against Stoker. However, Todd had felony drug and weapons charges against him dropped later that same day. He possibly faced being charged with Mannrique's murder had he not been willing to finger someone else. Ronnie and Debbie Thompson also testified that Stoker had confessed the murder to them.

Ronnie Thompson later recanted his testimony. Thompson said he had signed the statement written by his wife, Debbie Thompson, without reading it because she claimed Stoker had raped her, a claim he later found to be false. He claimed prosecutors threatened to try him for perjury if his trial testimony differed from his affidavit. During Stoker's trial, his wife left him to move in with Todd. Both she and Todd then each received half of a $1000 Crime Stoppers reward for naming Stoker. Police Chief Richard Cordell had testified there was no local Crime Stoppers, but later admitted he was one of the group's founders.

Prosecutors claimed that a shell casing found in Stoker's car linked him to the murder weapon. However, Stoker did not own the car until months after the murder. A federal appellate judge concluded that Todd was just as likely the murderer. It would appear, however, that Todd is more likely the murderer, as the only reliable evidence in the case is that Todd possessed the murder weapon and knew that it was used in the murder. Stoker was executed on June 16, 1997. (CPIT) (Atlantic) [8/08]