Charges dismissed against man in 2006 killing

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) - A man who was jailed 14 months ago in the 2006 killing of his fiance was freed Friday after the Williamson County District Attorney's Office acknowledged that the discovery of additional evidence casts doubt about whether he had committed the crime.

The DA's office filed a motion to dismiss the case against Patric Obrien Fairs in the Jan. 30, 2006, strangulation death of Philise Lateria Estes. Her body was found by Fairs, who alerted authorities to the killing.

Fairs later moved to California, where he was arrested in October 2011 after authorities said they had found new evidence in the case. Fairs was indicted in the killing and has been in jail since with bail set at $1 million.

His lawyer, Jeremiah D. Williams, said he and other lawyers were able to discover "multiple items of evidence, including DNA and fingerprints" that had not undergone the required forensic testing.

"These discoveries were made after Mr. Fairs had been arrested, indicted, and jailed, and some six years after the death of Ms. Estes," Williams said. “This dismissal is a direct result of an open file policy between the state and the defense attorney.

“After multiple defense requests, the DA’s office allowed a full release of its file - some 4,500 pages of documents, 25 DVDs, reports, and photographs."

Fairs, a basketball star for the University of Texas Longhorns in the 1980s, was living with Estes at the time of her death. Estes, a mother of two, was a UT security guard.

Williams said Fairs, who runs a basketball camp in California, planned to return home later on Friday.