Austin killings at yogurt shop return to court

Austin’s most notorious unsolved case — the horrific 1991 murders of four teenage girls in a strip mall yogurt shop — returns to court this week as one of four suspects presses to clear his name after spending almost nine years in prison for the crime.

Robert Springsteen, whose capital murder conviction was overturned in 2006, wants a court order declaring him innocent of the yogurt shop murders and therefore eligible for almost $720,000 from a state fund for wrongful convictions.

There is no other way, his lawyer said, for Springsteen to emerge from legal limbo on murder charges that, although formally dropped almost seven years ago, still hang over his head, tainting his reputation and limiting his career options.

Travis County prosecutors oppose the request, saying Springsteen is attempting an end run around state law and court procedures — and, not in- cidentally, encroaching on their power to retry him for the murders, should additional evidence be found.

On Wednesday, both sides will argue their cases before the Austin-based 3rd Court of Appeals, opening another chapter in a nightmare case that has defied resolution, vexing police and haunting the city.

It has been almost 25 years since a late-night fire at the I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt store on Anderson Lane in North Austin led to the discovery of four teens who were bound in their own clothing, sexually assaulted and shot to death.

Two 17-year-olds worked at the store: Jennifer Harbison and Eliza Thomas. Jennifer’s sister, Sarah Harbison, 15, and friend Amy Ayers, 13, had stayed late on Dec. 6, 1991, waiting for a ride home.