Ed Graf Jr to be released from prison six days after he admitted murdering his stepsons

Publish date: 2024-05-19

A Texas man is set to be released from prison just six days after he admitted to killing his two adopted stepsons in a fire in 1986.

Ed Graf Jr pleaded guilty to murdering Joby, eight, and Jason Graf, nine, by locking them in a shed and burning in the city of Hewitt more than 25 years ago during a retrial in Waco last week.

The 62-year-old took a plea deal that carries a 60-year sentence, but having been in custody for 28 years and because of the law at the time of the offense, he is already eligible for parole.

To be released: Ed Graf, 62, pleaded guilty to the murder of his two sons during his retrial in Waco, Texas, last week. However he will be released into a halfway house in Austin just six days after admitting to the crime

To be released: Ed Graf, 62, pleaded guilty to the murder of his two sons during his retrial in Waco, Texas, last week. However he will be released into a halfway house in Austin just six days after admitting to the crime

Victims: After more than 25 years, he finally admitted locking Joby, eight, (left) and Jason, nine, (right) in a shed and setting it on fire in Hewitt, Texas in 1986

According to Texas Department of Corrections officials he will be released and sent to a halfway house in Austin. He will be required to wear a GPS monitoring tag 24 hours a day and will be subject to the highest level of parole supervision.

After Graf's capital murder retrial in Waco last week, he was given credit for the time he served in prison and jail since April 1988.

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The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals said he was entitled to a new trial because the arson evidence used in his first trial has since been proved faulty.

Initially witnesses said that the pattern of the burns meant the fire could only have been started deliberately with an accelerant such as gasoline. But new specialist evidence said it could have been an accident.

Prosecutors at the new trial did not present any scientific evidence, but relied on witness testimony suggesting Graf had embezzled money from a bank and was acting suspiciously before and after his sons' deaths.  

Aftermath: This picture shows the scene of the fire that killed the two boys. Graf was granted a retrial because the arson evidence used initially was faulty

Aftermath: This picture shows the scene of the fire that killed the two boys. Graf was granted a retrial because the arson evidence used initially was faulty

Case: Graf is led away from judge's chambers in Hewitt by police detective Frank Latham following his arrest for the murder of the youngsters in 1987

Case: Graf is led away from judge's chambers in Hewitt by police detective Frank Latham following his arrest for the murder of the youngsters in 1987

Anger: Graf's ex-wife Claire Bradburn has long insisted he was guilty and believes he should spend the rest of his life in prison. However she admitted she found comfort in the fact he finally admitted to the murders 

Anger: Graf's ex-wife Claire Bradburn has long insisted he was guilty and believes he should spend the rest of his life in prison. However she admitted she found comfort in the fact he finally admitted to the murders 

Claims of innocence: Ed Graf  (pictured inside the Alfred Hughes State Prison in Gatesville, Texas, last year) has always insisted he didn't kill the boys and put the fire down to their love of matches 

Claims of innocence: Ed Graf  (pictured inside the Alfred Hughes State Prison in Gatesville, Texas, last year) has always insisted he didn't kill the boys and put the fire down to their love of matches 

Two months before the fire, according to court records, Graf had bought a $50,000 life insurance policy on each boy. Days after the deaths, Graf filed a claim for the insurance money. 

Graf's ex-wife, Clare Bradburn, had long insisted that she believed her ex-husband was guilty and still believes he should spend the rest of his life in jail.

During the hearing last Tuesday, she said she had waited 28 years for Graf to finally plead guilty, the Waco Tribune-Herald reported. 

She also told the paper he was being released because of a 'huge flaw in our justice system.'

However she said comfort in the fact that he finally admitted to killing her sons. 

Graf however repeatedly insisted he was innocent, suggesting he thought the boys may have set the fire by accident. Witnesses testified at both of his trial that Joby and Jason Graf liked to play with matches. 

The provision that mandates the release of a prisoner not under a life term once his credits for good behavior and time served equal the number of years of his term was changed in the 1990s. 

Orginal conviction: Graf is consoled by his counselor Don Youngblood after a jury sentenced him to life for murder in 1988

Orginal conviction: Graf is consoled by his counselor Don Youngblood after a jury sentenced him to life for murder in 1988

 

 

 

 

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