Michael Roy Toney (December 29, 1965 – October 3, 2009) was charged and wrongfully convicted in 1999 for a bombing that killed three people and injured two others in Lake Worth, Texas, in 1985.
On December 17, 2008, Toney's conviction was vacated by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals because of prosecutorial misconduct.
Toney grew up in Cottonwood, California, a small town in Shasta County about 90 miles (140 km) north of Sacramento.
When Toney was 9 or 10 years old, one of her boyfriends strapped him to a chair, duct-taped his wrists down and set fire to his hands.
He quit school before the 10th grade and left for Texas, settling down in Hurst-Euless, in the Bedford area of Tarrant County.
Joe Blount drove Robert, Angela and Michael to a convenience store about half a mile away from the park where they bought snacks and beer.
Here he was talking to Charles "Jack" Ferris in Parker County Jail in Weatherford, Texas.
Ferris was then released from jail by telling the Parker County authorities that Toney had confessed to him.
[3] Months passed, and Ferris changed his story about Toney's alleged confession to the crime.
His ex-wife said that she, Toney and his best friend Chris Meeks went to a propane shop that was adjacent to the Hilltop Mobile Home Park.
Blankenship also said that the murders were part of a drug-related hit, but the bomb was put on the wrong doorstep.
[3] The Tarrant County District Attorney's Office had withheld 14 pieces of evidence that were key to his defense.