to police for various reasons: Fear for their safety, of being somehow linked to the killing or of their parents finding out where they were that night. Janet Napp, lawyer for Raymond Highers, said in court that the new witnesses were "just kids" at the time who hadn't yet developed "a moral compass.
original trial established that the brothers, admitted drug users from the neighborhood, were desperate enough to rob and kill Karey, Quiroz said. She also pointed to one witness who identified Raymond Highers fleeing from the house with what looked like a shotgun, accompanied by another white man.