Alvin Andrew Kelly

Between 1984 and his arrest on March 31, 1990, Kelly was imprisoned several times for minor crimes. Upon his latest release, he adopted the alias of "Doyle Gilbreath" and moved to Durant, Oklahoma. A break in the case came in when a local reported finding a rusted handgun which, upon examination, was determined to have been purchased by Ford only weeks before his death.[10] Utilising this tip, authorities conducted further investigation and finally charged Kelly with the murder.[11] He later pleaded guilty and was given a 35-year prison sentence, to be served concurrently with a separate 25-year prison sentence for sexual assault, concerning Kelly sexually abusing two teenage inmates while awaiting trial at the Gregg County Jail.[10]

Five months after conviction for the Ford murder, investigators were contacted by Cynthia, who had been divorced and had moved away from Kelly by then. She claimed that she was willing to testify against her ex-husband in the murders of the Morgan family, claiming that she and Wilson had been present at the crime scene and had acted as accomplices.[12] Due to these revelations, Kelly was charged with the murders, soon followed by the arrest and charging of Wilson as well, who had also been sought for stealing a car.[13] Upon announcing the arrests, the Gregg County District Attorney, David Brabham, announced that he would seek the death penalty against both men.[14] For a short time, it was believed that the killings might be related to the then-unsolved Kentucky Fried Chicken murders in Kilgore, which was later found to be unrelated.[15]

Before the start of the trial, one of Kelly's court-appointed attorneys, Harry Heard, filed a 24-page motion to Justice Alvin Khoury, requesting that the county establish a trust fund so they can pay the trial expenses for him and the other attorney, Elizabeth Ann Fulton.[16] At the pre-trial hearings, Kelly and Wilson maintained their innocence, while their respective attorneys requested that they be granted written statements from Cynthia, which was denied by prosecutors, who maintained that she would act solely as a witness.[17] When this request was denied, Heard filed a motion to have her testimony suppressed on the grounds of confidential privilege between spouses.[18] When this did not work out either, Heard filed yet another motion to delay the trial, claiming that he wanted to locate a witness, known only as "Turtle", who he claimed could disprove Cynthia's claims, but this was, again, denied.[19] The jury was officially sequestered on in early September 1991.[20]

Throughout the trial, witness testimony implicating Kelly in the killings was provided by his ex-wife, his brother, and his ex-wife's sister. The latter reiterated that she was present at the crime scene. In contrast, the latter said he openly implicated himself in the murders. On the defense's side, Heard made Cynthia admit that she had lied when providing her original written statements. While making her oral testimonies, reasoning that she did not want to be implicated any further.[4] He attempted to use this admission to invalidate her testimony by claiming she had provided facts published only in the media, but District Prosecutor Brabham pointed that some of the details she had provided had been known only to police, coupled with the fact that she had refused to cooperate out of fear for nearly seven years.[21]

In the end, after deliberating for 73 minutes, the jury found Kelly guilty on all charges in relation to the murder of Devin Morgan, an outcome that the Morgans' family members openly welcomed. Kelly himself expressed no emotion upon hearing the verdict.[22] Later that same day, after only half an hour of deliberation, he was sentenced to death.[23]

For the duration of his stay on death row, Kelly maintained that he was innocent and repeatedly filed appeals to the state courts, all of which upheld his convictions.[24] He eventually exhausted all of his appeals and was scheduled for execution on October 14, 2008.[1]

On the day of his execution, Kelly made a lengthy final statement in which he claimed that he had embraced Christianity and wanted to apologize to the family members of both the Morgans and Ford, admitting his guilt in the latter's murder but continuing to claim that he had nothing to do with the former.[1] He was executed via lethal injection at the Huntsville Unit, spending his last moments singing a religious song dedicated to Jesus Christ.[1] He is buried at Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery.

• Capital punishment in Texas
• List of people executed by lethal injection
• List of people executed in Texas, 2000–2009
• List of people executed in the United States in 2008
• List of serial killers in the United States