ADA Sam Robertson on Leslie Elaine Perez’s Extradition (1965)

Duration: 0:26

Year Published: 1965

Sound: sound

Description: In this unedited footage from Houston’s KPRC-TV, Harris County Assistant District Attorney Sam Robertson comments on the extradition of Leslie Elaine Perez (a transgender woman then known as Leslie Douglas Ashley). Perez was convicted in 1961 for the fatal shooting of Houston realtor Fred Tones and sentenced to execution. Perez's girlfriend, Carolyn Lima, was also convicted and sentenced to death. Both were granted new trials after the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the prosecution had suppressed evidence. Following their second trials, Lima was sentenced to five years in prison, and Perez was declared insane and sent to a state mental hospital in San Antonio. Perez escaped on October 6, 1964, spending more six months on the run before being discovered working as a clown for a traveling carnival. She was extradited to Texas, tried again for Tones’ murder, and sentenced to 15 years, serving five.