Perry Allen Austin

Case identification

Perry Allen Austin

TDCJ Number: 999410 Date of birth: 06/23/1959 Sex: male Race: white Hair color: white Eye color: brown Height: 5 ft 9 in Weight: 163 Native county/state: Harris, Texas Prior occupation: laborer

Legal status

Austin was sentenced to death after pleading guilty to the murder of David Karim Kazmouz.

Timeline

• 8/19/1992 — David Karim Kazmouz disappeared after leaving his neighbor’s yard in the direction of his home in the 6400 block of Leader. Austin went to the Harris County home of the victim (a 9 year old white male), looking for the victim's older brother, and the victim got in the car with Austin and left.
• 7/24/1991 — Austin was released on mandatory supervision.
• 4/23/1993 — The skeletal remains of the victim were found on 4/23/1993 in a landfill located in Harris County.
• 4/24/1993 — David’s skeletal remains were found on April 24, 1993, in a wooded area about six miles from his home.
• 1995 — An additional 20 years were added to Austin’s sentence for stabbing an inmate.
• January 2001 — A police officer received a letter from Austin requesting that the investigator come visit him regarding the David Kazmouz case; Austin gave a recorded confession in David’s abduction and murder at the Hughes Prison Unit in Gatesville, TX; he said he wanted to receive the death penalty.
• 04/25/2002 — Austin was sentenced to death after pleading guilty to the murder of David Karim Kazmouz.
• 06/23/1959 — Austin was born.
• 06/07/1979 — Austin received prison record #292744 on 6/7/1979 on a 30 year sentence from Dallas County.

The offence

David Karim Kazmouz disappeared after leaving his neighbor’s yard in the direction of his home in the 6400 block of Leader on August 19, 1992. Austin went to the Harris County home of David (a 9 year old white male), looking for David's older brother, and David got in the car with Austin and left, presumably to look for the older brother.

Austin pleaded guilty to the murder of David Karim Kazmouz and was sentenced to death.

During the investigation and later statements, authorities said the case involved Austin abducting David and killing him. The cause of death could not be determined when skeletal remains were found, but it was ruled a homicide because the leg bones were tied together.

Austin’s recorded confession included that he picked up Kazmouz near his home, injected him with Demerol, and slit his throat.

Victims

David Karim Kazmouz

• Role: victim
• Description: 9 year old white male
• Disappearance: August 19, 1992, after leaving his neighbor’s yard in the direction of his home in the 6400 block of Leader
• Remains: skeletal remains were found on 4/23/1993 in a landfill located in Harris County, and were also described as found on April 24, 1993 in a wooded area about six miles from his home

Fay Kazmouz

• Role: mother of David Karim Kazmouz
• Testimony: her family had been guilt-ridden since the child's abduction; she blamed herself for having been at work while her son was being watched by her second son, Michael

Michael Kazmouz

• Role: second son of Fay Kazmouz
• Age at the time: 13
• Statement: Michael blamed himself because he was watching David that day while Fay was at work

Karrem Kazmouz

• Role: David’s older brother (referred to as teen-age / 16-year-old brother)
• Age at the time: 16
• Relationship to Austin: Austin had befriended Karrem
• Role in theory presented at trial: prosecutors said when some drugs came up missing Austin thought Karrem had stolen from him, and that Austin then abducted David

Investigation

Houston police and the FBI conducted an extensive investigation.

Several concerned citizens assisted in searches for the boy with out r esult. An intensive search and nationwide billboard campaign turned up nothing for eight months.

Early in the investigation, authorities discovered Austin was having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl.

Austin was questioned during the investigation and made several incriminating statements. He admitted he had David in his car the day the boy disappeared and claimed he dropped David off at a convenience store nearby.

In January 2001, a police officer received a letter from Austin requesting that the investigator come visit him in regards to the David Kazmouz case. The officer met with Austin at the Hughes Prison Unit in Gatesville, TX, where Austin was serving a 30-year sentence for the sexual assault of a child. At that meeting, Austin gave a recorded confession in David’s abduction and murder, and he said he wanted to receive the death penalty.

Prior criminal history

Austin had a prior prison record: #292744, received on 6/7/1979 on a 30 year sentence from Dallas County for 2 counts of aggravated rape, 1 count of attempted aggravated rape, and 1 count of aggravated robbery. He was released on mandatory supervision on 7/24/1991.

Prosecutors described victims of the prior convictions as his sisters and mother, and stated the 1978 rape and robbery convictions had him on parole for about a year when he befriended the Kazmouz brothers in 1992.

Austin was later charged in Houston with aggravated sexual assault of a child, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced. He was serving a 30-year sentence for sexual assault of a child.

In 1995, Austin was given an additional 20 years for stabbing an inmate.

The material also described Austin as having a lengthy disciplinary prison record that included assaulting guards.

Arrest / custody

Austin was questioned during the investigation. He was also serving a 30-year sentence for sexual assault of a child at the time of the January 2001 meeting where he provided a recorded confession at the Hughes Prison Unit in Gatesville, TX.

Trial

Austin represented himself in the punishment phase of the trial. He did not testify, but during closing statements he told the jury the evidence that prosecutors Luci Davidson and Renee Magee presented against him was correct.

Austin told the panel: "Pretty much everything they said about me is true,"
Austin told the panel: "I'm violent, mean . . . Sometimes I have no conscience . . . I've been like this all my life. I'm not about to change."

Prosecutorial argument

Prosecutors told a Houston jury that Austin was trying to punish the child's older brother.

Prosecutor Lucy Davidson told jurors Austin was a drug courier for a Houston street gang in August 1992 when he befriended David Kazmouz's 16-year-old brother, Karrem.

David Kazmouz was abducted a short time later.

Davidson said Austin had been on parole about a year from the 1978 rape, attempted rape, and aggravated robbery convictions in Dallas. She said the victims were his sisters and mother. She stated that in Houston Austin was a drug courier for a street gang when he befriended Karrem Kazmouz, and that when drugs came up missing Austin thought Karrem had stolen from him.

David Kazmouz was abducted from his Sharpstown neighborhood on Aug. 19, 1992. Davidson said the skeletal remains were found in April 1993 in a wooded area about six miles from his home and that the cause of death could not be determined, but it was ruled a homicide because the leg bones were tied together.

Davidson said Austin picked up Kazmouz near his home, injected him with Demerol, and slit his throat.

Davidson described Austin’s criminal behavior after being released into society. Davidson told the jury:

Davidson said: "That is what he has done in the three years we have let him out in this society,"
Davidson said: "We certainly can't trust him ever again in the free society. But we can't trust him in the prison system."

Davidson also told the jury:

"Society can no longer handle him. We are through," Davidson said.
"Because Karrem took from him, he was going to take from Karrem. He took his little brother," Davidson told the jury.

Jury questions in punishment phase

The jury was asked to answer two special issue questions. The first was whether Austin was a future danger. If the jury unanimously agreed he was, the jury could then move to the second question regarding mitigating circumstances.

Austin told the jurors that if they sent him back to prison he would commit more acts of violence. He then said there were no mitigating factors, "no reason for killing him (Kazmouz)."

Austin’s closing statements on mitigating factors

Austin told the jurors there were no mitigating factors, and he said there was "no reason for killing him (Kazmouz)."

Sentencing

Austin was sentenced to death after pleading guilty to the murder of David Karim Kazmouz on April 25, 2002.

Appeals

No appeal information was included in the provided material.

Outcome

The outcome was a death sentence.

Aftermath

Prosecutors and testimony described the victim’s family as having been guilt-ridden since David’s abduction.

Fay Kazmouz testified early in the investigation and said:

Fay Kazmouz testified: "I looked him (Austin) straight in the face and asked him if he knew where my son was. He looked me straight in the face and said, No."

Other details

• Co-defendants: none.
• The material described Austin as befriending David’s teen-age brother, and also said Austin had been questioned and had made several incriminating statements.
• It described the prior aggravated sexual assault case as involving a 14-year-old girl, and that Austin pleaded guilty and was sentenced.
• It stated Austin was always considered a suspect in Kazmouz's death, and that investigators did not receive his confession until January 2001.