5. E. Ray the D.A.

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Unforgotten – S1E5: "E. Ray the D.A." (July 29, 2024)

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Episode Overview

This episode delves into the complex and controversial figure of E. Ray Andrews, the former head prosecutor (District Attorney) of Henderson County, Texas. Andrews played a pivotal role in the murder indictment of Jerry Mack Watkins, husband of the slain Shelly Salter Watkins—the centerpiece case of Season 1, The Labor Day Ghost. The hosts—Carol Dawson, Wes Ferguson, and their colleagues—explore Andrews’ checkered history, his volatile career trajectory, personal vices, and his influence on the Watkins case. Through direct interviews, anecdotes, and narration, the episode paints a nuanced picture of the flawed prosecutor whose actions—both professional and personal—left a lasting impact on the justice system and the community.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Meeting E. Ray Andrews (00:04-03:27)

• First Visit: The hosts track down 83-year-old E. Ray Andrews in an East Texas nursing home, initially finding him frail and reluctant to talk.
• Personal Connect: Carol’s father was once E. Ray’s law professor, laying a foundation for rapport.
• Getting E. Ray to Talk: The team negotiates with E. Ray to discuss the Watkins case, agreeing to return after the holidays.

Quote:
“We want to see what E. Ray remembers about the case against Jerry Mack. Because E. Ray should know better than anyone why that case flew right off the rails.” – Wes Ferguson (00:22)

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2. The Persona and Reputation of E. Ray Andrews (05:02-09:41)

• Community Fixture: E. Ray, though not originally from Athens, Texas, became a dominant figure, known for his folksy demeanor and polarizing presence.
• Complex Character: Described as both brilliant and embarrassing, E. Ray had advocates and detractors but was universally recognized as a formidable trial lawyer.
• Personal Bonds: Christy Warrick recalls E. Ray’s deep ties to her family, revealing his financial struggles and frequent borrowing habits.

Quote:
“He was a really good lawyer... always had some sort of little smart ass comment to say, but in a way that typically it didn’t offend people... There were people that did not like E. Ray at all.” – Mike Head (05:48)

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3. The Black Widow Case and Ethical Quandaries (09:41-12:08)

• Betty Lou Beets Fiasco: E. Ray represented a notorious client, Betty Lou Beets, in a capital murder case, entangling himself in a business arrangement over media rights and neglecting proper legal ethics by failing to withdraw as counsel (even as he could have been a key witness).
• Impact: Though his actions nearly led to Beets’ conviction being overturned, her execution went forward after appeals.

Quote:
“So it was E. Ray who told Ms. Beets how to benefit from her husband’s death after she had already killed him. That fact would have made Andrews a life-saving witness for Beets. But to be a witness, he would have had to withdraw as her defense lawyer and give up his fee.” – Host/Narrator (10:03)

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4. Rise to District Attorney Amid Scandal (12:08-13:54)

• Political Success: Despite controversy, E. Ray wins the District Attorney seat in Henderson County.
• Staff Perspectives: Mike Head, a young assistant DA, explains how E. Ray delegated significant courtroom responsibility, initially providing valuable on-the-job experience before succumbing again to his vices.

Quote:
“He was a really good person to learn from. And things ran smoothly for probably about a year over there... And then things kind of went off track when he really started drinking again.” – Mike Head (12:56)

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5. The Watkins Case: Ambition, Alcohol, and Chaos (13:54-16:03)

• Pushing for Indictment: Despite law enforcement caution, E. Ray aggressively pursued prosecuting Jerry Mack Watkins for Shelly’s murder, seeking public glory.
• Professional Decline: E. Ray’s increasing dependence on alcohol led to erratic behavior, absenteeism, and lost professionalism.

Quote:
“Now, everybody kind of assumed at the time, in hindsight... E. Ray loved to see his name in the paper and just enjoyed the media attention.” – Mike Head (14:46)

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6. Public Scandal, Wild Turkey, and Office Dysfunction (16:03-19:34)

• Personal Crisis: E. Ray’s substance abuse was evident to those working with him; he staged appearances of diligence while frequently absent, relying on subordinates to cover for him.

Memorable Moment:
Mike describes driving E. Ray’s red Jeep to the courthouse each morning so it looked like the DA was at work, while E. Ray stayed home to recover from hangovers.

Quote:
“With his new red Jeep parked outside the courthouse, it looked to the rest of the world like E. Ray was hard at work, even though he was back home sleeping off another hangover.” – Host/Narrator (19:00)

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7. Office Dynamics: The Hiring of Donna Little (20:10-22:46)

• Strategic (or Self-Destructive) Hire: E. Ray hires experienced attorney Donna Little—well-connected with his office rivals—ostensibly to fill the gap during his absences, but this makes him vulnerable to internal scrutiny.
• Tensions: Staff voice concerns, sensing E. Ray is undermining his own leadership.
• Donna's Role: Ultimately, Donna is handed the Watkins case, thrust into the spotlight as E. Ray was investigated.

Quote:
“Really, what he needed to do was not hire someone else and come to work.” – Mike Head (20:41)

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8. Crime and Corruption Come to a Head (24:37-27:17)

• Financial Manipulation: E. Ray’s personal debts spiral. He arranges loans from the local bank in exchange for favors, and is caught taking cash to influence cases plus misappropriating state funds ($27,000 from a discretionary fund).
• Official Scrutiny: These actions attract county and then state investigators—just as the Watkins trial approaches.

Quote:
“Reading between the lines, I wouldn’t be surprised if Larry is the one who tips off the state authorities. At this point, investigators from the Texas Attorney General’s office show up in Athens digging into E. Ray’s web of misdeeds.” – Wes Ferguson (26:00)

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9. E. Ray's Own Words on Watkins Case Motivation (29:18-30:11)

• Confessional Moment: In a post-holiday visit, Carol confronts E. Ray directly about why he pushed so hard on the Watkins prosecution.
• His Explanation: E. Ray frames his approach as an attempt to get a “rich man, poor man conviction”—a statement suggesting both personal pride and a possible vendetta against the privileged.

Quote:
“He had a lot of things going against him. I figured I could at least get a rich man, poor man conviction.” – E. Ray Andrews (29:18)

• E. Ray admits to Carol’s query that he indeed felt “set up” during all of this.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• The Black Widow Fiasco:
  “He said the case was going to turn into a big movie and he had all the rights to it.”
  — Mike Head, relating bar talk about E. Ray (11:19)

• Office Disguise:
  “It looked to the rest of the world like E. Ray was hard at work, even though he was back home sleeping off another hangover.”
  — Host/Narrator (19:00)

• On Corruption:
  “We know that you paid E. Ray money. … And we know you cashed checks when E. Ray would get money from the state to give for salaries to his employees… to make up their salary.”
  — Jeff Milslagel, retired lawman (27:43)

• Self-Reflective E. Ray:
  “Of course, I claim that I was doing it to get their money. I didn’t want their money.”
  — E. Ray Andrews (29:53)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:04-03:27: First visit to nursing home, initial negotiation with E. Ray
• 09:41-12:08: Betty Lou Beets ("Black Widow") scandal
• 12:36-13:54: Mike Head on working for E. Ray
• 16:03-19:34: Substance abuse and office cover-ups
• 20:10-22:46: Hiring Donna Little, office politics
• 24:37-27:17: Corruption, loans, and the unraveling investigation
• 29:18-30:11: E. Ray on the Watkins prosecution, revealing his motives

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Episode Tone

The tone is investigative yet conversational—often poignant, at times darkly humorous. The hosts balance compassion for E. Ray’s frailties with a clear-eyed critique of his ethical failings, grounding the episode in the small-town dynamics and personal histories that both complicate and enrich the pursuit of justice.

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Conclusion

“E. Ray the D.A.” takes listeners deep into the flawed world of small-town politics, where ambition, addiction, and moral ambiguities collide. Through interviews and storytelling, the podcast exposes how one man’s personal battles and public failings shaped the course of a notorious East Texas murder case—and left a lasting shadow over the pursuit of justice.

Transcript

[Wes Ferguson]

That's him. So we've just crashed a nursing home in East Texas. In the lobby, we see an old man in a wheelchair. He's got on a Baylor University sweatshirt.

[Carol Dawson]

Excuse me, Baylor Bear. Are you E. Ray Andrews?

[E. Ray Andrews]

Yes, correct.

[Christy Warrick]

I am.

[Carol Dawson]

Glad to meet you. I wanted to talk to you for a long time.

[Wes Ferguson]

We've found E. Ray Andrews, the former head prosecutor of Henderson County. The same prosecutor who brought an indictment against Jerry Mack Watkins for the death of Jerry Mack's wife, Shelly. I won't lie. I feel a little conflicted right now. E. Ray is an old man. 83 years old, to be exact. And he looks pretty infirm. It's right before Christmas. But we're not here to pay him a social visit. We want to see what E. Ray remembers about the case against Jerry Mack. Because E. Ray should know better than anyone that why that case flew right off the rails. Carol starts with small talk. Her dad was actually E. Ray's law professor at Baylor.

[E. Ray Andrews]

He was a good professor.

[Carol Dawson]

Oh, that's good to hear.

[E. Ray Andrews]

He was a good lawyer.

[Wes Ferguson]

Carol quickly pivots to the Watkins case.

[Carol Dawson]

I know what happened in that whole situation.

[Christy Warrick]

I wondered if you would be willing.

[Carol Dawson]

To talk to us about it.

[E. Ray Andrews]

I'll start when you want to talk.

[Carol Dawson]

Would you be available to talk right now?

[E. Ray Andrews]

No.

[Carol Dawson]

When would be a good time for you?

[E. Ray Andrews]

It'd be a couple weeks before I could.

[Carol Dawson]

Well, if I come back in a couple of weeks, would you talk to me about it then?

[E. Ray Andrews]

Yes, ma'.

[Mike Head]

Am.

[Carol Dawson]

Thank you. We got a deal?

[E. Ray Andrews]

Got a deal.

[Carol Dawson]

Oh, I wanted to ask you, by the way, did you know Carolyn Taylor over in Corsicana? You know, she had that long running poker game?

[Wes Ferguson]

This was no idle question. It'll make more sense later.

[E. Ray Andrews]

Oh, yeah, I knew girl.

[Carol Dawson]

You knew her? She lived right across the street from the Watkins. From Jerry Mac Watkins.

[Mike Head]

Yes.

[E. Ray Andrews]

Yeah, I knew Carol. She had a dice game and a poker game.

[Carol Dawson]

Oh, dice, too. I only knew about the poker.

[E. Ray Andrews]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I bet football games with her.

[Carol Dawson]

You bet football games with her?

[E. Ray Andrews]

Yeah. Hugh? Not many. Well, come back and see me. I'll try to be able to help you out.

[Carol Dawson]

Thank you very much.

[Narrator/Host]

All right.

[Carol Dawson]

See you after Christmas. Have a good holiday.

[E. Ray Andrews]

Okay? You do, sir?

[Wes Ferguson]

We take our leave. This was actually my second time to visit E. Ray. During my first visit a couple weeks earlier, he'd been pretty gruff.

[E. Ray Andrews]

I'm not too much for that bug list issue.

[Wes Ferguson]

I understand. I thought he was about to kick me to the curb and say, don't come back to my surprise. He told me to try him again in two weeks. So I did, this time with Carol. And Carol was able to get him to open up a lot more than I had. But then he put us off just the same, come back in another two weeks, like he was buying himself just a little more time. Well, nice work if you can get it. I don't know what's going to be different in two weeks, but I guarantee.

[Narrator/Host]

You, not a thing.

[Wes Ferguson]

But we were wrong.

[Narrator/Host]

My name is Carol Dawson.

[Wes Ferguson]

And I'm Wes Ferguson. You're listening to the unforgotten. Season one, the Labor Day Ghost.

[Narrator/Host]

Chapter five E. Ray the D.A.

[Wes Ferguson]

As you know by now, Shelly Watkins lived and probably died in Corsicana in Navara County, Texas. But all the legal wrangling over her case is happening one county over in the town of Athens. Before we dig into this story, there's just one bit of trivia about this place you might want to know.

[Christy Warrick]

In the 1880s, in Athens, Texas, a.

[Narrator/Host]

Man by the name of Fletcher, Old.

[Carol Dawson]

Dave Davis, claims to have made the.

[Christy Warrick]

First hamburger with a piece of ground beef between two pieces of bread, some.

[Carol Dawson]

Mustard and a Bermuda onion.

[Wes Ferguson]

That was from a random video on Facebook from a woman called the Naked Rancher. Don't worry, the Naked Rancher is fully clothed. But yes, Athens calls itself the birthplace of the hamburger, thanks to Old Dave's lunch counter on the courthouse square. It's been well over a century and no one's proven the town wrong yet.

[Christy Warrick]

That is a rather fun fact for Athens, Texas to claim.

[Mike Head]

Good on them.

[Wes Ferguson]

Athens also calls itself the Black Eyed pea capital of the world, so it's a full meal. Mike Head was just nine years old when his family moved to the small East Texas town.

[Mike Head]

Well, I mean, it's a beautiful area, but the people are very friendly. It's a very nice, nice place, but kind of a typical East Texas town. There are families with very deep roots here, and you're kind of not from Athens until you've had two or three generations here. Even for us, we've been here 50 years, but we're not technically considered from Athens.

[Wes Ferguson]

Technically, E. Ray wasn't from Athens either. He grew up 10 miles down the road in the smaller town of Malakoff. But E. Ray always made his presence felt in Athens. The local newspaper once described Irey as sometimes brilliant, sometimes embarrassing. Mike saw both sides in his heyday.

[Mike Head]

I guess he was tall, slender, dressed kind of. I don't want to say shabbily, but just kind of didn't put a whole lot of stock in his appearance, but was very kind of congenial guy that knew everyone, shook hands with everyone always had some sort of little smart ass comment to say, but in a way that typically it didn't offend people unless they were just offended by him in general, which there were people that did not like E. Ray at all. But people knew that he wasn't scared to fight for him and had an excellent reputation as a defense lawyer, as being a fighter and a trial lawyer.

[Narrator/Host]

There were other people in Athens who had known E. Ray Andrews for a lot longer than Mike Head had. Christy Warrick, the sheriff's 911 operator who first took the call about Shelly Watkins body discovered floating in the Trinity river, recalls Andrews from all the way back into her childhood.

[Christy Warrick]

I know Eray Andrews through my daddy. They were drinking buddies. Yeah, so there. I've known E. Ray since I was, I mean, small and you know, my dad, God rest his soul, you know, drank a lot of beer and him and he. Ray were good buddies, probably because he very helped him out of a few bonds during his drinking days. He was a nice man, but no, I mean, I was a child. I probably didn't know. There are some things I could say, but I probably wouldn't. Oh, come on, person, you know, I mean, I just. I don't know. I just not sure he was always up to par with what he should be doing. My dad was a very giving man, especially when he got intoxicated. Him and my uncles were all mason bricklayers here in town. He made good money and he didn't have any bills. And people knew that that was his love language. I guess Somebody needed 20 here, you need 100 here. So his billfold became open to everybody. They asked for something, and E. Ray has been one of them. And I always just kept track of. You asked for dad's money and when do you get paid? Friday. Okay. Knowing they'd be there on Friday night. Do you have to ask? 20, 50. And they knew I was gonna ask, and I did that for years.

[Wes Ferguson]

And E. Ray too. You had to go ask.

[Christy Warrick]

I have gotten money back from E. Ray. Yes. Yes, I have.

[Wes Ferguson]

Well, he had a lot of money problems.

[Christy Warrick]

Might have just needed it. May have spent it all at the bar. I don't know.

[Narrator/Host]

By then, E. Ray had already made quite a name for himself, and not always a positive one. One of the cases in Athens that plunged Irae Andrews into hot water was a certain contract he'd asked a client to sign that might not have seemed like such a big deal after all the client was just a deaf, middle aged widow lady living a quiet life on Cedar Creek Reservoir near Athens. The same lake where the Watkins family had their lake house. But the lady in question happened to be Betty Lou Beets, also known as the Black Widow. Beets was already famous for marrying six times, two of them to the same husband, once before and once after shooting him in the back. Her third husband she tried to run over with a car. He escaped, but then she succeeded in murdering her next two spouses.

[Wes Ferguson]

Betty Lou Beets was convicted in 1985 of murdering her fifth husband, Dallas firefighter Jimmy Don Beets, for money, life insurance and a pension. He was shot in the back of the head and buried in a flower garden 30ft from their front door. The authorities also recovered another body underneath this shed on Beets property. Betty's fourth husband, Doyle Wayne Barker.

[Narrator/Host]

During her murder trial, Prosecutors alleged that Ms. Beets killed her fifth husband so she could receive the benefits from his pension and life insurance. If the state could prove that she could face the death penalty. But E. Ray happened to know that she didn't kill him for money. According to the Washington Post, E. Ray had met the Black Widow several months before her arrest when she called him to get some legal help after her trailer home was damaged in a fire. Ms. Beets mentioned that her husband had been missing for over a year. E. Ray knew her husband was a retired firefighter. When he asked if Ms. Beets was entitled to his life insurance and pension, she had no idea. So it was eray who told Ms. Beets how to benefit from her husband's death after she had already killed him. That fact would have made Andrews a life saving witness for Beets. But to be a witness, he would have had to withdraw as her defense lawyer and give up his fee. And it wasn't any usual kind of fee. His price for representing the Black Widow was her signature on a contract that surrendered all her media rights to E. Ray's son.

[Mike Head]

Well, he said the case was going to turn into a big movie and he had all the rights to it. It was something he talked about pretty often.

[Narrator/Host]

This is an actor reading a quote from Bob Miller, the commander of the VFW bar where Andrews consumed two or three Wild Turkey doubles every day during lunch.

[Mike Head]

He said how he was going to get rich on all this.

[Narrator/Host]

So instead of testifying, Andrews kept his client. A conflict of interest in ethics that prompted a U.S. district Court judge to throw out Beets conviction in 1991. But a federal appeals court reinstated it. And after several fruitless appeals. The so called Black widow was executed on February 24, 2000, only the second.

[Carol Dawson]

Woman to be executed in this state in the last 100 years.

[Wes Ferguson]

The black Widow fiasco didn't seem to hurt E. Ray's popularity with his clients or with local voters. In 1992, he plastered E. Ray for DA signs around Henderson county and managed to defeat two other candidates, including the incumbent for the DA's position. At the time, Mike Head was just two years out of law school. He was working for his dad, Fred Head, a former state legislator who ran a thriving civil law practice in Athens.

[Mike Head]

I enjoyed working with him, but not the work itself. I just thought that was extremely tedious and boring After I'd been doing it for a year or two. I honestly kind of wondered if I'd made a mistake.

[Wes Ferguson]

When E. Ray offered to hire Mike as an assistant district attorney, Mike jumped at the chance to inject a little excitement into his career.

[Mike Head]

And I'd probably been in the courtroom half a dozen times and, you know, I knew E. Ray's reputation. And the first day I got over there, it was a Monday morning and I get to the office at 8 o' clock and he hands me a list of felony cases that were on the docket for trial. It's like, well, what do you want me to do? And he goes, you can handle it. Just go down there and do it. Which was actually great experience for me. He was a really good person to learn from. And things ran smoothly for probably about a year over there. He had quit drinking and was present in the office. And then things kind of went off track when he really started drinking again.

[Narrator/Host]

By the time E. Ray Andrews grabbed the Watkins case, it was getting the kind of publicity he loved. It was reported statewide, covered in newspapers all the way into far west Texas. And E. Ray Andrews was the main thrust behind his prosecution. Witness testimonies had solidified the grand jury indictment of Jerry Mack Watkins and the death of his wife Shelley. And although both Texas Ranger Ray Nutt and chief homicide detective Larry Warrick candidly expressed the wish not to be so hasty in pushing for an indictment, at least until they could find actual physical evidence directly and indisputably tying Jerry Mack Watkins to his wife's murder, DA Eray Andrews ignored their wish. Instead, he aggressively urged the proceedings toward a decision. In other words, he was pushing for his own triumph.

[Mike Head]

Now, everybody kind of assumed at the time, in hindsight, honestly, I feel like this was true. E. Ray loved to see his name in the paper and just enjoyed the media attention. And I think probably had good intentions.

[Narrator/Host]

But E. Ray Andrews was already in deep trouble that would tarnish his career in profound ways. Added to that, he was heading for the deep end of his particular set of vices. Alcohol, gambling and prescription drugs.

[Wes Ferguson]

When E. Ray fell off the wagon, he fell hard.

[Mike Head]

The DA's investigator and I, a guy named Todd west, we went to a legal conference in Fort Worth. And eray was ordering triples on the rocks of Wild Turkey 101, which I'd actually never seen anybody do that before. I didn't even know there was any such thing as a triple. And he knocked back about, I don't know, three or four of those, then a very short time, and then started getting in confrontations with the other DAs that were there because he had had a long history as a criminal defense lawyer and kind of had to pull him out of the bar before it got worse and put him to bed.

[Wes Ferguson]

One night, less than a year into E. Ray's term as district attorney, a police officer discovered E. Ray's 92 Oldsmobile wrecked and abandoned outside a gas station called Warren's no. 2. In the car, police found a mostly empty bottle of Wild Turkey 101 and an ice chest with four beers in it. E. Ray was nowhere to be seen. Later that night, E. Ray called the sheriff's office from his house on nearby Cedar Creek reservoir to report the accident. He said he'd stopped at the convenience store to buy a pack of cool cigarettes. When he was leaving, he simply backed into a pole. At first, he said he didn't know how he got home. Then he changed his story. He said another guy at the store gave him a ride. There were more problems with E. Ray's version of events. The store, Warrens 2, was closed for the night, and it had been for over an hour. And E. Ray must have been driving pretty fast when he backed into that pole. He totaled his Oldsmobile and sustained four broken ribs. E. Ray also had fainting spells from a head injury. Under normal circumstances, county attorney Larry Heffington would have been the prosecutor overseeing criminal charges against E. Ray.

[Mike Head]

We have a county attorney and a district attorney, and the county attorney handled the misdemeanors. The district attorney's office handled the felonies. The county attorney, his name was Larry Heffington, and Larry was a real good guy, but he was a very, very by the book guy. And E. Ray was anything but by the book. And so they clashed.

[Wes Ferguson]

Larry, to put it mildly, was no fan of E. Ray, citing a conflict of interest he turned over the case to the Texas Attorney General's office. Then as far as the public knew, the case just seemed to kind of disappear. But all that Wild Turkey bourbon was clearly affecting E. Ray's job as the District Attorney.

[Mike Head]

When he was hungover, he would ask Todd or I to pick him up a goose liver sandwich from the Berkshire's deli and take it to his house because he said those were good for his hangovers. And we would do that on a pretty regular occasion.

[Wes Ferguson]

Was he showing up to the office obviously hungover or intoxicated?

[Mike Head]

I don't remember him ever doing that or showing up in court having clearly been drinking. It was more a matter of him just being absent and us being aware that he was drinking because he wasn't coming to work. At times when it got pretty bad, he drove a little red two door Jeep and he would want us to come to his house in the morning, get his Jeep and bring it down to the courthouse and put it in his parking spot at the courthouse and then bring it back to him at the end of the day.

[Narrator/Host]

With his new red Jeep parked outside the courthouse, it looked to the rest of the world like E. Ray was hard at work, even though he was back home sleeping off another hangover.

[Wes Ferguson]

Are you like, I'm just, you know, doing a solid for my boss or are you like, hmm, this is not right.

[Mike Head]

I would say we thought of it more as doing a solid for our boss. I was 25. Todd was very young, just out of college, just licensed as a. As a peace officer. None of us really thought any different about it, quite honestly.

[Narrator/Host]

This is Todd West.

[Wes Ferguson]

Who hired you?

[Mike Head]

Earl. Earl Ray Andrews era, the da. You know, he was a good enough guy.

[Wes Ferguson]

I mean, he was a sharp attorney. He was just a nice guy. Could you tell that he changed when he started drinking again? No, not really. I never noticed him drinking at work or anything.

[Mike Head]

None of that. It's kind of like the, you know, the frog in the hot water, so to speak. You don't realize it's getting worse until you. You look back on it and go, wow, how'd it get that far without us really realizing there was a problem?

[Wes Ferguson]

E. Ray wanted the DA job, but he also wanted to keep drinking. He hatched a plan, the best of both worlds. He would hire a competent assistant who could do all the work he was supposed to do. Enter Donna Little these days. Donna Bennett. At the time, Donna was working for E. Ray's nemesis, the county attorney, Larry Heffington. Donna was also tight with Texas Ranger Ray Nutt and Sheriff Slick Alfred, two lawmen who were not exactly members of the E. Ray Andrews fan club.

[Mike Head]

E. Ray really wanted someone with a lot of experience. Donna had a lot of experience, and he wound up hiring her away from Larry's office to be an assistant in our office. But she was also, like I said, closely affiliated with Ray Nutt and Slick Alfred, who kind of had a contentious relationship with E. Ray as well. My personal opinion was that it was not a good idea to hire because I felt like he was kind of bringing someone into the office that was going to be looking over his shoulder all the time. And it was becoming kind of obvious that the reason E. Ray wanted somebody else was so that he could be absent more. Really, what he needed to do was not hire someone else and come to work. Tried to have that conversation, you know, with him a couple of times, but. But that wasn't what he wanted.

[Wes Ferguson]

Oh, so you felt strongly enough that you confronted him about it?

[Mike Head]

I was a lowly assistant da, so I wouldn't necessarily say I confronted him. Several of us in the office let him know we just didn't feel like that was going to be a good environment and tried to encourage him to be more active in the office, not hire someone else to take on more duties where he could be absent more.

[Wes Ferguson]

So did hiring Donna end up coming back to bite him?

[Mike Head]

In several ways, in my opinion. She was very, very skilled lawyer, very smart, had experience, so she was able to basically take over a lot of his duties, and he just very much took a backseat. And then I also think there very much was a group of people in law enforcement that she was close with that felt like he was not to be trusted. As the district attorney, Donna declined several.

[Wes Ferguson]

Requests to speak with us.

[Mike Head]

So I think they were looking for things to try to get him in trouble for and looking very closely over his shoulder and at the same time giving him enough rope to hang himself.

[Narrator/Host]

And one result of all this chaos would be that Donna Little, the new assistant da, Would find the Watkins case thrown right into her lap. The Henderson county arraignment of Jerry Mack Watkins took place in February 1994, during which he pled not guilty. His pretrial hearing was scheduled for April. If enough probable cause was determined, the trial date would then get scheduled for the 15th of August of the following summer, which also answered the wishes of Watkins attorney Jack Zimmerman, who wanted as hasty a trial as possible. There was always the chance that if the trial was delayed, more damning information might rise to the surface. As Shelley's body had in the Trinity river that previous September. Meanwhile, at least six months of limbo lay ahead. During that time, any outside murderer might be traced and arrested for Shelley's death, a possibility that the defense was hoping for. E Ray Andrews was already deeply in debt and had been off and on for years. But his dubious transactions and outright criminal actions had already caught the attention of serious law enforcement. And maybe, he thought, a sensational murder prosecution under his office's aegis against a wealthy and privileged prominent citizen from the next county would either distract public attention from his malfeasances or redeem his name at least a little bit. Or maybe he was just skating along, guided by his own impulsive instincts. One thing was clear. Seizing the instant opportunity, he wasn't doing much calculation beyond the immediate moment.

[Wes Ferguson]

By now, E. Ray Andrews owed money all over town. He was also in the habit of writing hot checks against his account at the First National Bank. The bank chairman and CEO was this guy named Lovell Layfield. When one of Lavelle's adult sons was arrested On a felony DWI charge in the spring of 94, E. Ray swooped in. He was like, Lovell, give me a personal loan to cover all these hot checks and I'll pull some strings for your son's case. So Lovell fronted E Ray the money. Then he arranged to have his bank give E Ray another loan. E. Ray used part of this bank loan to pay back Lovell. He used the rest of the bank loan to pay off more of his debt from all those hot checks. If that sounds like a tangled web, it is. But that's just E Ray's life right now. Around this same time, E. Ray was running another scheme. It involved this different guy named Don Forrester, who'd also been arrested for DWI for $3,000. E. Ray said he would handle Don's case, but he over promised. Remember, as the district attorney, E. Ray is in charge of felonies. Misdemeanors are handled by the county attorney, Larry Heffington. And Larry, unlike E. Ray, plays by the rules.

[Mike Head]

There were rumors that Larry was looking into some of E Ray's practices in the DA's office.

[Wes Ferguson]

E. Ray asks Larry to drop the charges. Larry refuses. When Don's case doesn't go away, Don complains to the county attorney. And that's how E Ray's enemy, Larry Heffington, finds out about the illegal payments E. Ray's been receiving to sweep cases under the rug. Reading between the lines, I wouldn't be surprised if Larry is the one who tips off the state authorities. At this point, investigators from the Texas Attorney General's office show up in Athens digging into E. Ray's web of misdeeds. Here's retired lawman Jeff Milslagel, who would soon join the investigation into E. Ray.

[Jeff Milslagel]

What we found was E. Ray Andrews was a really good defense attorney. When he took the job as da, One of his buddies would have a client, usually at dwi, and he'd come in and he'd say, I'll just take care of it. And magically, he would get three to $5,000.

[Wes Ferguson]

It gets worse. E. Ray had also been pilfering state funds that were meant to support the District Attorney's office. On official reports E. Ray filed with the state of Texas, he claimed that he was using these state funds to supplement his employees paychecks. Instead, he allegedly put that money, $27,000, into his own pocket, stiffing his employees.

[Mike Head]

The District Attorney's office has a discretionary fund. That is money that comes in from seizures and other sort of things that then the DA can use for anything other than supplementing his own salary. That account was at First National Bank. In some way, Eray was getting some access to that account for extra money for him.

[Jeff Milslagel]

Lavelle Layfield was the head of the bank over there. First national bank of Athens was the president. So we went and saw him. We know that you paid E. Ray money. We know that you covered all of his hot checks. And we know you cashed checks when E. Ray would get money from the state to give for salaries to his employees, the assistant DAs to make up their salary.

[Wes Ferguson]

In July 94, E. Ray finally announced the investigation that he was under by the Attorney General's office. He also admitted that he was about to be called before a grand jury in Henderson county on criminal allegations. This was all happening while E. Ray's assistants, Donna Little and Mike Head, were preparing to bring the murder case against Jerry Mack Watkins. The trial was less than a month away. Remember when Carol and I went and talked to E. Ray at the nursing home? He told us he'd answer questions if we just gave him a couple of weeks. We were skeptical, but we had to try.

[Carol Dawson]

Oh, you're wearing your Bela Bears shirt again.

[E. Ray Andrews]

Oh, yeah.

[Carol Dawson]

Carol Dawson, remember?

[E. Ray Andrews]

Yeah.

[Carol Dawson]

I came to see you three weeks ago. You said to call on you after Christmas.

[E. Ray Andrews]

Yeah.

[Narrator/Host]

How are you?

[E. Ray Andrews]

Pretty good. Pretty good. You doing all right?

[Carol Dawson]

I am doing all right. Well, we stopped by because you told me to come back after Christmas because we wanted to know if you would talk with us about the Watkins case back when you were a DA in Athens.

[E. Ray Andrews]

Yeah.

[Carol Dawson]

And you were the one who pushed forward so hard with the case against Jerry Mack Watkins.

[E. Ray Andrews]

He had a lot of things going against him. I figured I could at least get a rich man, poor man conviction.

[Carol Dawson]

Can you explain that? Rich man, poor man conviction.

[E. Ray Andrews]

It happened all the time. Happened all the time. The rich man, you know, thinking he's going to win and healed his dickens and he just kept getting fox.

[Wes Ferguson]

If you didn't follow that, I think E. Ray said, the rich man goes in thinking he's gonna win. He's guilty as the dickens and he flops.

[E. Ray Andrews]

Of course, I claim that I was doing it to get their money. I didn't want their money.

[Carol Dawson]

Did you think that they were trying to set you?

[Mike Head]

What?

[E. Ray Andrews]

Well, yeah, here I did.

[Narrator/Host]

Anything might happen, and it did.

[Mike Head]

Foreign.

[Wes Ferguson]

Thank you for listening to the Unforgotten. Get updates, photos, case files and more when you sign up for our [e-mail] the Unforgotten is a free range production. Season one, the Labor Day Ghost is created, written and hosted by Carol Dawson and me, Wes Ferguson. I'm the executive producer here at Free Range Audio recording, editing and mixing by Austin Sisler at Eastside Studios in Austin, Texas. Scored by Austin Sisler and Jamie Cummins. Our theme song, ghost, is written and performed by Corsicana's own Will Mechatron Jones. If you support our efforts to shine a new light on Shelly Watkins Cold Case, please like subscribe, give us a review and tell your friends. Thanks again and see you soon.

[Mike Head]

Sa.