Ray Easley's attacker admits fatal assault

Attacker arrested on other bench warrants

Robinson – In the early morning hours of Wednesday, July 11, Douglas Clinton Mills went to the home of auto dealer Ray Easley at 807 Robinson Rd. and attacked him with his fists.

After he had beaten the man to the floor, he pummeled his head with a lamp, then slammed it with a computer, according to an audio and videotaped statement he gave to police officers and Texas Rangers who arrested him Friday, July 13, at a Motel 6 in Woodway, for aggravated assault.

Officers who filed the probable cause affidavit in support of his arrest said Mr. Mills waived his statutory warnings to keep silent, or expect anything said to be used against him in court, and to be represented by an attorney.

Police did not say how they were alerted to Mr. Easley's perilous condition at noon on Wednesday, July 11, when they arrived to find him bloodied and unconscious in his home adjacent to his auto sales lot. They also did not say how they came by the information that Mr. Mills might be responsible for the attack, or where to find him.

“Easley had obviously been severely beaten by an unknown person(s). Easley was covered in blood, his eyes and face swollen, and his skull fractured,” according to the affidavit.

Ray Easley succumbed to multiple fractures of the skull and the resulting concussions. He never regained consciousness and succumbed to his injuries over the weekend at Hillcrest Baptist Memorial Hospital.

The aggravated assault charge against Mr. Mills was then upgraded to murder, and Precinct 1 Justice Court Judge Billy Martin set his bail at $500,000.

On Wednesday, Judge Martin relented and agreed to release the affidavit of probable cause that was filed in his court pursuant to a warrant of arrest.

Such court records in support of warrants of search or arrest are public record once the warrants are executed. He had earlier said he would send a public information act request to the Office of the Attorney General for legal review due to the claim of the Robinson Police Officers who included the words, “An ongoing criminal investigation led to a person of interest named Douglas Clinton Mills.” After reflection, Judge Martin changed his opinion.(click here for an earlier report)