Priscilla Slade and the TSU Three

Brown says he took the procurement card statements to the FBI, but his contact there was not interested, because they were focusing on Jackson. A year later, says Brown, the FBI told him that the investigation into the bond was at a dead-end and that federal prosecutors did not have enough hard evidence to pursue it in court.

Enter the Harris County District Attorney's Office.
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Brown, Hudson and Jordan first walked into the office of Assistant Harris County District Attorney Donna Goode in August 2005.

"The thing that interested us was the genuine commitment and sincerity and kind of youthful enthusiasm they showed," says Goode. "And understanding how this started with the death of Ashley Sloan, to me that was something that really tugged at your heart. And then to see what's actually happening to them as far as the interruption in their lives, the criminal charges and the suspensions, I don't know they really realized what they were up against."

Armed with the procurement card statements and feeling discouraged by the FBI, the three students decided that going to the county prosecutor's office would offer them the best chance at getting concrete results. But it was not an immediate slam-dunk as they had hoped.

"They were out there passing out flyers about Jew Don Boney, talking about ghost employees, talking about half the administration, the regents, the recreation center and the allegations about the bogus bond," says Goode, "and it's like overwhelming. There were a lot of accusations against a lot of people, but there wasn't the focus because they were not trained ­investigators."

Goode says that questionable purchases with state money were not in and of themselves enough to open a criminal investigation. She needed to know what was and was not allowed under Slade's contract.

"The boys were kind of going at it in all these different directions," she says, "but without subpoena power, without the ability to find out if (Slade) was running over her budget, where the money is coming from and with the way Quintin Wiggins was hiding some of the transactions, you know, you couldn't get all the information by saying, 'I want to see her procurement cards.' It took us a year and two grand jury investigations to get at it."

During the trial, Slade's attorney Mike DeGeurin went after Brown during cross-examination, questioning Brown's credibility by asking how much money he stood to gain if he won his lawsuit that the TSU Three had filed against university officials. But Brown held his ground, saying he was only ever trying to bring attention to problems he felt existed on campus. The lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial in federal court in January.

It wasn't until prosecutors found out, however, that Slade had told former regent Belinda Griffin in January 2006 that the university was buying Slade furniture for her million-dollar home in Memorial Park that they began to sink their teeth into the case.

The story reported by the media was that Griffin dropped by Slade's home to pick up a pair of handbags and a pearl necklace that Slade had purchased during a trip to China. The necklace was a gift, but Griffin had promised to pay Slade for the two bags. It was during this visit, Griffin later testified in court, that Slade told her that TSU had purchased some of the furniture in Slade's home. Concerned, Griffin called fellow regent J. Paul Johnson and the two then asked the university's internal auditor to investigate.

Brown, Hudson and Jordan say most of this is true, but that the board intended to keep it all in-house and out of public view. They say it was actually they who alerted prosecutors, enabling Goode to launch a grand jury investigation that eventually resulted with Slade's indictment.

"How did Slade truly get busted?" says Brown. "Well, there was a regent who was a supporter of ours and was feeding us information. That regent told us about the conversation Griffin had with Slade and about the emergency meeting the board called together one night to discuss it. We then told the DA, and the media never would have known if guess who hadn't of called them. That's right, it was us. And when all those TV cameras showed up at the emergency board meeting, the board said they were launching their own investigation, and that's how the board got portrayed in a positive light."

Goode is rather tight-lipped on this point, but wants to make sure the TSU Three get their due credit.

"Well," she says, "let's just say I can confirm what the boys said. We received a tip that Belinda Griffin had concerns that there were likely unauthorized purchases made. And that got us going."
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After nearly two months of hearing testimony in the Slade case, jury members took the better part of five straight days of deadlocked deliberations before State District Court Judge Brock Thomas let them off the hook and declared a hung jury, granting Slade a mistrial the second week of October.