Texan pleads not guilty in death of boyhood victim

Don Collins waits for his arraignment hearing in the 359th state District Court on Thursday, June 19, 2014, at the Lee G. Alworth Building in Conroe, Texas. Collins pleaded not guilty on Thursday to a capital murder charge stemming from a childhood attack on a boy who died nearly 13 years later. Authorities say Collins was 13 in 1998 when he poured gasoline on Robert Middleton and set him on fire on Middleton's 8th birthday. Middleton survived but died in 2011 of skin cancer that authorities blamed on his injuries. (AP Photo/The Courier, Andrew Buckley) Don Collins waits for his arraignment hearing in the 359th state District Court on Thursday, June 19, 2014, at the Lee G. Alworth Building in Conroe, Texas. Collins pleaded not guilty on Thursday to a capital murder charge stemming from a childhood attack on a boy who died nearly 13 years later. Authorities say Collins was 13 in 1998 when he poured gasoline on Robert Middleton and set him on fire on Middleton's 8th birthday. Middleton survived but died in 2011 of skin cancer that authorities blamed on his injuries. (AP Photo/The Courier, Andrew Buckley)

By Associated Press June 19, 2014 3 min read

CONROE, Texas (AP) – The family of a boy who died 13 years after being burned in a gasoline attack will have to wait at least six more months before the person charged with murder will face a jury, as a judge Thursday set a January trial date.

But Colleen Middleton, whose son was burned across 99 percent of his body, said she and her family don’t mind waiting for a few more months to get what they hope will be justice.

“Six months is nothing. We’ve waited sixteen years,” she said.

Authorities allege that in 1998 at age 13, Don Willburn Collins doused Robert Middleton with gasoline and set him on fire on his eighth birthday. The attack occurred near the younger boy’s home in Splendora, about 35 miles northeast of Houston.

Middleton endured years of physical therapy before he died in 2011, shortly before his 21st birthday, from skin cancer blamed on the horrific burns he suffered.