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Patrick Swiney was convicted of murdering his wife, Betty Snow Swiney, and her ex-husband, Ronald Pate. One night, when Swiney was approaching his house, he blacked out, stating that he felt as though he'd been hit on the head with a baseball bat. He awoke in his house with a serious bruise on his head and with the rifle he kept in his truck lying near him. He found his wife and her ex-husband lying on the floor, shot dead with bullets assumed to have been fired from the rifle.

While the circumstantial evidence points to Swiney’s guilt, forensics establish that he is innocent. No blood or blood spatter was found on Swiney's skin or clothing, even though the DA claimed that Swiney shot Pate at point blank range, execution style. Gunpowder tests show there was no gunpowder residue on Swiney.  He could not have fired a gun or have been near one when it discharged. Forensic tests were suppressed at trial and did not come to light until 1997. Autopsy reports later showed bullet wounds in each victim were twice the size of what would be produced by Swiney's .22 caliber AR-7 rifle.

Swiney was a police officer from 1965 to 1977 at Huntsville, Vestavia, and Gulf Shores Police Departments. He turned in his badge in 1977 after seeing how corrupt officials were at Gulf Shores in Baldwin County. At Gulf Shores he received many threats on his life and was the victim of two assassination attempts. The first attempt was minor, although the second nearly succeeded. Swiney had gathered evidence that sent the Baldwin County DA, Jimmy Hendrix, and the Sheriff’s Office Chief Investigator, Bobbie Stewart, to federal prison.

Other anomalies exist with the case. Following the killings, the Shelby County DA, J. Michael Campbell, took the highly unusual step of calling the coroner’s office and telling them not to perform a vaginal swab on Betty Snow or take fingernail cultures. Such tests would seem to help the DA’s case in alleging that Snow and Pate were having a sexual relationship and that Swiney had killed the two in a jealous rage. Betty Snow and the DA were old sweethearts, and according to at least one witness, the DA had been having an affair with her. Swiney was not prosecuted for a crime of passion, which carries a much lighter sentence, but for first-degree murder, for which he received a life without parole sentence. Supporters of Patrick Swiney have established the P.a.t.r.i.c.k. Crusade (People Aligned To Replace Injustice and Cruelty with Knowledge), an organization that publicizes the plight of many convicted but innocent persons.  (Swiney Case) (Patrick Crusade)  [1/07]

Police officers Walter Evans and Miles Ledbetter, both detectives, were convicted of extorting a $750 bribe from Harry McDonald, a person with a criminal record of felonies.  After being arrested in 1929 for receiving stolen property, McDonald surprised the District Attorney by confessing to conspiracy transactions involving over 50 LAPD officers.  Among those were officers Evans and Ledbetter.  McDonald claimed that the officers had in 1928 extorted a $750 bribe from him in exchange for suppressing evidence that McDonald had purchased stolen diamonds from a Jack Hawkins.

At trial, McDonald, his wife, and his maid all swore that Evans and Ledbetter had visited McDonald on a Saturday and Sunday in 1928 and that McDonald had paid the officers a bribe.  The officers countered that they had indeed visited McDonald on Saturday July 7 and Sunday July 8, 1928, but the visits were to investigate an unconnected robbery of two diamond rings.  In rebuttal, McDonald and his wife testified that the detectives could not have visited them on the specified dates as the McDonalds moved to a bungalow in Venice, CA on the Sunday before July 4, and that they were not in Los Angeles for the two weeks thereafter.  The jury chose to believe the McDonalds and convicted the two officers.  In 1930, following unsuccessful appeals, the two officers started serving their sentences in San Quentin.

Later evidence surfaced that McDonald signed a safety-deposit record of a Los Angeles bank on July 9, 1928, so he could not have been out of town that day as he and his wife swore.  Also evidence surfaced that their maid had not been in their employ until after August 8, so she could not have been present on July 7 or July 8.  Coupled with these disclosures, and other discovered facts, California Governor Young pardoned both officers in 1931.  Evans and Ledbetter later received $4533.36 and $3313.39 in compensation.  (CTI)  [11/07]

Carroll, a deputy sheriff in Oxford County, was convicted in 1938 of the murder of Dr. James G. Littlefield.  Littlefield and his wife disappeared from their home in South Paris on Oct. 13, 1937.  On Oct. 16, Paul Nathaniel (Buddy) Dwyer, 18, also from South Paris, was found sleeping in the couple’s car by police in North Arlington, NJ.  The bodies of the dead couple were found in the trunk.  Dwyer confessed to killing the couple and was extradited to Maine the next day.  He was placed in the custody of Francis Carroll, the father of Dwyer’s former girlfriend, Barbara (Babs) Carroll.  On Dec 2, Dwyer pleaded guilty to the murder of Dr. Littlefield and was sentenced to life in prison.

Within months, Dwyer accused Deputy Carroll of having killed Dr. Littlefield to prevent him from disclosing that the deputy had engaged in incest with his daughter, Babs.  Babs allegedly acknowledged that she engaged in sexual activity with her father on several occasions beginning when she was eleven years old.  Carroll was soon convicted of the murder of Dr. Littlefield, primarily because of Dwyer’s testimony.  Carroll and Dwyer could not both be guilty of murder under the conflicting prosecution theories on which their convictions rested, but both were imprisoned until 1950, when Carroll’s conviction was vacated.  In vacating the conviction, a Superior Court judge declared that the prosecutor in the case “deliberately, purposely, and intentionally . . . practiced fraud and deception on the court and jury.”  (NL)

E. L. “Lefty” Fowler was convicted of the murder of Helen Beavers.  Fowler was a Duncan policeman and had been with her a short time before she was killed.  Following Beaver’s murder, Fowler quit his job, failed to pick up his last check, and engaged in conversation indicating that he was considering suicide.  He also began an excessive round of drinking.

Less than two months after Beavers' murder, Fowler was arrested in Waurika and imprisoned for drunkenness in the Jefferson County Jail.  Three Crime Bureau Agents then fraudulently conspired to transport Fowler to Stephens County for interrogation.  They freed Fowler (by paying his fine) on condition he drive a supposedly drunk cellmate, who was actually an agent, to Stephens County.  Once in Stephens County, Fowler was arrested on bogus charges that were never filed.  He was then denied access to a magistrate and a lawyer, and interrogated under coercive conditions for 12 days.

Fowler eventually confessed to the murder of Beavers, but the County Attorney thought the confession was inconsistent with the facts.  Beavers was then required to give another confession, which was signed at 5 a.m., apparently after an all night grilling.  Even this confession was not regarded as sufficient and Beavers had to give two more before authorities were satisfied.

Fowler’s case was featured in Argosy’s Magazine’s “The Court of Last Resort,” in Oct. 1952 under the article title, “Who Really Killed Helen Beavers?”  In 1960, Fowler was granted habeas corpus relief due to his coerced and illegal interrogation.  He presumably was released.  (Source:  Habeas Corpus Court Opinion)  [4/08]

Jeffrey Scott Hornoff, a Warwick Police Detective, was convicted of bludgeoning to death Victoria Cushman with a fire extinguisher and a porcelain jewelry box.  Following the murder, Hornoff denied being anything other than friends with Cushman.  Detectives knew otherwise and Hornoff soon admitted that he had two sexual encounters with her.  Hornoff’s alibi was that he was at a party with his wife and friends on the night of the murder.  People at the party confirmed his presence.  A grand jury considered the evidence, but did not indict him.

The Rhode Island State Patrol took over the investigation in 1991 and Hornoff was indicted in 1994.  At trial in 1996, the prosecution dismissed his alibi, saying he slipped away from the party and returned without anyone noticing his absence.  Hornoff’s initial claim of only having been friends with Cushman was presented as evidence that he tried to cover-up the murder.  Hornoff was sentenced to life in prison and, in 1999, the Rhode Island Supreme Court unanimously rejected his appeal.

Realistically, it was time for Hornoff to abandon hope.  But then a miracle occurred.  On Nov. 1, 2002, Todd Barry walked into the attorney general’s office and confessed to murdering Cushman.  Barry said he was consumed with guilt that an innocent man was serving time for a crime that he committed.  Barry’s confession revealed how the murder investigation had focused exclusively on Hornoff.  Barry lived near Cushman, had dated her on and off, his name and number were near the front of her Rolodex, and he was known to her friends.  Yet he was never questioned about the murder, either by the Warwick PD, or by the state police.

Hornoff was soon released and cleared of all charges.  In 2006, Hornoff was awarded $600,000 plus $47,000 a year for life from the City of Warwick.  He may also be awarded additional money from the Rhode Island State Patrol.  (caught.net) (JD33 p10) (TruthInJustice) (TIJ2) (CrimeLibrary)  [7/07]

Paul William Ferrell, a rookie sheriff's deputy, was convicted of the murder of Cathy Ford, a 19-year-old waitress from nearby Maryland. Her body has never been found and no one had ever seen her with Ferrell. Some time after Ford’s disappearance, her boyfriend, Darvin Moon, discovered her badly burned truck 75 yards from Ford’s trailer home. Some believed that the truck was burned elsewhere because there was no scorching on the vegetation surrounding the vehicle.

FBI agents found traces of blood under a newly laid carpet in Ferrell’s trailer as well as on the walls and ceiling. Laboratory tests showed the blood to be that of a woman, but DNA tests could not match the blood to Ford. Ferrell said the trailer was eight years old, had been occupied by others, and might be stained by blood from a variety of sources. At trial, the prosecution purportedly engaged in “mathematical wizardry” which made the found blood look like that of Ford’s.

An FBI agent testified that while giving Ferrell a “hypothetical scenario about Cathy Ford's murder,” he had “observed signs of guilt” in Ferrell's “body language.” According to Ferrell’s appellate attorney, “this is the first time, ever, in the history of American criminal jurisprudence, that this kind of evidence has… been allowed to go to a jury.”

On the grounds that Ferrell might have committed the alleged crime for sexual reasons, his trial included circumstantial evidence that he had telephoned bookstores and libraries throughout the country posing as a physician and asking clerks who answered to read explicit passages from books on sex.

A witness, Tamela Kitzmiller, testified to having received an obscene phone call from a man she took to be Ferrell. She later recanted her testimony, claiming that the prosecution convinced her to testify by telling her that Ferrell had been involved in a series of murders in Yellowstone Park. “They told me that he was a sicko, and that he needed to be put away.” After giving her testimony, Kitzmiller says she waited for prosecutors to produce proof of Ferrell's involvement in the Yellowstone murders, as they had promised. This proof never arrived.

Kim Nelson, a neighbor of Ferrell, testified that on the day of Ford’s disappearance she heard “banging, a gunshot, and a woman’s scream” coming from Ferrell’s trailer. Later, however, she stated she “didn’t know nothin’ about Paul Ferrell killin’ anybody,” and that she had not heard anything out of the ordinary on the day in question.

Private investigator and author Martin Yant helped expose the case by publishing a story about it in a magazine.  He also got the case exposure on Montel Williams and Unsolved Mysteries. Ferrell was released pending an evidentiary hearing, but he was reincarcerated for the crime in 1997.  West Virginia Governor Underwood commuted Ferrell's sentence in Jan. 2001.  He wrote that Ferrell's convictions "are not supported by the presence of the alleged victim's body, weapon, eyewitnesses, or physical evidence such as fingerprints, hair and fibers."  The commutation made Ferrell eligible for parole which he was granted in May 2004.  (JD02) (Articles)  [2/08]

Maloney, a detective in the Green Bay PD, and an arson investigator, was convicted of strangling his estranged wife, Sandy, and setting her body on fire.  Maloney was a suspect because of their impending divorce, ongoing child custody battle, and history of domestic disputes.  Sandy was a heavy user of prescription pills and was very drunk at the time of her death.  She apparently tried to hang herself shortly before her death, but the cord broke causing her to bruise her head on a coffee table.  She then apparently started a fire by careless smoking or perhaps deliberately.  The state maintained that Maloney hit her on the head, strangled her, and then set a fire that was staged to look like the result of careless smoking.

Special prosecutor, Joe Paulus, (DA of Winnebago County), withheld evidence.  Initially the fire was labeled an accident but circular reasoning developed:  "The fire guys decided it must be an arson because it was murder.  The coroner decided it must be a murder because it was arson."  (TruthInJustice) (Article 2)  (Article 3) (48 Hours)  [11/05]

Zimmerman, a former Augusta, WI police officer, was convicted of murdering his former girlfriend, Kathleen Thompson.  Thompson had had a violent fight with her husband just hours after their wedding.  Following the fight, both were taken to the Eau Claire County Jail.  Thompson was last seen walking away from the jail at 3 a.m. and later was found strangled on a Eau Claire street.  Her husband was never considered a suspect as he was in jail at the time of her murder.  Zimmerman’s conviction was based on allegedly inconsistent statements he gave to Eau Claire police about his whereabouts around the time of the murder.  None of Zimmerman’s interrogations were taped.

Zimmerman's son, Shannon, said the alleged inconsistencies were due to his father being in an alcoholic haze at the time of the crime and during subsequent police interviews. He said the case against his father consisted of "out-of-context statements, misleading statements and very, very shaky facts."  With the help of the Wisconsin Innocence Project, Zimmerman’s conviction was overturned.  At retrial in April 2005, the prosecution’s case did not proceed well, and in mid-trial the prosecutor asked the judge to throw out the case, saying he lacked the evidence to show “beyond a reasonable doubt” that Zimmerman had killed his former girlfriend.  The judge agreed and acquitted Zimmerman.  Zimmerman had served 3 1/2 years in prison for the crime.  (Wisconsin State Journal)  [1/08]

Lawrencia Bembenek, also known as Bambi, was convicted of murdering Christine Schultz, her husband's ex-wife.  Bambi's husband Fred Schultz was a police officer as was his ex-wife.  Bambi had become a police officer and was stunned by the amount of graft going on in the department: officers selling pornography from their cars, accepting oral sex from hookers, frequenting drug hangouts, and harassing minorities.

When Bambi was fired for supposedly knowing that another officer had marijuana at a rock concert, she filed a lawsuit, charging discrimination.  In Oct. 1980, she came into possession of photos of male police officers dancing nude in a public park.  She gave them to Internal Affairs.  She was also at the heart of a federal investigation into the misuse of department funds.

Bambi, then 21, had once posed in a slinky dress for a beer calendar and had worked for a few weeks as a waitress at a Playboy Club.  Because of this, the crime became a media sensation.  Fred owned an off-duty gun that was stored in his and Bambi's apartment.  Shortly after the murder, Fred had his partner check it out.  The partner determined that the gun had not been fired, but he did not record the serial number.  Two weeks later, it was determined that the murder was performed with Fred's gun.  Fred had an alibi for the time of the murder.  Although three other people had access to the apartment, Bambi was charged with the murder because she claimed she was at home sleeping that night.  Bambi was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.  Years later, it was discovered from autopsy photos that the murder weapon could not have been Fred’s gun.  The barrel of the murder weapon left a burn mark when it was fired at point-blank range into the victim.  This burn mark could not have been produced by Fred’s gun.

After Fred divorced her, Bambi became engaged to the brother of a fellow inmate.  With his help, she escaped prison in 1990, and the two ran north to Thunder Bay, Ontario.  Many people in Milwaukee sided with her and supported her escape.  Most said that, should they see her, they would not turn her in.  People protested openly on her behalf and even came up with a song, “Run, Bambi, Run.”

Three months later, a tourist who had seen a story about Bambi on "America's Most Wanted" recognized her fiancé and turned the couple in.  The Canadian police arrested the couple just minutes before they were set to flee again.  On Bambi’s return to Wisconsin, a judicial inquiry was convened that excluded the district attorney.  The inquiry detailed seven major police blunders during the investigation.  Bambi cut a deal in 1992 that let her off with time served in exchange for a no contest plea.  (CrimeLibrary)