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In 1908, Bill Wilson's wife, Jenny, divorced and left him.  She took their 19-month-old child with her.  In 1912, the skeletal remains of an adult and child were discovered by the Warrior River.  As news of the discovery spread, many area residents, presuming the remains to be ancient, visited the site in the hope of finding Indian relics.

When no relics were found, a farm worker named Jim House began speculating that the remains were not Indian but those of Jenny Wilson and her child, both of whom had disappeared shortly after Jenny’s divorce.  House also belatedly asserted that, following the divorce, he had seen Jenny go into her former in-laws’ home carrying a basket. The next day, House said, he noticed footprints leading toward the river and found what he described as a “child’s cloth” and blood on a rock.  After hearing House’s tale, the county solicitor charged Bill Wilson with murder.

At trial the prosecution presented this evidence, along with witnesses who alleged that Bill had made incriminating statements.  One claimed that Bill had vowed to kill Jenny if he ever saw her again.  The prosecution’s medical expert acknowledged that the remains appeared too ancient to be that of Jenny and her child, though he left open the possibility that they were.  He acknowledged the skull of the child had second teeth, which usually do not develop before age four.

The defense presented six witnesses, including Jenny’s sister, who testified that they saw Jenny at various times several months after the prosecution contended she was dead.  Four of Bill’s relatives, and Bill himself, denied House’s contention that Jenny had come to Bill’s parents’ home after the divorce.  The defense medical expert testified that the teeth in the adult skull were those of an elderly person and that a 19-month-old child would not have second teeth.

Despite this strong defense, Bill Wilson was convicted and the trial judge, Judge Blackwood, sentenced him to life in prison on Dec. 18, 1915.  After the trial, a curator from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC examined the bones and declared them to be very old skeletal parts of four or more persons.  Judge Blackwood concluded that justice had miscarried, but he no longer had jurisdiction of the case.  He asked the governor to grant clemency to Bill, so that he could be released.  Before the governor took action, Bill’s appellate lawyer located Jenny and her child, then 11, living in Vincennes, Indiana.  She returned to Blount County on July 8, 1918, and the same day, after authorities confirmed her identity, the governor granted Bill a pardon.  (NL)  [1/07]

Larry Randall Padgett was sentenced to death for the murder of his estranged wife, Cathy Padgett.  Cathy had been stabbed 46 times, after an apparent rape.  DNA tests showed that Randall's semen was found in Cathy's body.  The defense argued that a neighbor, Judy Bagwell, with whom Randall had been having an affair, killed Cathy, and put Randall's semen inside her.  Blood was found at the scene of the crime that did not match Cathy's.  The prosecution withheld blood typing tests done on this blood from the defense.  Following Randall's conviction, it was determined that the blood did not match Randall's, and thus had to have come from a third person.  In 1995, the Court of Criminal Appeals overturned Randall's conviction, ruling that prosecutors didn't give the defense adequate time to review the blood evidence.  Randall was acquitted on retrial in 1997.  (PC)  [7/05]

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]

Scott Peterson was sentenced to death for the murder of his 8-month pregnant wife, Laci, and his unborn son named Connor.  The prosecution argued that Scott killed Laci late on Dec. 23, 2002 or early on the morning of Dec. 24.  A neighbor saw Scott in the bed of his truck, which was backed in his driveway, around 9:30 a.m.  It was alleged that he was loading Laci’s body into it.  Cell phone records establish that he left his Modesto residence at 523 Covena Ave. around 10:08 a.m. to go to a warehouse at 1027 N. Emerald Ave., where his boat was stored.  The warehouse is about 9 minutes away.

At the warehouse, Scott logged onto his computer at 10:30 a.m. and sent an email reply to his boss.  Scott then assembled a mortiser woodworking tool he had bought.  He later attached his boat to his truck.  Based on estimated travel time, Scott left the warehouse around 11:18 a.m. and traveled 90 miles to the Berkeley Marina.  At the Marina parking lot he bought a ticket that was time stamped 12:54 p.m.  Scott went fishing for a little over an hour and left the Marina about 2:12 p.m.  He got caught in traffic and made a gasoline purchase in Livermore at 3:25 p.m.  Based on travel time from Livermore, he arrived back at the warehouse around 4:26 p.m.  Scott estimated that he arrived home from the warehouse between 4:30 and 4:45 p.m.

On arrival, Scott found his dog McKenzie in his fenced yard with a leash on.  A neighbor later stated that she found McKenzie running loose and put him back in Scott and Laci’s yard.  Scott removed the leash and put it on the patio table.  Although Scott had repeatedly tried to reach Laci from his cell phone during the day, he assumed that she was at her mother’s house.  He put the clothes he was wearing, which were a bit wet, in the washer and got a shower.  He then checked his home phone messages and got a message from the companion of Laci’s mother asking Scott and Laci to bring whipped cream when they came over for a Christmas Eve gathering.  Scott then called Laci’s mother at 5:17 p.m. and confirmed that Laci was missing.

By December 30th, authorities began searching San Francisco Bay near Berkeley Marina, looking for the Laci’s body.  Searches were conducted for 26 days and turned up nothing.  Authorities also discovered that Scott was having an affair with another woman, Amber Frey.  On April 13, 2003, the body of a baby boy was found on the shore of San Francisco Bay.  This boy was later confirmed to be Conner, Scott and Laci’s unborn (or newly born) son   The following day, the body of Laci was also found nearby.  Both bodies were found about 3 miles from Berkeley Marina.  On April 18, Scott was arrested for their murder.

While the location of the found bodies is incriminating, other evidence supports Scott’s innocence.  Six witnesses saw Laci walking her dog, McKenzie, near her home shortly after Scott left on the day of the disappearance.  A home across the street from the Petersons’ was burglarized at 11:30 a.m. that morning.  One witness said she saw Laci confronting the apparent burglars.  The body of another pregnant woman, who disappeared on May 1, had been found across the bay from where Laci was found.  Both of their killers (if different) used the same modus operendi in that they cut off the hands and feet of their victims.  Some have suggested Laci was a victim of a satanic cult killing because May 1 and Dec. 24 are Satanic holidays and the area is home to three Satanic churches.

Conner was found with a plastic cord tied to him, indicating that he was separated from Laci at the time of his entry into San Francisco Bay.  This evidence suggests that Laci was kidnapped alive, went into labor due to the stress of her ordeal, and had given birth to Conner prematurely.

Scott was completely forthcoming about his whereabouts on the day Laci went missing.  One would presume Scott had some intelligence and would not knowingly use as an alibi a place from which he disposed of a victim’s body.  If he lacked intelligence, he was smart enough to avoid leaving any trace evidence at any of the alleged murder scenes.  Nor did he leave any evidence of a clean-up.  All evidence suggests his affair with Amber was just a temporary fling, not a motive for murder.  Laci was prettier than Amber, and Scott had had other flings in the past.  Police had Amber secretly tape her conversations with Scott, to no avail.  In one of the conversations, Scott wondered if Amber had anything to do with Laci's disappearance.

In interviews, jurors said that they convicted Scott for the most obvious reason, namely because the bodies were found near where he went fishing.  One juror added that he never would have convicted Scott, but for this fact.  However, the location of the found bodies is not “the smoking gun,” it was presented to be.  If someone else killed Laci, it is plausible that the alternate killer might dump Laci’s and Connor’s bodies near where Scott had gone fishing as such a location would throw any possible suspicion off of himself and onto Scott.  Scott’s whereabouts on the day Laci went missing were well publicized.  This alternate theory is at least semi-plausible.  A plausible alternative theory alone is ground for reasonable doubt.  Combined with the unlikely lack of evidence corroborating Scott’s guilt, there is ground for reasonable doubt.  Many books were written about the case including a 2005 pro-defense book entitled Presumed Guilty by Matt Dalton, a former Long Beach City and L.A. County prosecutor.  (www.scottisinnocent.com) (www.scottpetersonappeal.org) (CCADP)  [12/07]

A fire broke out in Hobley's apartment building early in the morning, which killed his wife, infant son, and five other people.  Hobley escaped wearing only underwear.  Later in the day, detectives picked him up and tortured him in an attempt to extract a confession that he started the fire.  When torture did not work, four detectives asserted that Hobley made a confession.  No record of this confession existed.  One detective claimed to have made notes but threw them away after something spilled on them.

The prosecution claimed that Hobley had bought $1 worth of gasoline, which he used to start the fire.  They produced a gasoline can allegedly found at the fire scene, but a defense expert pointed out that it showed no exposure to the high heat of the fire, as its plastic cap was undamaged.  After trial, the defense learned that a second gasoline can was found at the fire scene but police destroyed it after the defense issued a subpoena for it.

In addition, post-conviction affidavits of jurors stated that non-jurors intimidated some of them while they were sequestered at a hotel, and that they were prejudiced by the acts of the jury foreperson, a police officer, who believed Hobley was guilty.  The affidavits also stated that jurors brought newspapers with articles about the case into the jury room and that they repeatedly violated the trial court's sequestration.  In 2003, Gov. George Ryan granted Hobley a pardon based on innocence.  (NL)  [9/05]

Davis was convicted of murder for allegedly shooting to death his wife, Priscilla, in her parent’s home.  Priscilla’s Certificate of Death stated that she died at 7:15 p.m. in Benton Harbor, but cell phone records indicate that at 7:01 p.m., Davis made a two-minute phone call from Paw Paw, 27 miles away.

Prior to trial, the state’s key witness, Melissa Peters, recanted her statements against Davis at a court hearing.  She said, “Mickey Davis over there had nothing to do with this.  Okay?  I’m sorry, everything that I have said has not been the truth. I have to now say everything that has happened. Every one of my statements needs to be removed. They are not true.”  Upon hearing this recantation, the prosecution stopped the hearing, despite defense objections, and asked for a continuance.  It received a continuance and at later hearings, including Davis’ trial, Peters resumed her original testimony.  Peters, who was known to be 17-years-old six months before the murder, also testified she had never previously been in trouble, never been arrested, or convicted of any crime.  The prosecution withheld evidence from the defense that she had a criminal history in several states as a juvenile.  (JD28 p6)  [3/07]

George S. Revelle, the CFO of Ozark Bank, was convicted of murdering his wife, Lisa, at their home in Fremont Hills.  Revelle told authorities that intruders broke into their home and shot his wife in a bungled extortion attempt.  He was convicted because he had a $500,000 life insurance policy on his wife and an old letter in which she criticizes him for being materialistic.

Five months into the investigation, the apparent murderers sent a confession letter to police. They said they were fugitives living outside the U.S. They stated George’s stepbrother had originally approached them about kidnapping George and forcing him to go to his bank so they could rob it. The letter writers revealed the location of a pond where the murder weapon was found. The prosecutor never investigated any of this evidence, except to test the stamp on the letter envelope for Revelle’s DNA.

Revelle's conviction was overturned in Nov. 1997 because an appeal's court found that his wife's note should not have been allowed as trial evidence.  On retrial in Dec. 1998, Revelle was acquitted.  (Beyond the Yellow Ribbon) (GNS)  [4/08]

William Allison MacFarland, also known as “Bill,” took cyanide home from the plant where he worked.  He used it to make a solution of the poison for his wife, who had used it to clean her jewelry and silverware. Bill explained he had taken an almost empty bromide bottle and poured the contents into another bromide bottle, which was almost full. He then funneled the poison solution into the now empty bromide bottle. To avoid any possible confusion, he affixed a poison label on the bromide bottle containing the cyanide. Bill then placed both bottles on a bathroom shelf.

Ten days later he took an overnight trip to New York with his 6-year-old son.  When he returned, his wife was dead from cyanide poisoning.  The couple’s two-year-old daughter was with her, playing with toys on the floor.  It was Bill's contention that despite his precautions, his wife must have had a headache and, from force of habit, grabbed the familiar bromide bottle without looking at the label. In this way, she took the deadly poison. Bill dismissed suicide as a theory.  It was clear that Bill had no hand in his wife’s death as he was in New York.

In the course of their investigation, police discovered that Bill was having an affair with a former secretary, Flo Bromley, who lived in Philadelphia.  Armed with a motive, police came up with a new theory of how the murder could have taken place.  If, after showing the poison bottle to his wife, Bill had switched the poison label, his wife would have consumed the contents of the now deadly unmarked bottle. When he discovered the body the next morning, Bill could have removed the poison label and returned it to the correct bottle.

Bill was arrested and charged with the murder of his wife.  It was revealed that Flo had threatened to expose Bill to his employers if he did not divorce his wife and marry her by October.  It was further disclosed that Bill's home life was not as harmonious as he had led investigators to believe. His wife knew of his affair with Flo and did not like it one bit.  However, it was impossible to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Bill had intentionally switched labels in order to poison his wife.

Bill's lawyers expanded on this flaw in the prosecution's case.  They explained, Bill’s wife had been duly warned of the danger by her husband, and if she died as a result of ingesting poison, in no way has murder been committed.  Despite this argument, the jury, after deliberating all night, found Bill guilty of murder in the first degree. He was sentenced to die in the electric chair.

During the trial, prosecutors had given the jury love letters between Bill and Flo to read during the trial.  Bill was granted a new trial because his defense was not given the opportunity to explain and interpret these letters.  The retrial jury felt there was reasonable doubt and acquitted Bill.  (Toronto Sun)

After an intruder entered his home, and brutally murdered his wife, Marilyn, Sheppard was accused and convicted of the crime.  The Sheppard home was in Bay Village on the shore of Lake Erie.  Sheppard had an affair some months before and this was portrayed as a motive.  Sheppard had some wounds from the real attacker but the prosecution claimed these were self-inflicted.  Sheppard described the attacker as a bushy haired man and other witnesses claimed to have seen him.  Although its creator denied it, the 1963 TV series, "The Fugitive," was widely thought to be based on this case, due to obvious similarities.

Sheppard's defense was not allowed access to forensic evidence prior to trial.  When examined after trial, it found that Marilyn had apparently bitten her attacker as one of her teeth was broken outward, and that the killer must have been splattered with blood as the bedroom walls were all splattered except for a spot that was shielded by the attacker's body.  Apart from a small spot, Sheppard had no blood on him, nor any bite marks.  Backswing blood spatter indicated the attacker swung his weapon with his left hand, while Sheppard was right-handed.  Appeals based on this new evidence were denied.  Eventually a young lawyer named F. Lee Bailey got interested in the case, took it to the U.S. Supreme Court, and had the conviction overturned.  Sheppard was acquitted on retrial in 1966, but died at age 46 in 1970.  DNA tests in the 1990's revealed the attacker was a mentally ill man who had once worked at the Sheppard home.  [9/05]

Kevin Alan Tolliver, a black man, was convicted of murdering Claire Schneider, his white live-in girlfriend.  According to Tolliver, Schneider killed herself with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.  Although she was clinically depressed and had not taken her Paxil medicine in 4 days, Schneider's shooting of herself in the mouth, happened so unexpectedly that it appeared to be an involuntary suicide.  She may not have been aware that the gun was loaded.  The shooting occurred shortly after midnight.

Tolliver was a severe dyslexic since childhood, and emotionally went to pieces following his girlfriend's death.  He screamed and cried.  Two neighbors in his building, hearing his screams called police, but police came and left without finding the source of the disturbance.  Police finally were summoned back by Tolliver's ex-wife, more than an hour after the shooting.  Police arrested Tolliver immediately and performed no investigation.  They did not test either Tolliver's or Schneider's hands for gunshot residue.

The coroner was prepared to rule that Schneider's death was self-inflicted, until the police gave their theory.  He still ruled that her death was undetermined. The prosecution argued murder and Tolliver was convicted because of ineffective defense and the perjured testimony of a jailhouse snitch.  Tolliver is serving 16 years to life imprisonment.  (Free KT)  [4/08]

John Dolenc was convicted of murdering his wife, Patricia.  The couple had separated for a week, but agreed to meet in Bridgeville on Saturday night, July 5.  Dolenc said Patricia did not show up.  The prosecution argued that she did show up, and Dolenc murdered her that night.  Dolenc spent that night barhopping in Bridgeville with his uncle.  He was able to prove that he had been at some bars, although police did not check them all.  Even if they did, the prosecution later argued that he would have had time to murder his wife between some of the visits.

Patricia was found dead on July 8, three days later, in a parking lot behind her apartment.  She appeared to be the victim of a sexual assault.  A pathologist testified that Patricia probably was dead for less than 72 hours.  Her body was still warm and rigor mortis -- which usually disappears within 12 hours of death -- was still present.  Two of Dolenc's relatives later told a private investigator that they saw Patricia on July 7 in an Oakdale bank.  Receipts show that Patricia and one of her aunts conducted business in the bank that day.  Two other acquaintances also said they saw Patricia on July 7 at a store where she bought two cans of tuna. One of the men who saw her there said he also had beer and pizza with her later that day at a local pub.

Not long after Patricia’s death, a former boyfriend of hers named Ed Zombeck began to involve himself in the case, telling Dolenc that he was conducting his own investigation.  At the time, Dolenc did not know that his wife's father had reported Zombeck to the police for threatening her after she broke off their relationship.  Thanks to Zombeck and Mt. Lebanon police, Dolenc said he learned about the crime scene and other elements of the murder that police later said only the killer would know.  "Ed Zombeck kept turning up during the investigation like a bad penny," one Mt. Lebanon police officer said later.

Six months after the murder, police charged Zombeck with the crime after a federal drug agent told them that Zombeck's wife had screamed "tell them you did it" in the background as the agent and Zombeck were talking on the telephone.  The charges were dismissed later that day.  Zombeck denied involvement.  He said his wife had mental problems and made the statement during a domestic dispute.  Charges were not filed against Dolenc until 1981.  They were then dismissed for insufficient evidence following a coroner's inquest.  Eight months later, charges were re-filed and Dolenc was tried six years after the murder.

At trial, the prosecutor suggested some of the blood found on Patricia, belonged to Dolenc.  However, both shared the same blood type.  The prosecutor paraded a series of witnesses who testified about the couple's marital problems.  He pounded away at minor inconsistencies in statements Dolenc had given police about his movements on the Saturday night when Patricia was allegedly murdered.  While Dolenc claimed he was with his uncle that night, his uncle testified he had suffered a brain injury since the murder and could not remember dates, times or events.  Dolenc’s sister possessed a bracelet owned by his dead wife.  Both Dolenc and his sister said it was a gift Patricia had given her shortly before she died.

Dolenc's lawyer did not yet know about the four people who claim to have seen Patricia after the prosecution said she was dead.  But he did get the Allegheny County Coroner to admit that it was unlikely her body had been in the parking lot for three days.  Dolenc sought DNA tests on blood found at the crime scene.  The state opposed the tests and maintained that the finding of a third person’s blood would not prove Dolenc’s innocence.  Dolenc, then 54, died in prison of natural causes on Dec. 13, 2007.  (Point Park Univ)  [10/07]

Henry Watkins Skinner, also known as Hank, was convicted of bludgeoning to death his live-in girlfriend, Twila Busby, and stabbing to death her two sons, Randy Busby and Scooter Caler.  Hank was sentenced to death.  The murders occurred at 801 East Campbell Ave. in Pampa.  Hank, then 31, had been drinking earlier in the evening and passed out after taking codeine to which he was severely allergic.  A friend, Howard Mitchell, arrived to take Hank and Twila to a New Year’s Eve Party at 9:30 p.m., but he could not rouse Hank.

At the party Twila, 40, was stalked by her drunk uncle, Robert Donnell, a big man, who made rude sexual advances.  Twila became agitated and asked Mitchell to take her home.  She arrived home between 11:00 and 11:15 p.m.  Shortly afterwards she was bludgeoned to death.  Her younger son Randy was stabbed to death in his bed.  Her older son, Elwin “Scooter” Caler, 22, was also stabbed, but managed to escape to a neighbor’s yard where he collapsed on the porch.  He never regained consciousness.  The neighbor found him and called police at 11:59 p.m.

It is believed that after the attacks, Scooter revived Hank and led him outside, but left him in an alley.  Hank suffered a cut on his right palm that night, possibly from stumbling.  Other than that possibility, Hank suffered no noticeable harm from the attacks, either because Scooter scared off the intruder(s), or the intruder(s) were only interested in attacking Twila and her sons, and Hank, being comatose, posed no threat.  Hank managed to find his way to a different neighbor’s house, the home of Andrea Joyce Reed, where he was arrested three hours later.  Following his arrest he was unable to stand on his own for police photos.  After being photographed, he was then taken to a hospital to give blood samples.  The samples, taken six-and-a-half hours after the murders, showed a blood alcohol level of .21, more than twice the legal limit for intoxication.  Tests also revealed high levels of codeine in him.  Hank could not have drunk alcohol at his neighbor’s house as she was a recovering alcoholic and did not allow it in her house.

Autopsy results of Twila showed that she suffered a skull fracture that required great manual strength of someone wielding a club to inflict.  Hank, besides being in a stuporous state at the time of the murders, was only 5’9” 140 lbs. and had a handicapped right arm.  His right hand was too handicapped for him to have inflicted the strangulation injury found on Twila.  Whoever strangled her was strong enough to inflict bone fracture.  In contrast to Hank, Scooter towered over him at 6’6” 265 lbs. and was in good health.  Yet allegedly Hank was able to manually injure him and two other victims, without receiving any defensive wounds or bruises, aside from the possibility of his palm cut.

At the time of the murders, a witness, Ronnie Campbell, then in the county jail, phoned the house.  Scooter answered and Ronnie heard an unidentified man who was not Hank speaking with Twila.  On speaking to the frightened Scooter, he asked to speak to Twila but was told that she was speaking to "some guy."  Ronnie claimed that he heard Twila "screaming hysterically in the background."  Ronnie’s jailer confirmed that Ronnie reported the conversation to her shortly after it occurred.  Hank’s appointed attorney called neither Ronnie nor the jailer at trial.

The neighbor, Ms. Reed, who aided Hank after the murders, was threatened with being charged as an accessory after the fact and with harboring a fugitive.  She was also threatened with having her children taken away.  In response, her trial testimony made it seem as though Hank forced his way into her home and that he was physically capable of committing the murders.  She later felt remorse and signed an affidavit saying he did not force his way in and that he was unable to stand on his own.  She said that she had to practically carry him wherever he went in her house.

After Twila left the New Year's Eve party, her uncle, Robert Donnell, reportedly left 5 minutes later.  There was some evidence that Twila was raped.  She was found with her pants unzipped and her blouse was pushed up over her abdomen.  Although vaginal samples was preserved in a rape kit, police refused to test it.  Donnell's truck was identified by a neighborhood boy as being present at the time of the murders.  Following the murders Donnell thoroughly cleaned his truck, replaced the carpets, and repainted the exterior.  He was never questioned by the police.  He was later killed in a drunken auto accident.

Hank had been something of an irritant to the district attorney’s office and to the sheriff’s office.  He was an outspoken advocate of prisoner’s rights and had participated in inmate lawsuits.  He had many interviews in the Pampa newspaper on the way the prior sheriff, Jimmy Free, treated inmates in the jail and violated their rights.  He was previously arrested on a bogus burglary charge, but by demanding a rare examining hearing, got the matter dropped before he could be indicted.  Hank is still imprisoned as of 2007.  (www.hankskinner.org) (ODR)  [4/07]

Robert Angleton, also known as Bob, was a bookie who took bets on sporting events.  He was charged with murdering his 46-year-old wife, Doris.  Following the murder, Bob told police that he suspected his brother Roger was the killer.  Despite Roger’s checkered past, Bob had employed him in 1989.  He fired him less than a year later.  After being fired, Roger felt Bob owed him $200,000 and even tried to rob him of it at gunpoint.  Roger then threatened to put Bob out of business, by reporting him to the IRS.  Bob ignored him, but Roger started making phone calls to customers, posing as an IRS agent.

After realizing that Roger could ruin his bookmaking business, Bob started paying him $2500 a month.  While the payoffs worked for a while, in 1997 Roger demanded even more money.  Bob says he received a letter from Roger saying if he didn’t get the money, "I will hurt you in a way that will be with you for the rest of your life."  Bob ignored the letter, but six weeks later Doris was killed.

Roger had fled following the murder, but was arrested two months later in Las Vegas.  He had with him audiotapes of two men planning the murder.  Prosecutors believed the two men were Roger and Bob.  Roger claimed he was hired by Bob to murder Doris.  Prosecutors also learned that Doris had filed for divorce two months earlier.  Doris had an online lover that Bob said he was unaware of.  Prosecutors believe that Doris could have threatened to expose Bob’s bookmaking business in order to obtain a larger divorce settlement.

Shortly before a prosecutor was about to offer Roger a deal to testify against Bob in exchange for getting out of jail, Roger committed suicide in his cell.  Roger left a note stating that he had killed Doris on his own as an act of revenge, and that Bob was not involved.  The prosecutor convinced a judge that Roger’s note was unreliable hearsay, and therefore inadmissible.  The prosecutor hired an audio expert who had once worked for the FBI to analyze Roger’s tapes.  Contrary to the prosecutor’s hopes, the expert reported that he was “very confident” that Bob’s voice was not on the tapes.  After listening to the tapes, the jury thought the voices on it were too muffled to identify Bob’s voice.  They acquitted him.

While Roger was imprisoned, aspiring crime writer Vanessa Leggett visited him and made 50 hours of audiotapes of her interviews with Roger.  On them Roger pointed a finger at Bob and claimed that Roger had agreed to pay him $100,000 a year for ten years in exchange for killing Doris.  Roger claimed he taped his conversations with Bob as insurance in case Bob failed to pay up.  Armed with this new evidence, prosecutors planned to try Bob again, this time in federal court, three and a half years after his acquittal in state court.  Roger’s “dying declaration” suicide note would still be inadmissible, but his taped statements to Leggett would be admissible, even though Bob would be denied his constitutional right to confront Roger regarding their truthfulness.

Four days before his second trial was to begin, Bob, out on bail, boarded a plane and flew to Amsterdam.  He did not want to face the possibility of a conviction.  He carried with him $135,000 and a fake passport.  Dutch officials spotted the fake passport and took Bob into custody.  After the U.S. began extradition proceedings against him, Bob’s Dutch lawyers argued that international treaty protects against double jeopardy and prohibits the Dutch government from sending Bob back to face murder charges a second time.  Not only did a Dutch court agree, but so did the prosecutor.

Dutch courts eventually agreed to extradite Bob, but only after the U.S. filed new charges against Bob of passport and tax fraud and also agreed not prosecute him for murder.  Bob pleaded guilty to the new charges in 2004 and will be released from prison in 2014.  Bob’s two daughters have stood with him and have never believed he killed their mother.  The U.S. government says it has found a way to prosecute Bob again for murder upon his release from prison.  Leggett has written a pro-prosecution book about the case, entitled Murder by the Book.  It is expected to be released in 2007.  (48 Hours)  [2/07]

Garland Leon Martin, also known as Butch, was convicted of the arson murders of his common law wife, Marcia Pool, her son, Michael Brady Stevens, age 3, and their joint daughter, Kristen Rhea Martin, age 1.  The three died in a fire at the home they shared with Martin.  The conviction was based in large part on a hypothesis that accelerants were used to start the fire.  Some samples from fire remnants in the master bedroom reportedly tested positive for Norpar and deparaffinated kerosene.

Norpar can be used as lamp oil and deparaffinated kerosene can be found in lighter fluid, but they are also common chemicals found in numerous household products.  Experts dispute the supposition that these chemicals indicate the presence of accelerants and are petitioning to check the state’s evidence that the alleged chemicals were even found.  A defense investigator thought the fire started on the back porch rather than in the master bedroom near the back door.  He criticized original investigators for discounting and then disposing of an electrical cord that was used to connect a refrigerator on the back porch to an outlet inside the house.  He thought the fire marshal was looking for arson from the outset.  (IP Arson)  [7/07]

Indle Gifford King, Jr. was convicted of murdering his 20-year-old mail order bride, Anastasia Solovieva, who was from Krygyzstan in the former Soviet Union.  King had met Anastasia through a magazine that advertised foreign women to prospective American men.  A boarder, Daniel Larson, who rented a room in King’s house, led police to her shallow grave.  At the time Larson had been arrested for sexually assaulting a Ukrainian immigrant teenager.  Larson said King had told him he murdered Anastasia and showed him where he buried her body.  Larson later claimed he murdered King’s wife under orders from King.  King had no criminal record while Larson had a history of violence, sexual assault, and mental illness.  In addition, Larson wrote a letter to a cult leader, Christopher Turgeon, in which he stated that he killed Anastasia alone.

The state had no evidence of motive on King’s part.  They made extreme assertions of jealousy on King’s part, but they were just assertions.  Evidence indicated that King allowed Anastasia to live a separate life.  King was happy to spend some quality time with her, which Anastasia willingly agreed to.  King had married a previous mail-order bride who left him after getting a green card, so there was no reason for him to be surprised if his trophy wife showed signs of straying from her marriage.

At the time of his wife’s disappearance, the couple had just returned from Krygyzstan.  King said he went out shopping, but when he returned, Larson told him she had left him.  King said the idea that she was murdered never crossed his mind.  When Anastasia was reported missing by her parents, King falsely told police she had left him during a stopover in Moscow.  He said he told that statement because he was embarrassed that she left him.  At trial, King testified on his own behalf and hurt his case by discrepancies in his testimony.

The only evidence of guilt the prosecution offered was Larson’s self-serving and changed testimony.  Larson’s past record as a predator and his knowledge of where Anastasia was buried makes it reasonable to believe that Larson may have killed Anastasia by himself.  Such a hypothesis creates reasonable doubt for King.  At trial, the prosecution focused on King’s discrepant statements as though the burden of proof was on him to prove himself innocent.  King’s false statements raise suspicion, but prove nothing since even innocent defendants will sometimes lie in an attempt to avoid conviction or for other unknown reasons.  (AJ)  [9/07]

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]

Army Capt. MacDonald, wife Collette, 26, and two daughters, ages 5 and 2, were attacked by intruders to their home.  MacDonald survived with wounds including a collapsed lung.  MacDonald was acquitted of the murders at a Ft. Bragg Army hearing and probably would not have been tried again had he not angered the prosecution by criticizing them during interviews on national TV.  MacDonald's Army acquittal meant that he could not be court-martialed, but he could still be tried in federal court and he was.  Before his federal trial MacDonald invited author Joe McGinniss on his defense team to write a book and hopefully help to establish his factual innocence.  At that trial MacDonald was unfortunately convicted.

Author McGinniss, who prior to publication acted like he was MacDonald's best friend and biggest supporter, revealed his personal morality by writing a best-seller Fatal Vision in which he portrayed MacDonald as a monster.  MacDonald sued McGinniss.  At the lawsuit trial McGinniss had famous authors like Joseph Wambaugh and William F. Buckley defending journalists right to lie or tell "untruths" to people in order to obtain information that they would not get if they behaved honestly.  Jurors, uneducated in such rationalizations, were appalled.  McGinniss ended up paying the imprisoned MacDonald, $325,000 to dismiss the suit.

Two of the intruders to MacDonald's home are known but the Army refused to investigate them because one is the daughter of a retired Army colonel.  She is also a known drug user and an informant for the Ft. Bragg military police.  MacDonald's in-laws were overwhelmed by the tragedy and wanted him to visit the graves every day.  Some time after the Army hearing, MacDonald was offered a job in California, which his in-laws insisted he not take.  They threatened him in front of witnesses, "If you move you'll live to regret it."  When MacDonald moved, his father-in-law turned against him and said he became convinced of MacDonald's guilt.  MacDonald is pursuing DNA tests and hopes that such tests will exonerate him.

Proceedings prior to MacDonald's trial and the trial itself were a mockery of justice in the suppression of evidence favorable to the defense.  At trial, the prosecution argued that there was no evidence of intruders in the MacDonald household, but it was later shown that there was plenty of evidence.  A second book was written about the case, which is pro-defense, entitled Fatal Justice.  (Crime Library) (www.themacdonaldcase.org) (48 Hours)  [7/05]

Thirty-one-year-old Doris Faye Lentz disappeared on Apri1 23, 1996 after telling a friend she was driving from her Arlington, VA home to pick up her 4-year-old daughter, Julia, at her ex-husband's home in Fort Washington, MD.  Her ex-husband, Jay E. Lentz was a naval intelligence officer.  Doris was once an aide to Senator James Sasser of Tennessee.  Doris' blood spattered automobile was found a week after her disappearance in southeast Washington, DC.  Federal prosecutors suspected Jay murdered her.  They did not have sufficient evidence to bring murder charges against him as there was no body, no weapon, no eyewitnesses, and no crime scene.

Instead they charged Jay in April 2001 with kidnapping across state lines resulting in death.  Prosecutors claimed that Jay had lured Doris from her home under the assumption that she would pick up Julia.  Julia was not with Jay, but was visiting her grandparents in Indiana at the time of Doris' disappearance.  During jury deliberation, prosecutors planted inadmissible hearsay evidence in the jury room.  The jurors sent the judge a note that they were deadlocked after four days of deliberations.  However, after more days of deliberation, the jury convicted Jay in July 2003 of the kidnapping charge.  Jay faced a possible death sentence, but Julia testified that she did not want to lose her father after losing her mother.  Jay was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.

Prior to jury deliberations, the defense filed a Rule 29 motion to dismiss the charge against Lentz due to lack of evidence.  The defense argued that the charge of kidnapping required that the defendant both "lured" his victim and "held" her against her will.  The defense maintained there was no proof Lentz held his ex-wife against her will even if he killed her.  The judge didn't rule on the motion, but waited until the jury verdict and sentence was rendered.

In a written opinion the judge agreed that prosecutors had failed to prove their case.  The judge ruled, "To allow this conviction ... to stand would be to allow the federal government to, in essence, secure a conviction for first-degree murder without having to support the grade of that offense with evidence."  The judge entered a verdict of acquittal.  However, on appeal in Sept. 2004, the ruling was overturned and the appeals court ordered a new trial.  In March 2006, Lentz was again convicted of kidnapping and sentenced to life without parole.  No evidence was presented that Doris was held against her will.  (Google)  [4/08]