The True Story of How a Series of Lies Sent an Innocent Man to Prison
Parts of this post were used in Aggravated. This is the third post of five questions/items that were part of a chapter in Aggravated. In that chapter I answered and/or explained all five in just a few paragraphs, so these are just more detailed breakdowns of the reasoning behind those answers. If you’ve already read …
Parts of this post were used in Aggravated. The Background This post and the three that follow it comprise an expanded early version of a chapter in Aggravated. I trimmed this material down considerably for the book, so if you’ve read the book you don’t need to read these unless you want to. They will …
Parts of this post were used in Aggravated. What Was Missing From the Summary After I had gathered most of the documentation related to Steve’s trial, I began making notes, comparing one set of documents with another. One of the first things I noticed was that much of what Hanna originally claimed in her affidavit …
Parts of this post were used in Aggravated. Overview of the Summary In September 2004, Steve’s original attorney, Roland Mathis, filed a motion requesting records from any medical or psychiatric reports that the DA’s office might have. Hanna’s medical records and Ada Dixon’s session notes were the two primary things Mathis was looking for. It …
Parts of this post were used in Aggravated. Numbers and Details The more I looked into Ada Dixon and others associated with Steve’s trial, the more I began to wonder how accurate their testimony was. For example, in the second trial (August 2006), Dixon was asked by the prosecutor, Elmer Ross, how many times (in …
References to these images will be found in the chapter in Aggravated titled, The Night of Beau’s 21st Birthday Party. On the 13th and 14th of February, 2004, the National Weather Service reported that a winter storm “swept across all of North Texas,” leaving “some of the heaviest snowfalls” in that area in over …
The disclaimer in the book, Aggravated, explains how and why I changed the names of almost everyone involved in the story. That passage can also let you know what to expect on this blog and website, since I will be doing the same thing here. Here’s the passage. “This is a true story, filled with …