The True Story of How a Series of Lies Sent an Innocent Man to Prison
Parts of this post were used in Aggravated. The prosecution called two expert witnesses. We’ve already covered Ada Dixon. This post is about the other one, Blake Goudy, the man who gave the speech that day at Hanna’s school. Goudy said he only spoke to Hanna for fifteen minutes, so all he could say was …
The Responsibility of Judges Do judges have any responsibility to comment or interrupt or notify the attorneys, or even to strike a venireperson on their own [which is called sua sponte, “of his own accord”] if they spot an irregularity during a jury voir dire? Judge Hawes founded the Deep Springs chapter of CASA. He …
Wilcox’s Lie and Steve’s Latest Appeal Steve filed this new writ on June 2, 2017 to ask for an evidentiary hearing based on the new evidence about Ronelle Wilcox’s potential lies by omission. Esther Walker, the Assistant DA who currently handles habeas corpus appeals for the 555th District Court, in her response to the writ, …
Cleveland Sanford and Wilcox When I interviewed Cleveland Sanford, I asked him what he would have done if he had known about Ronelle Wilcox’s service with CASA. He said, “I wouldn’t leave somebody that was a CASA volunteer on a child case. I mean, I just wouldn’t do it…unless I didn’t have any other options.” …
Ronelle Wilcox and CASA Let’s look at the courtroom floor plan again. When Sanford asked his question about CASA there were seven out of ten potential jurors remaining on the front row. Juror #1 was gone, and so were #3 and #7. Ms. Wilcox had one empty space on her right and another on her …
Ronelle Wilcox and the Voir Dire After lunch, Elmer Ross still had the floor. His first question was answered by Juror #2, Ronelle Wilcox. My focus will be on her for the rest of the voir dire. [By the way, I need to remind you that this exploration of Ms. Wilcox’s role in the voir …
Parts of this post were used in Aggravated. Texas v. Munsen – Dixon’s Excuses The Gonzo and Munsen cases happened five and seven years, respectively, after Steve’s 2006 trial (2011 and 2013). As I said in the last post, Dixon said that she had testified in 30 or 40 trials by 2006. So I wondered, …
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 …
Parts of this post were used in Aggravated. Nina Dixon’s Qualifications While Steve was sitting in a courtroom on the first day of his first trial, Ada Dixon was in Austin receiving “an advisory letter” from the Texas State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors (TSBEPC). The letter was a warning to Dixon about a …
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 …