The True Story of How a Series of Lies Sent an Innocent Man to Prison
“There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” Søren Kierkegaard One of Hanna’s comments in Aggravated continues to resurface for me periodically. In her May 2006 interview with Tom Swearingen, less than two months before the first trial began, …
By 2010 or so, Steve and I were talking on the phone at least once a week, sometimes twice; long rambling talks about anything and everything (books, music, politics, religion, his circumstances, the law, television, and anything else that happened to surface), although we always discussed some aspect of his case, and that was usually …
Parts of this post were used in Aggravated. This is the fifth 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. This is the fourth 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. This is the second of four posts about a search for some evidence. If you haven’t read the first post yet, you should probably do that before reading this one. Here’s a link, Part 1, Why I Searched for Karla. A Trip to Deep Springs In late-August …
Parts of this post were used in Aggravated. Analysis of the Lie This is the fourth of four posts about a lie I believe Hanna told in court. If you haven’t read the first three posts yet, you should probably do that before reading this one. Start with Part 1, The Background. Why did Hanna …
Parts of this post were used in Aggravated. The Research This is the second of four posts about a lie that I believe Hanna told in court. If you haven’t read the first post yet, you should probably do that before reading this one. Part 1, The Background The lie itself, is that Hanna testified …
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 …
Questions From the Prosecution Hawes turned the proceedings over to the prosecutor, Elmer Ross, who said, “This is the point in the process where we will be talking to you a little bit about your background and about your life experiences to determine whether or not you would be an effective and impartial juror on …
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 …