John Grisham - The Innocent Man

The first witness Monday was Dr. Fred Jordan, who, for the third time in the same seat, testified in detail about the autopsy and cause of death. It was also the third time that Peggy Stillwell had suffered through it, and the ordeal was certainly not getting any easier. Fortunately, she could not see the photos they were passing around to the jurors. She could see their reactions, and that was enough.

Dr. Jordan was followed by Tony Vick, Fritz's neighbor; Donna Walker, the convenience store clerk; and Letha Caldwell, the late-night acquaintance-all three as useless as they'd been in the Fritz trial.

The fireworks started when Terri Holland was called next. During the preliminary hearing she'd been able to spin her yarns with no fear of getting caught. Now, though, with Ron glaring at her and knowing the truth, things would be different.

The tales started immediately- Holland was describing statements Ron allegedly made in jail about Debbie Carter-and it was obvious Ron was about to explode. He shook his head, clenched his jaws, stared at Holland as if he'd like to kill her. Finally she said, "He said if she'd went ahead and went with him, he'd never had to kill her."

Ron said, "Oh," loudly.

Nancy Shew asked, "Did you ever hear a phone conversation that he made that related to Debbie Carter in any way?"

Holland: "I was working in the laundry; I was a trustee. Ron was on the phone to his mom, and he told his mother-he was trying to get her to bring him cigarettes or something, I'm not sure what, but they-he was hollering at her. And he told her that if she didn't that he'd have to kill her like he did Debbie Carter."

To which Ron yelled, "She is lying!"

Nancy Shew continued: "Ms. Holland, did you ever hear him describe or talk about any of the details of Debbie Carter's death? "

Holland: "He was telling-I guess in the bullpen, the guys back there-that he-he said he shoved a Coke bottle up her ass and her panties down her throat."

Ron jumped up, pointed at her, and yelled, "You are lying! I ain't never said nothing like that in my life! I did not kill this girl, and I call you a liar."

Barney: "Be still, Ron."

Ron: "I don't even know what you're-I mean, you're going to pay for that."

There was a pause as everyone caught their breath, and Barney slowly rose to his feet. He knew exactly what was comingrepair work. The prosecution's star witness had botched a couple of crucial facts-the panties and the Coke bottle-a common problem with fabricated testimony.

With the courtroom tense, a lying witness exposed, and Barney already waiting to pounce, Nancy Shew tried to fix the damage.

Shew: "Ms. Holland, let me ask you about the details you were just relating. As far as your memory goes, are you sure about the objects that he stated he used? You said Coke bottle."

Barney: "If the court please, if the court please-I heard what she said, and I don't want this district attorney changing her testimony any either, and I object to that."

Holland: "He said Coke bottle or catsup bottle or bottle-" Barney: "See what I mean. If the court please."

Holland: "It's been four years." Ron: "Yeah, and you're a-" Barney: "Hush."

Shew: "Ms. Holland, can you-I know you overheard different things-" Barney: "If the court please-"

Shew: "Can you think of-"

Barney: "I'm going to object to this leading and suggestive questioning that the District Attorney is doing." The Court: "State a question without posturing anything in front of it."

Shew: "Did he ever tell why-you said that he said that he killed-" Holland: "He wanted to sleep with Debbie Carter."

Ron: "You're a liar!" Barney: "Shut up."

Ron (standing): "She's a liar. I ain't going to sit for it. I didn't kill Debbie Carter, and you are lying." Barney: "Ronnie, come on, sit down."

Peterson: "Judge, can we have a recess, please. Barney-I object to counsel's sidebar comments, Your Honor." Barney: "These aren't sidebar comments, if the court please." The Court: "Wait a minute."

Barney: "I'm talking to this defendant."

The Court: "Wait a minute. Ask your next question. Mr. Williamson, I must admonish you that you are not allowed to speak from the chair you are now in."

Shew: "Ms. Holland, can you recall if he ever said why he did what he did?" Holland: "Because she wouldn't sleep with him."

Ron: "You're lying, damn it, tell the truth. I never killed nobody in my life." Barney: "Judge, I'd like to ask if we could have a recess for a few minutes here." The Court: "All right. Remember your instructions. The jury may step down." Ron: "Could I speak to her, please. Let me talk to her. What is she talking about? "

A short break cooled things down. With the jury absent, Judge Jones had a nice chat with Ron, who assured His Honor that he could behave himself. When the jury returned, the judge explained that the case was to be decided on the evidence only, and nothing else. Not comments from the attorneys, and certainly not comments and actions by the defendant.

But Ron's chilling threat of "You're going to pay for that" was clearly heard by the jurors. They, too, were afraid of him.

During the melee, Nancy Shew was unable to completely resuscitate her witness. With leading and suggestive questions she was able to transform the Coke bottle to a catsup bottle, but the little detail of the panties in the mouth went uncorrected. The bloody washcloth was never mentioned by Terri Holland.

The next hot-check artist called by the state to help find the truth was Cindy Mclntosh, but the poor girl was so confused she couldn't remember which story she was expected to tell. She drew a blank, and was finally dismissed without completing her duties. Mike Tenney and John Christian told of their late-night chats with Ron in his cell and some of the strange things he said. Neither bothered to mention that Ron repeatedly denied any involvement in the murder and would often scream for hours that he was innocent.

After a quick lunch, Peterson lined up the OSBI agents in the same order as in the Fritz trial. Jerry Peters went first and told his story of reprinting Debbie's hands after the exhumation because he was uncertain about a tiny portion of her left palm. Barney tried to pin him down on exactly how and why this became an issue four and a half years after the autopsy, but Peters proved elusive. Did he worry about his initial findings for such a long period of time? Or did Bill Peterson call at random one day early in 1987 and make some suggestions? Peters was vague.

Larry Mullins offered the same opinion as Peters-the bloody print on the Sheetrock belonged to Debbie Carter, not some mysterious killer.

Mary Long testified that Ron Williamson was a non-secretor, thus placed squarely in the minority of about 20 percent of the population. Debbie's rapist was probably in this group. With some effort, Barney pinned her down on the exact number of people she had tested and arrived at a total of twenty, including the victim. And of that number, twelve were non-secretors, or 60 percent of her pool. He then had some fun with the math. Susan Land testified briefly. She had begun the hair analysis in the Carter case but then transferred it to Melvin Hett. When pressed by Barney as to why, she said: "At that particular time I was working on numerous homicides and all the stress and strain, I just didn't feel that I could be objective, and I didn't want to make a mistake on something." Melvin Hett was then sworn in and was soon delivering the same scholarly lecture he'd given a few days earlier in the Fritz trial. He described the laborious process of microscopically comparing known hair with questioned hair. He did a fine job of giving the impression that hair analysis was thoroughly reliable. It had to be; it was used all the time in criminal trials. Hett told the jury he'd worked on "thousands" of hair cases. He produced some stock diagrams of different types of hair and explained that hair has between twenty-five and thirty distinguishable characteristics.