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17
have what they call a black list, a hit list that the politicians in South Carolina put people on. When
my name popped up it became a field day and it just became too much for her, and she left, and they
had to force her to come back. Now whether she was honest with them or whether they really knew
what had happened or what I do know. But they completely changed her appearance for the trial.
They dyed her hair, they put her in different clothes, they restyled and cut her hair so that this was
how much she changed. I had only seen her a couple times, but when she came into the trial I kept
asking my attorney when Meryl Blackburn was going to he there. I did not recognize her. That’s how
much she had changed. And so people who would have seen her that night which were alibi witnesses
of mine would not have been able to perfectly identify her was the plan. And the reason for this is that
there were witnesses who could have destroyed her testimony. But most important is lab tests that I
happen to know the Lord was behind. I checked into the hospital within six or seven hours from when
she claims this had taken place. It was supposed to have taken place Mother’s Day weekend of '87
and like in the wee hours of Saturday morning. And Saturday afternoon around lunchtime I was
checking in to the hospital. The test on admittance was this test for alcohol and drugs. Now this
woman didn’t know that. SLED and the prosecution didn’t know that. And this woman claimed in her
affidavit that I had forced her to drink and to take drugs and that I was drinking and taking drugs
along with her. The urineanalysis
totally proved her to be lying; there were no drags or alcohol
in my
system. And yet, and let me say that (O.K.), finally it was brought to trial Jan. 21 which was a
Thursday of 1988. The jury was selected. A week before I was to go to trial I had all the funds that I
had left I settled my law suit out of court, which was to he $120,000. I settled it out for $10,000 and
gave it to my attorney who was supposed to spend it all on a private investigator.
This private
investigator was an ex-SLED agent. Supposediy,
he tracked down all the witnesses I had told him
There was enough evidence for, all this time I sat there and I knew I was going to be found innocent. I
knew I was innocent. I knew the evidence was there to prove it. And the lawyer came and told me
they had the lab tests. That they went before the judge and argued against the solicitor and got lab
tests admitted into evidence and it was going to he there. He had drawn as he put it 32 witness’s
subpoenas and had served most of them, and was going to have the witnesses there and it was going
to be an open show. And so all day of the 21st I watched the trial not worried, and yet not
understanding
what my attorney was doing. My attorney was making me out to he the bad-you see
my attorney wanted me to take the stand and say I had affair with this woman and she was just upset.
And I wouldn’t do it. I didn’t know at the time that he was in on it. And if they lost, they really
weren’t going to lose this case. If they lost, they wanted at least to destroy my reputation. And I
couldn’t understand where the witnesses were. And I didn’t know until this month that they were
there, they were just segregated outside of the courtroom. And so all day of the 21st I listened to the
testimony. It was so ridiculous the jurors were laughing at the testimony, that’s how ridiculous. I
insisted when some nurses were up for jury duty I had insisted they get on the stand because they
would have been able to believe the medical evidence. I mean the medical evidence which cleared
me, we won right then and there.
I
couldn’t understand my lawyer put a woman on the jury who admitted, it’s in the transcript, that her
and her husband had seen the stories and read the stories and had already formed a conclusion.
Obviously,
if you had read the stories the conclusion would have been that I was guilty. Right? And
as far as the public knew, I was still being suspected of all these, you know hundred something rapes,
and nobody knew these didn’t exist and nobody knew they didn’t go anywhere. So as this jury took, I
couldn’t understand it. He said, "Oh, don’t worry, it will be alright, I know what I am doing." The
next day we come back, [I] still expecting to present a case, the 22nd of January, (1] still expecting to
present a case. They called up a few minor witnesses. The only new witness they put on the case, they
were trying to prove that the publishing company didn’t exist, that it was phony, that it was a scam to
draw women into it that I could rape and all this type of stuff. This is what the prosecution
was trying
to prove. There was just too much thousands of dollars yeah, blah, blah, I’ll come and testify and blah
blah." Then he turns around and tells my court appointed attorney for the Post-conviction
that he
thinks James Corry, that’s the attorney’s name, did marvelous work for me sad did the best be could
under the circumstances.
Yes, I’m innocent but no attorney could have done better for me. Making
himself a witness who wasn’t usable, but he didn’t show up for the trial though he promised. This
pastor had files [files?-word
unclear] in his hand to set me free and refused to use it. I’ll let you draw
