we got all excited. asked for the judge to set a hearing. it was december 20th or 21st. we were going to have christmas beyond all christmases. on december 21st, 2000, a new hearing was held. if a new trial were to be granted, elmore could be released on bail and join his family for the holidays after more than 18 years on death row. all rise. judge ernest kinard again presided, the same judge who had stated elmore may well be not guilty. lab corps has indicated in a record that there are no hairs from someone other than dorothy edwards and there were no hairs of anyone of african-american descent. zelenka acknowledged the evidence should have been given to the defense but argued only one of the hairs had sufficient
first hearing as a lawyer. she was very fierce. she had not the slightest doubt about eddie elmore s innocence. she was determined to make sure that i did my job. the state was represented by donald zelenka, who reportedly once argued that women who had abortions in the third trimester could be executed for murder. and elmore s fate would be decided by judge ernest kinard. one of the first witnesses called was james gilliam, the inmate who said elmore confessed to him in jail. but in the small town of greenwood, both elmore and gilliam knew bishop spearman. and before the hearing, gilliam told spearman the truth. james gilliam and i go back i guess all our life. one night he called me and he told me i lied and my conscience is bothering me. gilliam said he made a deal with the prosecutor to testify against elmore in exchange for release from prison.
conservative federal appellate court in the country. so we felt our chances of prevailing were very slight. in yet another face-off with donald zelenka, the 4th circuit court s three-judge panel heard oral arguments in september of 2010, and remarkably, they came down hard on zelenka. the time of death, we were locking it down because the defendant was seen at 9:30 headed towards that direction. locking down the time of death based on what his alibi was. i thought you locked down time of death by science. the judges have moral righteous indignation in their voices and what they re saying. you put in evidence there was hairs found on the bed there was a big part of the conviction? yes, it was. not one photograph was taken where the hairs were supposed to be. does that make sense to you? well, i don t know. do you think that makes a difference now that we know he is mentally retarded? no, not at all. in this case, this is just a constellation of problems. even tho
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in yet another face-off with donald zeal zelenka, the 4th circuit court s three-judge panel heard oral arguments in september of 2010, and remarkably, they came down hard on zelenka. the time of death, we were locking it down because the defendant was seen at 9:30 headed that direction. locking down the time of death based on what his alibi was. i thought you locked down time of death by science. the judges have moral righteous indignation in their voices and what they re saying. you put in evidence there was hairs found on the bed there was a big part of the conviction? yes, it was. not one photograph was taken where the hairs were supposed to be. does that make sense to you? well, i don t know. do you think that makes a difference now that we know he is mentally retarded? no, not at all. in this case, this is just a constellation of problems. even though the judges seem to be raising some serious