proving elmore s innocence was not enough. to get a new trial, elmore s team would have to prove that elmore s constitutional rights had been violated. a person can be innocent but as long as they get a fair trial, that s all they re entitled to. well, that begs the question. is it a fair trial if somebody has lied? diana s team immediately appealed judge kinard s decision to the south carolina supreme court. but in the meantime, the state prosecutor, donald zelenka had discovered that diana had a secret that if exposed could destroy her career and damage elmore s case. he would soon call her to a deposition. don zelenka asked have you ever done anything in the course of your life that would reflect poorly on the legal profession? and i said, yes.
zelenka dug through diana s past looking for anything to get her off the case. in april 2000, he called her to a deposition. it was at the attorney general s office. there were six attorneys across the table from me and all of them lined up like this. looking. don zelenka asked have you ever done anything in the course of your life that would reflect poorly on the legal profession? and i said, yes. diana feared that if her story became public, it would ruin her reputation and destroy elmore s chances for a new trial. in 1975 at the age of 17, diana ran away to new orleans with a few friends. it was a horrible time. my sister had been taken away by the state of texas. it had to do with sexual abuse that i suffered.
inmates and sending letters to the presiding judges. she even had one woman s sentence reduced. doing the few things that did that made an impact, i want more of that. i want to do more of that. i want to help people like that. a model prisoner, diana was released in october of 1977 with a full pardon. the whole episode became a distant memory until donald zelenka confronted her with it nearly 25 years later. i was like, you know what? you opened the door. i m walking through it. let s do this. i m going to tell it all. not just the part you want to hear. but the judge in the case, visibly disgusted by zelenka s tactic, disallowed the deposition. diana could continue her fight for elmore s life. at elmore s trial, prosecutor willie t. had claimed that negroid hair had been found on the body. but when the defense had
by 1995, diana was ready to present evidence pointing to edward elmore s innocence to a state court in south carolina. the goal was to get a new trial for elmore. diana would be joined by chris jensen for what would be her 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
judge ernest kinard again presided, the same judge who had stated that elmore may well not be guilty. lab corps has sent us a report indicating there are 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 dna to read. we do not dispute the materials recovered from the victim s body at the time of the autopsy. one hair, not hairs. one hair that was in the bedroom. this is a completely different case than what the jury heard. in the final analysis, the question really is if not now, when? if this is not enough to grant somebody a new trial, then when is post conviction relief ever appropriate? unexpectedly, rather than adjourn and read the filings