no hairs of anyone of african-american descent. he 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 from the victim s body at the time of the autopsy. one hair, not hairs. one hair. it was merely another hair in the bedroom of mrs. edwards. 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 before ruling, the judge issued his decision on the spot. all motions are denied. the judge said, one hair is not enough. i m out of here. in this case, there are a number of things that stink and if you look at it as a whole, it doesn t just stink, it reeks. an execution date was set for elmore. he was placed in a high security lockdown cell
we got all excited to ask the judge to set a hearing. it was december 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. judge ernest kinard presided, the same judge who had stated elmore may well be not guilty. lab corps has sent us a report iicating there are hairs from someone other than dorothy edwards and there were
thomas henderson was a state police agent who grew up across the street from dorothy edwards and james holloway and was friendly with both. tom henderson had nothing to do with forensic investigation at all. nothing. he wasn t supposed to be involved in the case any way. because these were people he knew his whole life long. there was really no reason for him to have removed these things from the laboratory. we were arguing that this evidence had in all likelihood been tampered with and quite conceivably that mrs. edwards blood had been put on the garments. it would now be up to the judge to rule whether or not elmore deserved a new trial. the decision would take four months to come down. we presented all this great evidence. we re very excited. we re stoked. then comes the judge s order and the cover letter said, edward lee elmore may well not be
prevailing were very slight. in yet another face-off with donald zelenka, the fourth circuit 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 saying at 9:30. locking down the time of death based on his alibi. i thought you locked downtime of death by science. the judge 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 of the bed where these hairs were supposed to be. does that make sense? 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 questions, i came out of the argument feeling negative about our pro
diana s team immediately appealed the judge s decision to the south carolina supreme court. in the meantime, the state prosecutor, donald zalenka had discovered that diana had a secret that if exposed to destroy her career and damage elmore s case. he would soon call her to a deposition. he asked, have you ever done anything in the course of your life that would reflect poorly on the legal profession? and i said, yes. dear sun, you created light. you are loved. celebrated. but things have changed since you got into this business. at philips, we re creating led light that people can color. adjust. even make beautiful sunsets. dear sun, you might be number one,