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 zalenka who reportedly once argued that women who had abortions in the third trimoster could be executed for murder. and elmore s fate would be decided by judge earnest kinnard. one of the first witnesses called was james gilliam, the inmate who said elmore confessed to him in jail. 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 will 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
guilty. but that will be for an appellate court to find. the judge had left elmore s fate up to other judges to decide. i became literally became hysterical. completely sobbing, running, i threw it at john blume. what the hell is the matter with you? john blume had assigned elmore s case to diana as an intern. i was stunned. i had really expected that he would grant relief because they had presented a compelling case of mr. elmore s innocence. diana was discovering that proving mr. 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?
were you afraid of dying? not in a way, but like i say, i knew the truth would eventually come out, right. so that s that s kept me going. it kept my faith right, and just taking it one day at a time. that s all you can do, you know, and hope and pray that everything come out all right. mr. elmore had been incarcerated for 11,000 days. the judge told mr. elmore that he had exhausted his sentence and he was free to go. you are free to go, mr. elmore. we could walk him out that door of the courtroom and down those steps as a free man. and that was i m sorry. that was the best moment of my life as an attorney.
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 earnest kinnard. 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 new 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. but with elmore facing the electric chair, he felt bad what he had done. i said james, make it right. and i got excited. i felt like once this comes out that ed would be free. gilliam said the testimony
so excite, i couldn t hardly speak. locked up all them years something i didn t do, and comes along, she believed in me. were you afraid of dying? not in a way, but like i say, i knew the truth would eventually come out, right. that s kept me going. it kept my faith right, and just taking it one day at a time. that s all you can do, you know, and hope and pray that everything come out all right. mr. elmore had been incarcerated for 11,000 days. the judge told mr. elmore that he had exhausted his sentence. and he was free to go. you are free to go. mr. elmore. we could walk him out that door of the courtroom and down those steps as a free man. and that was i m sorry.