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. these were people he knew his whole lifelong. 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 will. 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,ward lee elmore may well not be guilty but that will be for an appellate court to find. the judge had left elmore s
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 kinnard again presided, the same judge who hat 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. 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
he wasn t supposed to be involved in the case anyway 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 guilty, but that will be for an appellate court to find. judge kinnard had left elmore s fate up to other judges to decide.
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. that was the best moment of my life as an attorney.
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. 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 wreaks.