and when i went to greenwood jail and i spoke with him, he really didn t know why he was there. that bothered me. a hard worker, elmore got by on odd jobs like cleaning gutters and washing windows, including for dorothy edwards. when dorothy was murdered, age old fears and recrimination surfaced in the community. i know race plays a role when it come to the justice system. in greenwood, there are those that still have their agenda, but it is a hidden agenda. i m positive that race played a factor in edward lee elmore s trials. make no mistake, i think that was because he was the black guy that they say killed an older white woman. searching through elmore s original trial, diana found potential grounds for appeal. her first target was public
the light when you trust god, no matter how bad it looks, it s not as bad as it seems because god is still in control. bishop spearman was pastor to edward lee elmore, the man accused of murdering dorothy edwards. i come to know edward in the late 70s. i pastored his home church. and his mother and i were best of friends. they didn t have a whole lot. one of 11 siblings, elmore s father was killed by a hit-and-run driver when elmore was 2. he grew up in dire poverty. he had a low i.q. i was a special ed teacher so i knew that he was slow.
william t. jones iii, known as willie t. was considered a master of the courtroom. willie t s track record spoke for itself. he lost very few. he was very dramatic. i ve seen that man cry in front of the jury. mr. jones in the courtroom could probably outperform sir lawrence olivier. let s put it that way. he could overpower you, overcontrol you. he was not beyond saying things that he couldn t prove if they weren t challenged. early in the first trial anderson challenged jones by objects that a single thumbprint was not enough to arrest elmore. in order to obtain an arrest warmth, the police obtain an upside down thumb print on the back outside door frame. that s exactly consistent with cleaning the windows. cleaning the door. that is not probable cause in anywhere else in america that i m aware of. but willie t. said, oh, well i m
elmore moved back in with his sister, and has begun the process of adjusting to a world very different from the one he left. there you go. so much had changed, you know, since trying to get used to everything. still trying to adjust to things. it s so technical, right, phones and computers and l that stuff. it s really, really hard. i m trying to learn how, you know. i m trying to cope with it. eddie s case taught me a lot of things about our justice system. it taught me to be distrustful, skeptical. geography can make the difference. money, of course. gender, of course. race is the one that is just a dagger to the heart. but it also taught me to never give up on it. that even 30 years later, someone will listen.
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