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. and he was, 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? diana s team immediately appealed the judge s decision to
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 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 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
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. 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 release from prison. with elmore facing the electric chair, he felt bad about what he had done.
court in the country. so we felt our chances of 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 down time 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 o