with the case at a dead end and duckett headed toward execution, marshall frank had an idea. he said i ve got a friend that used to work for the miami herald. and i had read edna buchanan s stories before over the years. and so i knew who the name was. and so i felt excited. edna buchanan was a pulitzer prize winning crime reporter for the miami herald. an outstanding reporter, one of the best i ve ever known. i wanted to tell her what the story was. marshall frank kept calling me. i had noun him. he had been a source of mine over the years and he said he found this case where he is convinced the man on death row was innocent. i was dubious because if the
convinced the ex-cop is innocent. there was really no hard evidence. we have an innocent guy here. this is crazy. and the case takes an unexpected turn. you never say it can t be. because often it is. there s a body in the water. he was butchered and murdered. many people proclaim their innocence. in this case there are a number of things that stink. this man is remorseless. he needs to pay for it with his life. the electric chair flashed in front of my eyes. get a conviction at all costs. let the truth fall where it may. i was the chief of police for
police never charge duckett with the weldon murder, but they have said they ll pursue duckett for the crime if he is ever let off death row for the mcabee murder, a possibility beth wells is counting on. they re presently reviewing jim s case, and i m 100% confident that when they evaluate this evidence, they ll say, you know what? we got it wrong. we have to give this guy a new trial. the hard evidence was tire tracks which can t be identified to his car. a pubic hair, nothing that he can even say the pubic hair belonged to james duckett. gwen, her truthfulness is in doubt. we ve been doing this a long time. hopefully we won t be doing it much longer, you know. he ll be out and not needing an attorney. in the meantime, duckett s appeals had left teresa s mother in limbo. i just want justice for my daughter. that s what i want. 26 years. i m tired. i don t think i ll ever have closure. because he is not going to admit it. these years looking back, i should have drove tere
guy was, like, shame on them. shame on them. a jury should have known that that hair could not be identified to anybody. but duckett s defense jack edmond, had not questioned the pubic hair results at trial and he also neglected to gather evidence of duckett s alibi and depose some key tnesses. jack assured me that he would handle this. don t worry about it. consider the short vacation. he said we ll get this straightened out will. i kept telling jack, i think you re overconfident and taking too much for granted. you think they don t have that strong of a case. but you re not trying to convince me. you re trying to convince 12 other people. in order to retain jack edmond, james duckett s family had taken out a mortgage on a moment putting their confidence in one of the most renowned defense attorneys in florida. everything i could find, this attorney did a horrendous job in defending james duckett. defense attorney 101. you take depositions from the state s witnesses. the key
plant and said duckett showed up late the night jennifer weldon disappeared. and when he did show up at work, he was quite disheveled and seemed to be upset and wasn t himself. jennifer weldon was carrying a lime green bag with a stuffed animal inside the night she disappeared. i got call one day from duckett s wife out of the blue, and she said, mr. hurm, i think jimmy may have had something to do with that case. i say why do you say that? she said, because i remember him coming home with a bag with a little stuffed animal and she said, the reason i remember it is i was mad at him because we had two boys and i said why wouldn t you bring two toys because you know they ll fight over it. i get goose bumps thinking about this.