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pen, it seems unlikely that Hayne and
West will suffer much in the way of repercussions. Giving unscientific testimony isn’t a crime. A prosecutor would
need to show that the men willfully gave
false testimony, which is difficult to
prove. Both men are currently the targets of lawsuits by Kennedy Brewer and
Levon Brooks. So far, similar suits have
been unsuccessful, although none of the
prior suits involved a DNA exoneration.
Currently, Hood is not only seeking
to retry Leigh Stubbs, he’s defending
three death penalty convictions won on
questionable forensic evidence, two involving Hayne (Jeffrey Havard and Devin
Bennett), and the other involving both
Hayne and West (Eddie Lee Howard).
“It’s just unconscionable,” Carrington
says. “The state cheated by using West.
And even in the unlikely event that they
actually believed him at trial in these
cases, there’s no question they’re knowingly cheating by continuing to defend
those convictions.”
Meanwhile, well-intentioned public
officials like Roseman are left with the
task of explaining to people like Julie
Mae Wilson why her daughter’s killer remained free because Roseman and others
were duped by Hayne and West.
Wilson sits her house beneath the big
wall covered with photos of her children,
grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
She has taken down most of the pictures
of Mabry. She’ll never forget her daughter, of course, but she also doesn’t need
the constant reminder. There are just
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two still hanging, and Mabry’s image in
each are small enough that she has to
pull them down from the wall to point
out what her daughter looked like.
“It had been so long, I just thought
they were going to wait until everyone
stopped talking about it, thinking we’d
forget,” she says. “They made a mistake.
Seemed like they were just planning to
sweep it under the rug.”
James Earl Gates passed away a few
years ago. He dropped dead of a heart
attack while working on his car. His
death was yet another unexpected jolt
— one of many unpleasant reminders
about the murder to blindside Wilson.
In the coming months she’ll get more
reminders once Michael Johnson is
charged and, if he doesn’t plead guilty,
as he’s tried. She says she’ll attend the
trial, and if he’s convicted, she’ll attend
the sentencing. She says that maybe
once all of that is over, she can start
thinking about closure, finally safe in
the knowledge that there won’t be any
more unpleasant surprises.
“I’m glad they found out who
did it,” she says. “But I’m tired.”