May 15, 2006
THE RIGHT MAN?
In a classic case of less-than-thorough investigation, inaccurate testing, zealous prosecution, and public anger at a brutal crime, a man was sentenced to death.
On the night of March 10, 1981, Brad came home from the swing shift shortly after 11 to find Wanda's body on the bedroom floor in a pool of warm blood. She had been stabbed twice in the chest, and her throat had been slashed with such force that she was nearly decapitated. She was 19 years old.
Investigators quickly focused on Roger Coleman, 22, a bright but troubled young man who was married to Wanda's 16-year-old sister and worked at the TJ&M Coal Co. mine up on Looney's Creek. Raised mostly by his grandparents and his uncle after his parents separated, Coleman first got in trouble with the authorities for making obscene phone calls as a teenager. Just before graduating from high school in 1977, he was accused of attempting to rape a local schoolteacher. She testified that he gained entry to her home, forced her to tie up her terrified 6-year-old daughter and threatened her with a gun before she was able to escape. He denied the charge, and his high school principal testified that he had seen Coleman at school at the time of the crime. But the jury believed the victim -- Coleman served 20 months in prison. Then, two months before the murder, there was the library incident. All of that, plus Coleman's family ties to Wanda, led police to his door.
Coleman was executed in May of 1992 despite forceful appeals and representation by anti-death penalty advocates. His case was featured widely in the national media including "Nightline" and "Larry King Live." Despite his advocates' efforts, Coleman did die in the electric chair.
In a disturbing coda to the story, minister Jim McCloskey petitioned the courts to perform DNA testing to prove that Roger Coleman was ultimately innocent of the brutal rape and murder of his sister-in-law that he was executed for. It was an unprecedented move. DNA testing had never been performed to exonerate or incriminate a person who'd already been executed for a crime. Lengthy court actions eventually necessitated the tests. Years of efforts to clear the reputation of a man murdered by the state of Virginia were to become reality. McCloskey even had a crew from "Nightline" on hand to vindicate his efforts when he received a call from a DNA testing lab exonerating Coleman. There was just one problem with this classic Hollywood tale. Coleman did rape, stab, and cut the throat of his sister-in-law. An interesting story.
Tagged:Posted by Lexiphane at May 15, 2006 11:04 AM
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