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| Note: The blank spaces are witness�s names that have been removed for legal purposes. The Trial It came out at trial that there were many things uncovered by the police that could have cleared me that were never followed up on. I will go through my trial notes and quote things for you. Officer Lamb dusted for fingerprints and got several sets from Mr. Rode's house and off his truck. He testified to trying to match them to a few other people and me but did not get any matches. He basically quit trying. The I.D. Technician for Beaumont Police Department confiscated 150 videotapes and all were gone and destroyed by the time trial started. At the beginning of the 2nd day of trial a juror came before the judge and told the judge that his car was stolen the night before and the judge wouldn't dismiss him. Also, I had two mistrials in my case before a jury was ever seated. The State's key witness was in jail in Louisiana on several charges, and he was on parole. It came out that his charges (Felonies) were dropped and he got out the day I was arrested on January 3rd. The state hid it from us until we discovered that the D.A. had made several phone calls and sent a Fax to his parole officer and parole board and got his blue warrant dropped. The D.A. denied making any deals with anyone. The man who was supposed to be the one who gave the state's key witness his alibi, and was supposed to be the one who went to the police station in Beaumont after be bonded out in Louisiana and told the detectives what the state's witness had told him, that he was involved in a murder, could not be located at all for some reason. The state would not call him in and we could not find him anywhere. He was directly implemented in the state's key witness testimony but was not called in and could not be located for some reason. So we asked for a motion for continuance to locate him and get his vital testimony to show the state is Fabricating Evidence by making their witness lie, but the judge denied it. That was the second person the D.A. made disappear. The alleged murder weapon and some stolen property was given to police by a man named ( ) after police arrested him. He was later released and testified for the state saying be bought the stuff from my brother. He first gave police a VCR then later then next day or so he gave them a pistol and another VCR. The pistol was later identified as one of the murder weapons! Not only did the state withhold the evidence of the deals with the witnesses, it came out, when we found it, that the D.A. was withholding a letter from a man that was written to Mr. Rode while that man was in prison telling Mr. Rode to "watch out" for a man named ( ). We asked for a Mistrial which was denied, then a continuance to check out these people and that was denied also. There were a few people that heard the state's Key witness "bragging" about committing this crime. And also an affidavit was secured from a man who worked along side (state�s witness) at a convention in Houston, Texas. He gave an affidavit that ( ) was bragging to him about being involved in a murder in Beaumont. There was evidence missing out of the police property room. There was a desk calendar for 90', 92'. 93', and 94' and the last month Mr. Rode was alive "December" was torn out, missing. Also a pocket calendar was produced and December 94' was torn out of that one too. These items were confiscated from his office at Lamar University and his home. Also found was a hand-written note stating "That nothing illegal or wrong has happened while at Elmer Rode's house" and it was not signed. The Sergeant of the Beaumont Police testified he found it but that no test was run to find out whose handwriting it was. So it was brought up at trial then seemingly brushed aside. Why, I don't know. A detective with the Beaumont police testified that they were working on several leads they had received of people claiming to have seen a man with Mr. Rode's truck. They were investigating at least 7 others whose names were found in a diary of Mr. Rode's in his house. And he testified that all of them were put aside and never followed up on after ( ) came to the station and told them what { } told him. He said all of the detectives were happy ( ) and his dad came to them and that they "jumped on it". ( ) Dad knew all of them detectives in Beaumont cause he had a small practice in Beaumont. Also, the detective testified that some suspects who were talked to they didn't even check out their alibi after they received the information from {}. Basically they dropped all leads and focused in on the easiest target, a 17 year old poor kid that they knew had no way to fight them or defend myself against their unjust ways. It had also been about 10 days since Mr. Rode's body was found and their was a big public outcry and a lot of pressure on police to make an arrest. Also there were drugs found in the freezer at Mr. Rode's house, two bags of marijuana. There were also "several hairs were received from the right pocket region of the shorts" as stated in the autopsy report. There was hair found in the shorts he was wearing. And according to police there was a major struggle before his death. There was a test done of my hair and my hair did not match. Then we asked the detective if it was tested on anyone else and he said NO. We asked what about to the deceased and the said No. They (police) gave polygraph tests to suspects and they failed, but after they focused on my brother and I they didn't follow up on the other suspects. That is a brief description of some of the things and events that went on during my trial. But even though they convicted me and gave me the Death Penalty with their crooked unjust ways they didn't stop there. They appointed me a direct Appeal Attorney who was actively a special prosecutor in a Death Penalty retrial and was actively seeking the death penalty in that new trial. |