Innocent, But Behind Bars
Another man confessed to murder. Why is this retarded man in prison?
Then there was Brownfield's claim that a young girl on the high school track across from Martz's home had spotted him. Indeed, police had such a witness--the only witness to see someone on Martz's property. Melanie Houser, then 13, was jumping hurdles with her father that evening. A police hypnotist got Houser to describe the man. Police insist that the resulting composite sketch bears a striking resemblance to Wilson. But the face, with its helmet of dark hair, seems to more closely resemble Brownfield. Houser, now a college student, told U.S. News that police never reinterviewed her after arresting Wilson, whom she knew. "The man I saw definitely was not Johnny Wilson," she said.
Dismissed by the state investigator, Brownfield, with attorney Vern Miller, concocted an elaborate plot to prove his truthfulness. Miller, a former Kansas attorney general, got Brownfield temporarily and secretly released from prison to track down Moore, under the ruse that Brownfield had escaped from prison and needed his help. In the 1990 taped phone conversation, Moore was clearly displeased. "You've been doing too much talking for my likes, brother," warned Moore. When Brownfield said that he tried to keep Moore's name out of his Martz confession, Moore replied, "Well, thanks. God damn, it takes you a whole hour to cop me out, man."
None of this has shaken the certainty of police and prosecutors in Lawrence County that Wilson killed Martz. "To release a criminal who brutally murdered someone and pled guilty would just create more public distrust of the legal system," says Lawrence County Prosecutor Robert George. "If I was an elderly widow in Aurora, I'd be a little frightened if he was released."
Lawrence County Sheriff David Tatum, whose office handled the investigation, referred all questions to his own private attorney, who, in turn, said he was unable to discuss specifics of the case.
In July, Wilson's new lawyers, David Everson and Michael Atchison of Kansas City, presented Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan with a new petition for Wilson's release. Carnahan, a Democrat in office since last year, has already commuted the death penalty of one retarded man. But the Wilson case is potentially more risky: He would be returning a confessed killer to his community, something sure to be highly controversial in Aurora. One possibility is that Wilson be released, but waive his double-jeopardy protection so that Lawrence County prosecutors can choose to try him. But officials there object. Says prosecutor George, "He pled guilty, and as far as I'm concerned, he's still guilty." Martz's closest living relative, nephew Charles Hillhouse, agrees. "We would be very disturbed if he is released. We feel he is where he belongs."
"Pick up my life." In the Jefferson City Correctional Facility, a few blocks from the governor's mansion, Wilson says he would welcome a trial to prove his innocence. He talks of going home soon. "I'll pick my life up where I left off. I'll go to the movies, get a job, probably work at the high school," says Wilson, in a torn, flimsy gray jumpsuit and orange espadrilles. "It's the same stuff I do here--watch TV, listen to the radio, play my guitar."
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