Well then tell your story walking dude.
Bobby Lambert was shot in a dimly lit parking lot.
False.
Bernadine Skillern, the unwavering eyewitness had no problem identifying Graham. Stated Skillern, "You can see very clearly." Other witnesses and three policemen testified that there was adequate lighting to make an identification. Wilma Amos testified that the lighting "was good." (Trial Testimony.) Furthermore, GGC often state that there were only two lights in the entire parking lot. Half-Truth, Misleading. What GGC doesn't say is that there were at least two light posts with a total of four lights and that all four lights were close to the murder scene. Two of the lights were within two parking spaces of the murder and thereby directly illuminated the murder scene (crime scene photos). Furthermore, Ms. Skillern's car was facing the murder scene from 26-37 feet away and her car's headlights further illuminated the murder scene and Graham's face. Graham, then walked within 10 feet of Ms. Skillern. (Crime scene evidence and trial testimony.)
Graham was convicted and sentenced (2) to death by the questionable (3) identification of a single witness who saw the suspect for a "split second" (4) from a distance of approximately 35-44 feet.
False
5. In her second viewing of mug shots (Graham's picture wasn't part of the first photo spread.) Ms. Skillern immediately picked out Graham, noting that his features, with the exception of skin tone, were the same. The shade of the skin in the photograph wouldn't allow her to make a positive identification and she stated she would need to see a live "line-up". She made an immediate, unequivocal, positive identification of Graham at the line up(F3). (Police and Trial Testimony.) Ms. Skillern testified that she saw the killer "full-face" three times, for 2 to 3 seconds, and had observed him for 60 to 90 seconds(F4), at distances ranging from a car length (10 feet) to 33 to 44 feet(F5). Graham was found guilty on the testimony of Ms. Skillern, but was sentenced to death because of the testimony of ten (10) additional Graham victims, other witnesses and the careful consideration of 12 jurors who felt that Gary Graham was a vicious killer who posed a continuing threat to society(F2). (Trial testimony and jurors statements.)
Four other crime scene witnesses did not identify Graham as the gunman and stated that the gunman was approximately 5'5" tall.
False
6. Four out of the original five witnesses described the killer as a young, thin black male, from medium height to tall. Graham, a 17 year old black male, was 5'9", slim, 140-150 lb. Skillern stated he was 5'9" to 6', slender, 145 to 150 lbs. Dan Grady said he was tall and slim. Ron Hubbard said he was 5'5" to 5'6". Leodis Wilkerson described the killer as shorter than Lambert. Lambert was 5'9". According to GGC flyers, the killer must have been 5'8". Wilma Amos told police he was of medium height but that she couldn't remember how the killer looked. Incredibly, twelve years later, in April 1993, after speaking to The Texas Resource Center, Amos says it wasn't Graham and that the killer was 5'5". In videotaped testimony, aired at a mock(ery) trial in August, 1993, orchestrated by The Texas Resource Center, Ms. Amos stated that, "He (the killer) was no taller than me." Amos is 5'2". (The Texas Resource Center Videotape.) False 7 (see previous police statement). Amos also stated that, "...when I saw him standing there with that gun, I just closed my eyes." "...he just stopped for a second not far from the back of my car and then he took off..." (Trial and Videotape.) Amos (or Etuk) told defense investigator, Mervin West, "She thought he (Graham) had a similar build to the guy who did the shooting." (West's Affidavit) The newest witness discovery by The Texas Resource Center is Sherian Etuk who was working at the supermarket at the time of the killing. It is claimed that as of July, 1993, Etuk has looked at photographs of Graham, taken at the time of the murder, and is sure Graham was not the killer. Only one catch. At the time of the murder, Etuk's statement False 8. to police reveals that she never saw the man's face or the murder. The witnesses who could not identify Graham either did not see the killer's face, couldn't remember it, only saw a black man (the killer, an accomplice, anyone, who knows?) running through the parking lot or didn't see a gunman because they didn't see the crime. It is important to note that all of the witnesses describing the killer as of medium height to tall saw the killer standing. The other witnesses, including Hubbard, saw a black man of 5'5" to 5'7" running through the parking lot. A 5'9" running man would lose at least 4" in height due to bent ankles, knees, back and neck, which is the posture of a person in the act of running. (Trial, etc.) Hubbard originally told police he possibly could I.D. the killer. Later, at the live line-up, he told police and Graham's attorney's that he never saw the killer's face and couldn't I.D. anyone. (Police File, via GGC.) Leodis Wilkerson, who was 12 years old at the time of the shooting, witnessed Lambert's murder. His account of the crime scene, and that of two of his friends, in the car with him, was relayed to police by an adult relative. The statement was that they had seen a man running in the parking lot who they thought looked like Curley Scott, the boyfriend of Mrs. Brown's daughter. Scott, a 5'11", thin black male, was cleared of any involvement. (Graham's Legal Defense Committee Report, Winter, 1994). Half Truth, False 9 Dan Grady was unable to identify Gary. Grady couldn't identify anyone. He stated he could, maybe, I.D. the gun, but not the killer's face. (Trial). Bobby Lambert was wrongfully listed at 5'6" by the coroner. His height was correctly established at 5'9" in March 1994. |
