Murder in Magnolia

The brothers would never testify about their part in sending him to prison. Even if they did, no one would believe them for everyone would think that they had been intimidated into lying. And without the knife, he could never prove self-defense. And the knife was still missing.

Even if it did turn up, it would not be admissible as evidence unless he could prove that the prosecution or police had known about it and withheld it from the defense. Just when he was about to give up all hope, help came from an unexpected place and the Georgia Supreme Court finally agreed to hear his appeal. It was scheduled for June 2nd 2008.

Chapter Eight -- "The Clinic"

Doctor Mark Jennings was born and raised in the town of Magnolia. While attending the county's schools, his teachers quickly realized what a bright student he was. It was another time back then. People were different and when he made the National Honor Society the whole town was proud of him. Even though it was a poor community, when he graduated, they took up a collection to help him with his college expenses. It had humbled him deeply. He was from poor parents himself and knew how hard everyone worked and how hard life was for the poor people of Magnolia. Mark Jennings never forgot what his home town did for him.

The scholarship he got to Emory University helped get him through college but it was the town's help that got him through medical school. Had he not been urged by his instructors to specialize, he would have become a family practitioner and returned to his hometown to start his practice.

And, in some ways, he had regretted that decision. But, when in January of 2008 old Doc Harris died and he heard the town was going to be without a doctor and the hospital was to be closed, Mark Jennings decided it was time to pay the people he owed so much too back.

As a doctor, he knew that the town was just too small to support a full time hospital and had no illusions about it reopening as such. The Harris family had been trying to sell the building unsuccessfully for months; but, there were no takers. After all, who needs an empty hospital in the middle of nowhere? So, when Dr. Mark Jennings made them an offer for it they went for it like sharks at feeding time.

The doctor would have gladly paid twice the price they were asking for the hospital. He knew the building alone was worth it. He wanted to surprise the town so he made sure the sales contract included a twenty percent penalty should the sellers disclose to anyone that he was the buyer until 90 days after the date of sale.

Since most everyone that worked for the county was somehow related to old man Harris, it wasn't hard to keep the sale secret. The whole county was surprised when he opened the hospital as a free clinic and began providing medical services at the hospital on Fridays and half-day Saturdays.

He didn't have a lot of experience at family practice, but his partner, Victoria Mercer did. It was only a few years ago that she had moved from family practice to urology. "Vicky", as her friends knew her, had mentioned that she missed it sometimes. When Mark told her that he could use her help, she jumped at the chance. She even got her husband Lyle to help them get supplies for the clinic at little or no cost. He worked for a pharmaceutical supplies service and had convinced the owner, his father, that it would be good press for the company to be seen doing some charity work.

One of the local girls, Cindy Benson, now Cindy Benson Thomas, volunteered her time and was a one woman office staff, acting as receptionist, file clerk and insurance expert all in one. For several years she had been known as the town floozy and was well on her way to becoming a full time drunk. That is until she turned up pregnant one day.

Motherhood changed her. In fact, it changed her so much that even old Doc Harris was so impressed when she stopped drinking, smoking and sleeping around that he gave her a job at the hospital.

She eventually married one of the local farmers and was quite well off. She didn't need to work, but when Cindy heard the clinic was being opened she didn't hesitate to volunteer her services.

Cindy would file any insurance, Medicare or Medicaid if a patient had it and use the money to pay for the medical supplies, utilities and any medicine that the doctors could not get from the pharmaceutical representatives. Thanks to some creative accounting, no patient was ever turned away, whether they had insurance or not and no patient ever paid a co-pay. The two doctors simply paid the expenses out of their own pockets.

Becky Daily had heard from a pharmaceutical representative about the two 'crazy' doctors that were going to be driving over a hundred miles from Atlanta, where they lived, to the small town of Magnolia just to open a clinic there two days a week just so the town's people could have free medical care.

Her funds were almost completely depleted and she was becoming desperate. The professionals she had hired had come up empty, but they had all been outsiders.

Perhaps the town had changed in the fifteen years since she had left. Just maybe, Becky thought, she could do a little better. She knew that sooner or later, everyone has to go to the doctor. Where the town's folk wouldn't talk to outsiders, maybe enough time had passed for them to talk to her. She came up with an idea would them come to her.

She called Dr. Jennings and asked him if he had found a nurse for his clinic. When she told him her name, he remembered her from high school and they both started reminiscing about the old days. And so, every Thursday night, after work, Becky began making the trip from Columbus to Magnolia to work as a nurse in the free clinic run by Doctors Jennings and Mercer. But unlike the others who worked at the clinic, she wasn't doing so from any sense of civic duty. As far as she was concerned, the whole town could burn to the ground.

Chapter Nine -- "The Sheriff"

In the fifteen years since he had helped railroad his best friend into prison, Johnny Wilkins never got a good night's sleep. When the guilt he was caring had became too much for him to handle, he started drinking. And the drinking cost him his marriage.

When his wife Liz, left him, taking their son Scott, with her, he found himself all alone and began to wonder what it had all been for?

In the devil's bargain he had made, Johnny had secured his future. He owned his home and even old Doc Harris could never take that away from him. Jack had been killed answering a domestic dispute about eight years after Ethan went to prison. And true to his word, old Doc Harris saw to it that Johnny was elected sheriff. But without his family, he didn't even care about the job that he used to love. He really didn't care about anything any more.

He forced himself to stop drinking, but it was too late, Liz refused to take him back. He guessed she'd finally had enough. Deep inside, he couldn't blame her. He had made her life a living hell.

Johnny had never told her the truth. Hell, he'd never told anyone the truth. He was too ashamed to. Keeping it bottled up inside him like a cancer had torn him apart and his guilt had just grown stronger and stronger with every passing day. Finally, early one morning, he found himself sitting of his living room holding his service revolver pointed at his head with one round in the chamber.

He hadn't slept at all the night before; his mind filled with the faces of the friend he had betrayed, his wife and the sixteen-year-old son that he didn't even know.

But he hadn't pulled the trigger that morning even though he wanted to. It was a blur to him now. He remembered having his finger on the trigger and slowly squeezing it. But at the last moment, something made him point the gun upwards just as the hammer fell. The round missed him, instead leaving a hole in his ceiling.

With the sound of the gun firing still ringing in his ears, Johnny realized that it wasn't to late to make things right. He had no illusions about ever getting his wife and son back, but perhaps there was still something he could do to make things right for Ethan!

The next day Johnny called the D.A., Roger Foster and asked him to come to his office so Johnny could talk to him.

When Foster got there and Johnny told the man about the knife and that he had been sitting on evidence for fifteen years, the D.A. became enraged. Foster was a narrow minded, spiteful man who had been elected on a 'Tough On Crime' platform and the idea of having to let a convicted murder free didn't sit well with him. While not the smartest lawyer in the world, he did know that if it ever got out that the sheriff and former sheriff had conspired to send an innocent man to jail, every case the two lawmen worked would be appealed and he would spend the rest of his term in court.

He looked Johnny straight in the eyes and said, "What the hell are you bringing this up for at this late date?" Without even waiting for an answer he continued, "Get rid of it! I'll be damned if I am going to spend the rest of my career in court fighting the appeals of every jailhouse lawyer you and that idiot uncle of yours put away! Do you understand me?" With that, the man stomped out of Johnny's office. Johnny just smiled as he unlocked a drawer in his desk and carefully placed the knife in it. He was hoping that was what the man might say.

Chapter Ten -- "The Evidence"

When she had started working at the clinic, Becky's heart was bitter and hard. At first, she hated having to come back to her hometown and all its bad memories. But, as the months passed, the more she saw of the town and its people, the more her heart began to open up to them.

In her bitterness, Becky had forgotten how poor of the community really was and it occurred to her that she had it far better off in Columbus than most of the town's folk did. She began to realize that they were basically good, hard working people that had for years been exploited by the Doc and his family. To make matters worse, things had deteriorated even more before Doc Harris died.

The Doc had kept an iron-hand control over the town's economy and they had drained it every chance they could. It seemed to her that the old man had been the only thing that had kept the Harris family there for when he died, one-by-one they all began selling off their various business interests in the town to whatever out-of-town investor they could find.

Of all his relatives, only the sheriff, Johnny Wilkins and his cousin Cindy remained, probably because they had been the black sheep of the family had no real interest to sell off.

If Cindy knew anything, she never mentioned it to Becky, but that was because everyone involved had been careful not to tell her for fear she might spill what she knew while in a drunken haze.

Becky had been working at the clinic for almost five months when she got the call from Johnny Wilkins asking if he could meet her somewhere and talk to her.

Even thought Becky didn't trust the man, she knew he might be her last chance to learn something that could help Ethan so she agreed to meet him at 4:00 that Saturday afternoon at the clinic after it closed. Becky was surprised when she looked out into the lobby, as the doors were being locked, and found the sheriff waiting for her; she had expected him not to show up. He had a small blue gym bag sitting on the floor next to him.

When Becky walked into the lobby the sheriff rose to his feet and, for just a few seconds, the two just stood there looking at each other, neither of them sure what to say to the other. It was then that Doctors Jennings and Mercer walked in followed by Cindy.

Becky had told them all about the meeting that morning. As Dr. Mercer and Cindy sat on one of the couches near him, Dr. Jennings leaned with his back against the wall opposite the man. All eyes in the room looked at the sheriff expectedly.

The lawman bent down to the floor and picked up the gym bag. Holding it with one hand, he opened it, reached inside and pulled something out. When they saw what it was, everyone stiffened for he was holding in his had a dusty clear plastic evidence bag containing a knife.

"Is that?" Becky asked, she could barely get the words out.

The sheriff lowered his head and said in a low voice, "Yes."

"Where did you find it?" She inquired, her heart racing.

Without raising his head, the lawman answered, "It was under Ethan's car in the impound lot. It must have gotten stuck somewhere in the undercarriage. I guess the knife was knocked loose when the tow truck lowered it to the ground."

"Who found it?" Becky asked.

His voice beginning to crack, the sheriff answered, "I did."

"When?" From the condition of the bag, she thought to herself, it must have been quite some time ago.

He remained silent, too ashamed to speak.

"Johnny, how long have you had the knife?" Cindy asked.

The sheriff looked at Cindy and summoned the courage to tell her, "I found it just before the end of the trial."

"Why didn't you tell someone Johnny?" The woman enquired of her cousin.

He raised his eyes to look at her and said, "I did. I told Jack, Randal and 'Doc'. They told me to loose it. 'Doc' threatened to take my house away and have Jack fire me. He said that they'd make the knife disappear anyway. Liz had just had the Scott and 'Doc' held the note on my house. I couldn't afford to lose my job. God help me, I swear couldn't see any way out!"

"Why are you telling us about it now?" Becky asked skeptically.

He looked at her and replied sincerely, "I haven't had a decent night's sleep in the past fifteen years and I've lost my family because I started drinking over this. I almost ate a bullet over it. Yesterday, I went to the D.A. and told him about it but he's too god damn concerned with his career to make it right. So now I'm coming to you. I want to make it right."

Cindy stood up and was going to take the bag containing the knife from his hands when Becky stopped her, "Don't touch that!"

"But why? It's the proof you need to clear Ethan?" Cindy said to Becky, and she stopped and held her hand in mid-air.

Becky got a very serious look on her face as she replied, "Because it will break the chain of custody. Isn't that right Johnny? Then it will be useless!"

"She's right! My god, I can't believe what I almost did!" Replied the lawman as he withdrew his hand quickly.

Just then Dr. Mercer spoke up and said, "For those of us who are legally illiterate, will one of you please explain what's going on?"

Then, she realized what she'd said and had to fight hard to keep from laughing out loud. Mark Jennings didn't show as much restraint and started laughing hysterically. It seemed to break the tension in the air until Becky and Cindy looked at him sternly.

"Basically, the chain of custody is a chronological record of where the knife has been and who has had it. It started when I found the knife, placed in this bag, and marked the bag. If I give this knife to someone and don't document it, then the chain of custody is broken and the knife's value as evidence is suspect. There would be no real way to prove that the knife presented as evidence is actually the knife I found. And even it you could prove it was the same knife, there's no way to prove it hadn't been tampered with." The sheriff explained.

Cindy looked at him and said, "Well, you have it. We've all seen it. What are you going to do with it?"

"I'll tell you what were going to do with it." Becky interjected, "As soon as I find Ethan an attorney; Johnny, and I are going to drive up to Decatur and hand it over to the state crime lab for analysis. Then, Johnny's going to give an affidavit in which he detail every thing he just told us." She paused for a few seconds while she thought, "What I can't figure out is what do we do about the gun? They still have Ethan for possession of a stolen weapon and that makes him look guilty. Sammy and Bert are in the state prison at Columbus. I'm sure they've been running their mouths about it but I can't even get the warden to talk to me. It would be nice to know what they've been saying. It might give us a lead to go on. The only problem is, all the lawyers in Columbus I've tried didn't get anywhere. I'd like to try someone else, but frankly, I have no idea who's good and who isn't."

Dr. Jennings spoke up just then, "I think I might be able to help you with that. My nurse told me her boyfriend had some problems with his ex-wife a while back and the lawyer he found was very creative in solving them. I don't know if this is the kind of thing he can handle but it's worth a try. What do you think?"

"I'll take all the help I can get." Replied Becky.

Cindy said to her cousin, "What about you Johnny, anything you can do to help?"

He considered it for a second and then said, "I'll make a call to the warden in Columbus and see if he will talk to me."

"No better yet, see if he will talk to Ethan's lawyer. That way we keep you out of it. We need to keep you away from potential witnesses. There's going to be enough questions about your motivations as it is without someone questioning the credibility of witnesses because you had contact with them. We're going to have enough trouble with your credibility as it is when everyone finds out you've been sitting on the knife all these years. The D.A. might try to say you pressured them to lie to back up your story." Insisted Becky.

They all went into Dr. Jennings office and stood around impatiently while he called his nurse to ask her for the name and phone number of the attorney her husband used.

Five minutes later they had Howard Booth on the speakerphone and were recalling the whole story for him.

When they were finished, the voice of the lawyer came over said, "Becky, Sheriff Wilkins, I'll meet you at the state crime lab. After we've handed over the knife, we'll all go to my office and I'll get an affidavit from you. Then I want you to call the warden in Columbus and see if he will talk to me as Becky suggested." He paused a second and then asked, "Sheriff, how much trouble do you think this D.A. you talked to will be?"

"None at all." Replied the sheriff smiling.

Everyone present looked at him in surprise as silence filled the room.

It was broken by the voice of the attorney coming from the phone, "Okay, I'll bite. Why is that?"

"I suspected he might react that way so I made sure that the security cameras were running when I talked to him!" The lawman answered, still grinning.

Two days later, the knife was safely at the crime lab and Johnny had given his affidavit. Johnny and Becky were in the attorney's office listening while the man talked to the warden of the Columbus State Prison.

Candidly the warden said, "The two Oglethorpe boys started bragging about it as soon as they got hear but they shut up after some of the other inmates started using them for punching bags. They haven't said a word about it since then, too afraid to talk about it. Hell, I had to move them to maximum security just to keep them from being killed. The whole prison knows about it; I just assumed you knew too."

He had already told them everything the two brothers had said.

"I just took over the case. Is there anything else you can tell us?" Asked the attorney.

There was a short pause before the warden replied, "Just this, I don't think you are going to get those two to recant their testimony. Even if they did, the D.A. will probably just say they're doing it to try to get out of maximum security. You'll probably better off talking to the guy they bought the pistol from, if he's still alive that is."

"Thanks warden, I appreciate your candor. If there's nothing else, I'll hang up now."