Memo
To: Interested Persons
From: Michael Charlton, Gary Taylor, and Philip Wischkaemper, Attorneys at Law
Subject: Odell Barnes, Jr., convicted of capital murder
Date: September 22, 1999
This memo will reflect the procedural history of Mr. Barnes’ case, the evidence presented at trial, and the evidence revealed by further investigation. This information is provided to allow the reader to reach an individual conclusion concerning questions whether Mr. Barnes is guilty of this offense.
PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Odell Barnes, Jr. was convicted of capital murder of Helen Bass in the 89th District Court of Wichita County, Texas, on May 6, 1991, after venue was changed to Lubbock County. Barnes was sentenced to death on May 14, 1991 and his conviction and sentence were affirmed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Barnes v. State, 876 S.W.2d 316 (Tex.Cr.App. 1994). R. Vol. I, p. 72-86. Marty Canedy and Reggie Wilson, of Wichita Falls, represented Odell Barnes at his trial and on appeal.
Barnes filed an application for post-conviction writ of habeas corpus which the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied in a one-page order. Barnes filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court. This District Judge appointed Gary Taylor and Philip Wischkaemper to represent Barnes. Taylor & Wischkaemper obtained the services of Lisa Milstein, an investigator from Houston. As evidence was uncovered which questioned the jury’s verdict, Taylor and Wischkaemper associated Michael Charlton, another death penalty attorney. The attorneys requested the federal court to provide resources and an opportunity to complete their investigation. Although the Court was fully informed of the evidence which questioned Barnes’ guilt, the Court denied the attorneys’ request and denied relief to Barnes.
The case proceeded to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. Here the attorneys challenged the trial judge’s denial of an opportunity to further investigate and develop evidence which indicated Barnes might be innocent of capital murder. The Court denied relief holding that "actual innocence" is not a ground for which Barnes could obtain relief and therefore, it is not error to deny such an investigation. This issue is currently pending before the United States Supreme Court.
EVIDENCE AT TRIAL
THE CRIME SCENE: The victim was discovered by her long time friend and former sister in law, Sharon Mergerson, at approximately 4:00 p.m. on November 30, 1989. SF-XV-20-24. The victim was nude, lying face down on the bed in her bedroom. Id at 24-25, 33-33. The bedroom was in shambles, a condition inconsistent with the victim’s housekeeping habits. Id at 47. In that bedroom, Ms. Mergerson further observed a lamp, an open jewelry box and a rifle butt.
Officer Larry Lamb of the Wichita Falls Police Department was the first police officer to arrive at the victim’s home. SF-XV-71. Lamb secured the crime scene until Officers McCloskey and Thayer of the Criminal Investigation Section, arrived. Id at 76. When Thayer and McCloskey arrived they observed a blood soaked kitchen knife on the floor just inside the door. SF-XV-83-84. Thayer discovered two purses in the victim’s bedroom which appeared to have been dumped out and scattered across the bed. Id at 84.
THE EVIDENCE: Officer McCloskey supervised the collection of evidence at the crime scene. SF-XV-236-38. He was assisted by Pam Haines and Joe Sheppard. Id at 238-39, 41. In addition to the evidence inside the home, police discovered the victim’s employment identification card (from the Wichita Falls State Hospital) along the victim’s fence line, id at 120-23, and other personal papers in the general vicinity of the fence. Id at 124.
Joseph Barnes, Mr. Barnes’ brother, testified that on December 1, 1989, when he, his brother and Johnny Humphries were in Joseph’s car, the police asked to search the car. He told the police that the coveralls recovered from the car belonged to his brother. However, they probably belonged to their father. Mr. Barnes often wore them. SF-SVI-383-84. Officer Drury searched the car and testified that he seized a pair of green coveralls, a brown coat, and two white toboggans. SF-XVI- 387-89.
McCloskey delivered some of the evidence, including the lamp, to the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office for fingerprint processing. SF-XV-243-45. He later returned and transported all the evidence to the Southwest Institute of Forensic Sciences (hereinafter SWIFS). Id at 245-46. McCloskey provided chain of custody testimony for various pieces of physical evidence, including bloody wash rags, broken rifle stock, etc.. These various items were forwarded to the appropriate agencies for testing. Id at 247-84.
Officer Shepherd also testified to the chain of custody for several items of evidence, including the rifle, Mr. Barnes’ coveralls and tennis shoes, a .32 caliber pistol, the lamp, the knife, and a stained washrag. SF-XV-293-303, 307-12. Shepard picked up a .32 caliber pistol from Deborah Humphries. SF-XVI-303-06.
THE EXPERTS: Dr. Jeffrey Barnard, Chief Medical Examiner of the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s office, testified that the victim suffered a gun shot wound to the head, SF-XV-176-82, abrasions and lacerations to the head and back, id at 194-95, and a knife wound to the back. Id at 209. It was the gun shot which proved fatal. The bullet was recovered and forwarded to Larry Fletcher, a firearms expert. Id at 192. Barnard determined the knife recovered from the scene could have caused the stab wound. The remainder of the victim’s injuries could have been caused by the lamp and the rifle butt. Id at 197-99. Barnard could not positively state the victim was sexually assaulted. Id at 205-06, 210-11.
Larry Fletcher, a firearms examiner with SWIFS (Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office), conducted tests on a revolver and ammunition submitted by the Wichita Falls Police. SF-XVI- 393-98. Fletcher testified he could neither identify or eliminate the revolver as the murder weapon because the recovered bullet was too damaged. SF-XVI-401-03, 406-07. In Fletcher’s opinion, the recovered bullet and the gun were consistent-- the gun and the bullet had six grooves, with right hand twist rifling, and both were the same brand-- H and R Magnum. Id at 408-10.
Lt. James Cron of the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office identified Mr. Barnes’ fingerprint on the lamp recovered from the victim’s bedroom. Although Cron conducted a fingerprint analysis on other items of evidence, no other comparable prints were found. SF-XVI- 470-71, 473-78, 483-85. He compared no one else’s fingerprints to those found at the crime scene because Wichita Falls Police did not provide any other prints for comparison. Id at 497-98.
Carolyn Van Winkle was a forensic serologist employed by SWIFS. She testified the blood spots located on the Mr. Barnes’ coveralls were type O and were consistent with the victim’s blood–as well as about fifty percent of the black population. Some genetic markers in the blood were consistent with the victim’s blood. Van Winkle could not state conclusively that the blood on the coveralls was that of the victim. Van Winkle further could not identify the blood group of the semen found on a washrag in the victim’s home, but both Mr. Barnes and the semen depositor were secretors. Although sperm was identified in the victim’s vagina, Van Winkle could not testify how long the semen had been present. SF-XVI-584-86.
EYE WITNESSES: Thayer and McCloskey testified that they were approached by Robert Brooks as they conducted their investigation on November 30. SF-XV-62. Robert Brooks testified that he was driving by the victim’s home at approximately 10:30 p.m. on November29, when he saw Mr Barnes fall down after hurdling the victim’s wooden fence. Brooks testified Barnes got up and then went back over the chain link fence in the victim’s backyard. SF-SVI-317-21. Brooks picked Odell Barnes in a photo lineup, id at 324, but he admitted he was at least 45 yards away from the scene when he first saw Barnes and that the entire episode happened quickly. SF-XVI-325-26. The individual he saw was wearing coveralls and a stocking cap over his head. Id at 335.36. He could not recall the weather conditions that evening and the street lights were on the other side of the street from the victim’s home. Id at 330-32.
Mary Barnes, Mr. Barnes’ mother, drove the victim home from work on November 29, arriving at the victim’s home between 11:20 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.. After the victim went inside her house, Mary Barnes went home. She arrived home at approximately 11:45 p.m., and her son arrived approximately five minutes later, wearing a tan coat and gray pants. Mr. Barnes went to bed sometime later and went to work the next morning. SF-XVII-534-40.
THE GUN: Willie Bass Jr. was the victim’s son. He testified he gave his mother a .32 caliber pistol and bullets in April, 1988. SF-XVI-353-60. Malorie Wilson taught the victim how to load the pistol. He was to teach her how to use the pistol on the Monday and Wednesday before her death but they had been unable to find an opportunity to do so. SF-XVI-368-74. The victim had a rifle in her bedroom on Wilson’s instructions--because of recent violence in the community. Id at 374-377.
On November 30, 1989, Joseph Barnes, his brother and Johnny Humphries, came home from work together. Mr. Barnes could not get into his house because he did not have a key. They went to Humphries’ house. Humphries stayed in the house for six to seven minutes. When he returned, he had a sack with him, a sack which Humphries later traded off to another person. SF-XVII- 663-66.
Johnny Ray Humphries testified that he was with Mr. Barnes on the evening of November, 29, and Mr. Barnes wore the coveralls that were introduced into evidence. SF-XVI-530-32. The next morning, Mr. Barnes told Humphries, that he had taken a gun from his father and asked for help in selling the gun. SF-XVI-532-33. After work the two retrieved the gun from under Mr. Barnes’ bed–it was the victim’s gun. Id at 533-34. Humphries attempted to sell the gun unsuccessfully to two of his family members and eventually sold the gun to Patrick Williams.
Patrick Williams testified he was a casual acquaintance of Mr. Barnes. He saw Mr. Barnes at the Holiday Creek apartments in the early morning hours of November, 30, 1989. Mr. Barnes had a gun in his possession and the gun was the one owned by Ms. Bass. SF-XVI-503-05. Williams stated he was able to "get a good look" at the gun and that he saw the gun later that day when he bought it from Johnny Ray Humphrey. Id at 505-06. Mr. Barnes was not present when Williams bought the gun. At that time the gun had four live rounds and one empty chamber.
NEW INVESTIGATION REVEALS
The investigation conducted by attorneys Charlton, Taylor and Wischkaemper, and Investigator Milstein, yielded substantial evidence which questions Mr. Barnes’ guilt for this crime:
THE FINGERPRINT: During Mr. Barnes’ trial the State presented evidence that Mr. Barnes’ fingerprint was found on a lamp inside of the victim’s home. Mr. Barnes’ family knew the victim well. Mary Barnes and the victim worked together. Mr. Barnes was in the victim’s home several times. He helped to roof her house and moved the furniture in her home on at least one occasion. Finally, there is evidence indicating Mr. Barnes and the victim had a consensual sexual relationship.
To demonstrate that Mr. Barnes could not have left his fingerprint on the lamp during one of these "social" occasions, the State presented testimony from Sharon Mergerson suggesting the lamp was recently acquired. However, the lamp was not recently acquired. Corey Bass, the son of the victim, viewed pictures of the lamp used at Mr. Barnes’ trial and unequivocally stated the lamp was in the victim’s home for at least five (5) years prior to the victim’s death.
MITIGATION MISSED: Trial Counsel failed to present any mitigation evidence at the punishment phase of the trial. The defense team was authorized to obtain the services of Dr. Jerry L. Landrum, Ed. D., Psychologist, to perform psychological testing on Mr. Barnes. This testing was completed the day before the guilt-innocence phase of the trial began. Dr. Landrum was compensated $4865.45 for his services to evaluate Mr. Barnes, however, he was not called to testify at trial, nor was any expert called to testify on behalf of Mr. Barnes.
There was no attempt to explain or mitigate the State’s evidence through presentation of Mr. Barnes’ childhood and/or adolescent history. Subsequent investigation revealed a particularly troubling childhood, both physically and emotionally for Mr. Barnes. Mary Barnes, Mr. Barnes’ mother, admits that she and Mr. Barnes’ father drank heavily during Mr. Barnes’ childhood—their drunkenness often resulting in physical altercations which were witnessed by Mr. Barnes and his siblings. On one occasion, Mr. Barnes’ father jabbed a shotgun into his son’s stomach when he attempted to intervene in a fight between his parents. The result of this altercation was that Mr. Barnes shot his father while attempting to protect his mother.
When able to do so, Mr. Barnes stayed away from his home in order to avoid the abuses of his father. He never seemed to get along with his father. He never seemed to be able to please him. Mr. Barnes was whipped more often than the other children.
IMPEACHABLE WITNESSES: At trial Johnny Ray Humphries testified that Mr. Barnes seemed to already be aware of the murder when he, Mr. Barnes and Joseph Barnes saw the police around the victim’s home on their way home from work. However, Joseph Barnes will testify that he did not give Johnnie Ray Humphries a ride home from work that day. Therefore, the events described by Humphries could not have happened..
Brenda Columbus saw Mr. Barnes on the night of the murder. She noticed nothing unusual about Mr. Barnes and there was no blood on his clothes.
Pat Williams’ testimony is detailed elsewhere. However, Rodney Deon Brown was at the Holiday Creek apartments the night of November 29-30, and he saw Mr. Barnes and Johnny Humphries at least three times that night. He sold them drugs once. Later Brown went to Pat Williams’ house and saw a bloody gun on Williams’ night stand. Brown expressed his belief that there was something wrong with the gun but Williams told him that it did not matter "because if anything goes down, "he" will state we don’t know anything. Moreover, Brown saw a bloody purple bandana in the car where Mr. Barnes and Johnny Ray Humphries sat. When he asked about it, Humphries told him to ignore it. The next day, Brown asked Humphries about the bloody bandana and Humphries stated that he had done something. Humphries did not want to talk about it anymore because he thought he might get into trouble.
Harvey Neil was also present at the apartments that night and saw Humphries with a .32 caliber pistol wrapped in a purple bandana. Neil states that Humphries wore blue or brown coveralls which had blood on them. Humphries asked for twenty dollars for the gun but Williams instructed Neal not to purchase it.
THE EYEWITNESS: Robert Brooks testified that he observed Mr. Barnes jumping the fence to the side of the victim’s home. Initially, Mr. Brooks did not reveal that he was promised assistance in "handling" several tickets for his testimony. Additionally, Mr. Brooks did not reveal that there was another person with him at the time of this occurrence. At the time Robert Brooks was driving his sister, Bobbie Jean Brooks, home from work. Ms. Brooks remembers that, at the time of the occurrence, neither she or her brother were sure who the person was. They did see Johnny Ray Humphries at the dead end of Normandy Street where the path in the field behind the victim’s house ended.
A DEAL NOT REVEALED: One of the State’s key witnesses at trial was Pat Williams, a known drug dealer in East Wichita Falls. Williams’s testimony was instrumental in placing the victim’s .32 Caliber handgun in Mr. Barnes’ hands on the night of the murder. The gun was the same gun identified as the one most likely to have been used in the murder.
On January 12, 1990, Mr. Barnes’ trial counsel filed a "Motion for Disclosure of Evidence Favorable to the Accused." Within that motion there was a request for information related to: "... any deals, grants of immunity or leniency. Or other benefits given to or placed upon any witness." Trial counsel for Mr. Barnes was never informed that Pat Williams received any consideration for his testimony.
Testimony in Mr. Barnes’ trial began April 29, 1991. On March 1, 1991, Pat Williams plead guilty to one count of Delivery of a Controlled Substance and one count of Possession of a Controlled Substance. Williams received a ten (10) year probated sentence and a $1000.00 fine on the Delivery case and a concurrent ten (10) year sentence on the Possession case. The offenses were committed on 9-22-89 and 3-23-90 respectively. Both cases were pending during the investigation of the Bass case.
Tammy Lewis, a former girlfriend of Williams gave a sworn statement that Williams informed her that he had an agreement with the Wichita County District Attorney, Barry Macha, concerning his cases. He testifies for the State against Mr. Barnes and Williams does not go to jail. Williams received probation for two drug cases. But this was not his only benefit. Williams later obtained an "early release" from his probation on both cases.
DID ANYONE LOOK?: Mr. Barnes’ case involved the investigation and analysis of extensive and critical scientific evidence. Many pieces of evidence were processed by the Wichita Falls Police Department and forwarded to various agencies for analysis. Critical to the state’s case was the need to place Mr. Barnes in the home of Mrs. Bass. They accomplished this in at least two ways. First, a latent fingerprint of Mr. Barnes was located on a lamp that was found in the home of Mrs. Bass. The same lamp was apparently used as a weapon in the murder. Second, the state used comparison of blood types to connect Mr. Barnes with Mrs. Bass. The aforementioned was accomplished using blood samples taken from the green coveralls recovered from Mr. Barnes at the time of his arrest. Two minuscule spots of blood were recovered from the coveralls that proved to have the same blood type as Mrs. Bass. Finally, the seminal fluid recovered from Mrs. Bass was determined to be consistent with that of Mr. Barnes.
Trial counsel, although authorized to obtain the services of an expert, failed to exploit the possibilities presented by the scientific evidence in Mr. Barnes case. Both trial Counsel gave affidavits that they "never performed or attempted to perform any scientific testing in preparation for the trial of Odell Barnes."
NEW SUSPECTS. Elizabeth Holley was working as a nurse at the Wichita Falls State Hospital prior to and after this murder. As a part of her responsibilities she sat with a patient in the substance abuse unit named Homer Kines. When the news reports of this murder came onto television, Holley was sitting with Kines. Kines stated that he knew Mr. Barnes did not commit this murder. Mr. Kines indicated he saw Johnny Ray Humphries coming out of the door to the victim’s home on the day of the murder. Kines further expressed fear of Johnny Ray Humphries.
Sandy Durant was in the Wichita County Jail in April, 1996, housed on a cell block with several other women. She remembers the women in her cell talking about Mr. Barnes after something was on the television about Mr. Barnes’ case. The conversation was centered upon the "true story" of the murder. Marquita Mackey, one of the women, stated that on the night of the murder she was in her apartment when three men came to her apartment covered in blood and carrying guns. She identified these men as "Delbert," "Pat," and "Johnnie Ray." According to Mackey, the men wanted clean shirts and Johnnie Ray threatened her, stating "I’ll kill you like I killed Mrs. Helen Bass." From this conversation Ms. Durant understood her cell mates to believe Mr. Barnes was "set up" for this murder.
There are several indicia of reliability in Ms. Durant’s statement. First, she took contemporaneous notes of the conversation. These notes were taken on the back of another note which Ms. Durant received from her boyfriend, Michael Street, who was also incarcerated in the Wichita County Jail. When Michael Street was recently shown this note, he identified the note as one he gave Ms. Durant in the Wichita County Jail in 1996. Moreover, the headlines in the Wichita Falls newspaper, the "Times Record News," indicate Mr. Barnes case was receiving press coverage at this time.
Josie Pope Rose knows several of the persons who shared Ms. Durant’s cell in April, 1996. Brenda Columbus has a daughter named Tammy Lewis, who is a hair stylist. Ms. Rose was approached by Mr. Barnes’ attorneys, Taylor and Wischkaemper, who requested her assistance in locating Brenda Columbus. Shortly thereafter Tammy Lewis was cutting Ms. Rose’s hair and Ms. Rose informed her that two lawyers were looking for her mother. Lewis informed Ms. Rose that her mother had important information concerning the murder of Ms. Bass. Brenda Columbus told her daughter that Marquita Mackey helped "cover-up" the murder by getting rid of the bloody clothes and getting clean clothes for Pat Williams, Johnnie Ray Humphries and Pat’s cousin from Dallas. Columbus stated that the men first approached her but she refused. Marquita Mackey’s apartment was very close to the apartment where Columbus lived.
Duretha McKnight was present in Johnnie Ray Humphries’ home when he and his sister Dedra Humphries got into an argument. The police were called and, when they arrived, Dedra informed the police that Johnnie Ray Humphries was a drug dealer, had guns and that he killed Ms. Bass. Later that evening Dedra and Ms. McKnight were in Dedra’s apartment when Johnnie Ray Humphries came over. Johnnie Ray Humphries yelled at Dedra about telling the police those things, but he never denied they were true.
What happened to Darlene Barnes is shockingly similar to the instant murder. About one o’clock in the morning when her husband, William Barnes, was not home Darlene was awakened by a gun shot. Someone was hitting her front door, ordering her to open the door, and screaming it was the police. The door was kicked open and a man stood over her, holding her at gun point. She was dragged throughout her home as he looked for money. She later identified this man as Russell Lockett. Darlene was told that Pat Williams drove Russell Lockett to her home in a car he borrowed from Josie Pope Rose. These facts are very similar to the instant murder—the door was kicked in and the house obviously ransacked.
SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE: Scientific evidence played almost no role in Mr. Barnes’ trial. Indeed, prior to trial Judy Floyd of Gene Screen advised the prosecutors that DNA analysis was not possible in this case. An acid phosphatase test, designed to determine the existence of seminal fluid, was negative with regard to vaginal, anal, and oral samples. Human blood was discovered on Mr. Barnes’ coveralls and genetic markers were obtained.
Long after Mr. Barnes was convicted of capital murder, the State sought DNA testing to determine the relationship between Mr. Barnes, the victim, a vaginal swab, a wash cloth, blood spots on Mr. Barnes’ coveralls, the blood stains on the knife and blood stain on Mr. Barnes’ pants. These tests revealed that DNA material on the washcloth belonged to Mr. Barnes. DNA material on the vaginal swab belonged to Mr. Barnes. The DNA recovered from the blood stains on Mr. Barnes’ coveralls belonged to the victim.
Dr. Elizabeth Johnson was hired by Mr. Barnes’ counsel to test the same evidence. Testing the vaginal swab, Dr. Johnson established the swab tested negative for the P30 protein found specifically within seminal fluid. Further, the swab had weak activity for acid phosphatase and a very low number of spermatozoa. In Dr. Johnson’s opinion, her findings coupled with the new DNA tests, suggest that the Mr. Barnes’ DNA was not deposited in an ejaculation at or near the time of death. In her opinion, Mr. Barnes had sexual intercourse with the victim probably many hours or days prior to the victim’s death.
The prosecutors countered Dr. Johnson’s statement with statements from Judith Floyd and Carolyn R. Van Winkle. Ms. Floyd attacks Dr. Johnson’s findings stating that acid phosphatase levels and P30 levels are individual. She faults Dr. Johnson for not discussing the effect of age and various storage conditions on P30. Finally, Ms. Floyd states the quantity of spermatozoa on a swab is a poor indicator of post coital time intervals.
Ms. Van Winkle likewise disagreed with Dr. Johnson’s findings. Ms. Van Winkle would "expect" a decreased level of seminal proteins when evidence was collected approximately sixteen hours after the body was found. And Ms. Van Winkle notes the victim’s death may have occurred much earlier. In this situation Ms. Van Winkle believed the findings were consistent with "semen deposition immediately prior to, or after the time of death of [the victim]."
Dr. Johnson was given an opportunity to review the statements prepared by Ms. Floyd and Ms. Van Winkle. Dr. Johnson responded in detail. The age and storage conditions had no effect on the vaginal swab or protein levels in the seminal fluid. First, the samples were stored in the custody of Ms. Van Winkle. Even more important, the protein levels present on the other samples which were stored in a similar manner were not affected.
The time between sexual intercourse and death is significant with regard to P30 levels because the active process of vaginal secretions and drainage will lower the P30 level. However, these events (vaginal secretions and drainage due to activity) do not occur after death–this is what makes Dr. Johnson’s findings in the instant case significant. Finally, Dr. Johnson responded to Ms. Floyd’s questions regarding evidence collection on the detectability of P30 protein and numbers of spermatozoa. The testing performed by the State’s laboratory (Southwest Institute of Forensic Sciences) rendered similar results regarding protein. The results from either lab do not support a theory of an ejaculation into the vagina at or near the time of the victim’s death and Dr. Johnson is convinced that sexual intercourse between the victim and Mr. Barnes occurred several hours or days before her death. Therefore, while Mr. Barnes and the victim had vaginal intercourse—this most likely occurred at least twenty-four hours prior to the victim’s death.
There is an additional significant scientific result in this case. At counsel’s request, Kevin Ballard, M.D., Ph.D. tested the blood stains on Mr. Barnes’s coveralls. These were the blood stains which Judy Floyd of Gene Screen determined belonged to the victim. Dr. Ballard tested these blood stains for EDTA, oxalic acid, fluoride and citric acid. These chemicals are the most typical preservatives used with blood. Dr. Ballard’s testing reveals that the reference sample of the victim’s blood and the blood stains on Mr. Barnes coveralls both contain citric acid, the preservative used in yellow topped and blue topped blood tubes. Based upon these tests, Dr. Ballard concluded that the blood on Mr. Barnes’ coveralls could not be "original, legitimate crime scene evidence in the form of a stain deriving from natural bleeding from a normal human being." Instead, this blood came from a source which/who was in possession of preserved blood. In other words, the blood on Mr. Barnes’ coveralls was planted.
CONCLUSION
In your review of this memorandum and its supporting documentation we hope that you are as disturbed by the results of our investigation as we are. We also hope that you will assist us in our pursuit of the truth. Our resources alone are insufficient to match those of the State. But we believe that, even with our limited resources, we have raised significant issues concerning the guilt of Mr. Barnes in this case. If you have questions, please feel free to contact us at any time.
MICHAEL CHARLTON, 3200 Southwest Freeway, Houston, Texas 77002; charlton@netropolis.net
GARY TAYLOR, P. O. Box 90212, Austin, Texas 78701 (512) 478-3900; (512) 478-5256 (fax); gtlaw@earthlink.net
PHILIP WISCHKAEMPER, 905 Texas Ave, Lubbock, Texas 79401; MIGLIT@AOL.COM
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