ells9824
February 16th, 2008, 11:42 PM
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b366/ells9824/grover17story.jpghttp://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b366/ells9824/ap_krajcir2_071211_ms.jpg
Grover Thompson died in prison while serving time for stabbing a 72-year-old woman in Mount Vernon, Ill. It's a crime Krajcir recently confessed to committing.
Yet Mount Vernon police are standing by the investigation that led to Thompson's conviction. They question whether Krajcir is telling the truth about raping many women and murdering nine of them across four states. One of those cases is the killing in 1977 of Lindbergh High School graduate Sheila Cole.
(excerpt)
At trial, inconsistencies surfaced.
Bates testified that the attacker's shirt was red and orange.
White testified that her attacker had said, "I will kill you and all the white people here," but she never identified Thompson as her assailant.
A forensic expert said a sock print on the toilet seat in White's apartment did not match Thompson's. And the blood spot on his pocket knife was so small, it could only be identified as human.
Thompson's public defender, Stephen Swofford, argued that the identification was suggestive, because Thompson was alone in the police lineup. He tried to ask White about a confrontation she had with a black man at her apartment building about a week before the attack. The judge silenced Swofford on both issues.
Swofford remembers watching Thompson shuffle to the witness stand, hoping the jury would see he was physically incapable of climbing in and out of White's window.
Thompson had trouble walking since the early 1970s, when a car hit him and shattered his legs, his nephew recalled. He was homeless and the streets were his home.
As for the blood on his knife, Thompson told the jury he had picked a sore with the blade. He said he had torn his shirt while rushing to catch his bus earlier that day.
The all-white jury took four hours before delivering a guilty verdict. Thompson was sentenced to 40 years. It was 1982.
Swofford said his client looked as lost that day as he did when he met him about four months earlier.
"He looked weathered and beaten, and his eyes looked old and tired," Swofford said. "He had limited mental function; he wasn't very articulate. He was guarded, baffled and confused. He was 46 going on 60."
Thompson had a 10th-grade education and had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, according to court filings.
"He did have a double personality, but it was never hurtful," Jamison said.
Jamison said most family members couldn't afford to travel to Mount Vernon for the trial. Some, like his mother, were ill.
"We felt a helplessness at the time," Jamison said.
In 1996, Thompson died of natural causes. He had served nearly 14 years in prison.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mount Vernon police are balking at re-opening the White case, saying they had their man. The Task Force investigating Krajcir's case would like to look at dna evidence in the case because everything else Ol' Tim has confessed to has panned out. It could give a dead man's family some justice....
http://tinyurl.com/2psq64
Grover Thompson died in prison while serving time for stabbing a 72-year-old woman in Mount Vernon, Ill. It's a crime Krajcir recently confessed to committing.
Yet Mount Vernon police are standing by the investigation that led to Thompson's conviction. They question whether Krajcir is telling the truth about raping many women and murdering nine of them across four states. One of those cases is the killing in 1977 of Lindbergh High School graduate Sheila Cole.
(excerpt)
At trial, inconsistencies surfaced.
Bates testified that the attacker's shirt was red and orange.
White testified that her attacker had said, "I will kill you and all the white people here," but she never identified Thompson as her assailant.
A forensic expert said a sock print on the toilet seat in White's apartment did not match Thompson's. And the blood spot on his pocket knife was so small, it could only be identified as human.
Thompson's public defender, Stephen Swofford, argued that the identification was suggestive, because Thompson was alone in the police lineup. He tried to ask White about a confrontation she had with a black man at her apartment building about a week before the attack. The judge silenced Swofford on both issues.
Swofford remembers watching Thompson shuffle to the witness stand, hoping the jury would see he was physically incapable of climbing in and out of White's window.
Thompson had trouble walking since the early 1970s, when a car hit him and shattered his legs, his nephew recalled. He was homeless and the streets were his home.
As for the blood on his knife, Thompson told the jury he had picked a sore with the blade. He said he had torn his shirt while rushing to catch his bus earlier that day.
The all-white jury took four hours before delivering a guilty verdict. Thompson was sentenced to 40 years. It was 1982.
Swofford said his client looked as lost that day as he did when he met him about four months earlier.
"He looked weathered and beaten, and his eyes looked old and tired," Swofford said. "He had limited mental function; he wasn't very articulate. He was guarded, baffled and confused. He was 46 going on 60."
Thompson had a 10th-grade education and had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, according to court filings.
"He did have a double personality, but it was never hurtful," Jamison said.
Jamison said most family members couldn't afford to travel to Mount Vernon for the trial. Some, like his mother, were ill.
"We felt a helplessness at the time," Jamison said.
In 1996, Thompson died of natural causes. He had served nearly 14 years in prison.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mount Vernon police are balking at re-opening the White case, saying they had their man. The Task Force investigating Krajcir's case would like to look at dna evidence in the case because everything else Ol' Tim has confessed to has panned out. It could give a dead man's family some justice....
http://tinyurl.com/2psq64