We know and can prove that this D.A., whose name is Michael Campbell, lied to the judge, to the jury, and to the press during this trial. We also know and can prove that exculpatory evidence that would have freed my husband was destroyed by order of this D.A. My husband's family subsequently worked hard after the sentencing to get this D.A., the Sheriff and the County Coroner defeated at the next election. They were defeated in my husband's first year in prison. Since his incarceration, we have filed appeals and for some reason the State Attorney's office elected not to take proper time to review these documents. Instead, these documents were returned swiftly, stamped "denied." Now we have a Habeas Corpus in the federal court. It was filed in March this year and we are awaiting their response.

In the meantime, I contacted the National Police Defense Foundation (NPDF) to see if they would help us because there was nothing fair about this trial - nothing! NPDF is a congressionally backed and IRS approved non-profit foundation. Its mission is to protect and support the national law enforcement community. Today, the Executive and Advisory Boards of the NPDF are composed of distinguished elected officials, members of congress, law enforcement officials and the executive directors of national civil rights groups. James A. Traficant, Jr., Member of Congress, 17th District Ohio, is the Honorary Chairman of NPDF. Perhaps your organization is already familiar with NPDF and their efforts.

In April of this year, NPDF performed an initial review so that they could decide whether or not to take this case for us, and they came to the same conclusion that if Patrick Swiney committed any crime (which is questionable), it was a "crime of passion" which has a maximum punishment of 8 years in prison, according to U.S.C. Title 18 - Crimes and Criminal Procedures, Part I - Crimes, - Chapter 51 - Homocide. Yet, Patrick is serving a sentence of life without the possibility of parole ¾ and so am I.

In 1987, Patrick Swiney was charged with Murder 1 and has already served nine years in the State of Alabama prison system. He is charged with murdering his then wife and her ex-husband while they were in the act of adultry. My husband is not guilty of the crime of Murder 1 and in fact, there is strong reasonable doubt that he wasn't even responsible for this sad and unfortunate tragedy.

First of all, Patrick has no recollection whatsoever of what occured the night of the tragedy. He went to his house, looked through their front window, saw his wife and a man in adulterous acts, and at that point blacked out, stating that it felt as though he'd been hit on the head with a baseball bat. The next thing he remembers is that he was inside the house and saw his wife, Betty, lying on the floor. Then he saw a man also lying on the floor. He was confused, then he felt something lying across the palms of his hands. It was a little .22 caliber survival rifle that he had left in his truck. The very first thing he did was get a hold of the paramedics. It was only later that he realized his efforts were fruitless because the two were dead.

He complained to the arresting officers, whom he knew well, that his head was killing him, yet he was not sent to a physician to have his head examined to see if he'd been hit on the head, or if the black out was caused by the shock of seeing his wife with another man (they'd only been married 5 months but had been childhood friends). She and the prosecuting District Attorney, Michael Campbell, had been childhood friends too. They all sat in high school class for years together.

When he was charged, Patrick's community banned together to raise bail in the amount of $150,000. When Mike Campbell saw this, he went to the court and told them that Patrick was a transient and thus the bond was raised to $500,000 and within one day, the community of property owners put their life savings and properties on the line to raise that bond for Patrick. This action alone attests to Patrick's decent and ethical character. The community trusted him and knew he was not guilty of Murder 1. They still feel this way about him after all these years. Their signatures are on file.

After the bond was raised, one woman in the community, named Betty Dupre, came forward to D.A. Mike Campbell and told him that even if the bond were raised to millions of dollars, they'd get it and free Patrick because they knew he was not guilty of Murder 1. They all knew of the general town gossip about Betty's promiscuous ways (a well-kept secret from Patrick). The community also knew Patrick had always been on the side of the law, had always helped his community in countless ways, and had always fought injustice with a passion. But today Patrick himself is the victim of injustice that is so, so blatant, yet the Alabama Courts have done nothing to set the records straight. Instead, they allowed the District Attorney's vendetta to stand so that Patrick Swiney sits today with a sentence of death in prison.

During the trial, the State Medical Examiner testified that he deviated from his normal autopsy procedures because he received a call from the District Attorney's office specifically requesting him not perform a vaginal swab examination. The State Medical Examiner testified that this request was highly unusual, yet he went along with the request, even though this was against the standard ethics of protocol which are designed to ensure impartiality. The vaginal swab examination could have proven adultery, and once DNA testing had been performed, it would have told the court who had been involved in this act. For some reason, D.A. Mike Campbell wanted to prevent this from happening. The court not only let the intentional destruction of this evidence slide, it did not immediately direct a verdict of not guilty, as it should have done.

We have another element of urgent concern with this case. We have documented evidence to substantiate that Patrick has suffered continuous abuse from prison officials while the prison officials continue to tell people that all of his needs are being met and that he is in "good" hands. Since being unfairly incarcerated and in the care of the State of Alabama's prison system, Patrick has suffered three heart attacks and succumbed to inflammatory spinal arthritis for which no medical help has ever been provided. He has suffered harassment from the prison officials and has had to follow orders from prison officials that are "known" to be detrimental to his health and physical safety. Yes, he has been singled out among the inmates at the Holman Correctional Facility and abused by prison officials. We have documented proof of these flagrant human rights violations and so does the Department of Corrections in Montgomery, Alabama. According to the laws of our State and Federal Constitutions, each of these maltreatments in prison are violations of Patrick's human rights.

Patrick Swiney has received cruel and unusual punishment for 9 long years. His family has suffered greatly from this too. I have suffered greatly because of this as well. NPDF legal experts believe that this officer should have at worst been charged with manslaughter since the crime was one of passion and not premeditation. NPDF states, "The officer who has spent over 9 years in prison has suffered three separate heart attacks and not likely to survive any further imprisonment. The NPDF believes justice has been served and is asking the Governor to commute the officer's sentence for humanitarian reasons."

The former Chief of Police of Alabaster, Alabama, with whom Patrick worked for 8 years has gone on record stating, "I support the National Police Defense Foundation's effort to get Patrick out of prison. His was a "crime of passion" and it is a proven fact that with a crime of passion, they never bother anybody else again. Because of this and because I personally know Patrick's demeanor, I can assure you that he is not a danger to the public."

FINAL REPORT TO NPDF ON PATRICK SWINEY's CASE (by Chief Investigator Boris S. deKorczak - former CIA investigator - Ph.D. in Psychology - 30 years investigation experience)

After four months and countless hours spent on Patrick Swiney's case, reading the transcripts, going through evidence presented by prosecution and defense, travelling to Holman Prison and interviewing Patrick Swiney, this investigator came to conclusions that in interest of both Patrick Swiney and NPDF a well-planned action should take place to serve justice and meet the criteria of the by-laws of NPDF.

This man does not deserve to be in prison any more, nor do I believe he should be there, though it would be a tough job to prove his innocence due to circumstances and lack of cooperation from original investigative entities.

Patrick Swiney's case is an unusual one. The justice system, being in total disregard in observing the difference between what's right and what's wrong, sent this man to prison for life without the possibility of parole. The lack of evidence in this case, and the harshness of the sentence bestowed upon this man is analogous to hanging an offender of a parking ticket violation.

1. State had suppressed exculpatory evidence. Statement by DA, J. Michael Campbell: "I just want you to know that Patrick Swiney was never in any danger of receiving the electric chair because the criteria was never there for Capital Murder." (Witnesses' Affidavits included.) When DA Mike Campbell said the words that are included in these affidavits, he was admitting to conspiracy and trumped up charges because he was stating that he knew full well that the charge of capital murder was bogus. Still, throughout the trial, he spoke to the jury of capital murder and the death penalty...so did the defense attorney (for that was his only defense with regard to why he bungled the case, stating that he only did these things to keep Patrick from the death penalty when he also knew that this was a trumped up charge to begin with).

2. At request of District Attorney's office, the State Medical Examiner deviated from the normal autopsy procedures of performing a vaginal swab examination on the female victim to determine if any type of intercourse had taken place. /Brady material/.

3. Time of death of the victims was never established.

4. Procedures for crime scene investigation rules were violated.

5. Patrick was instantly fingered as the only suspect.

6. Motion for Discovery was not filed by the defense.

7. Wrong classification of the crime." It is an obvious Crime of Passion" if Patrick Swiney even committed this crime.

8. Lack of medical examination of Patrick immediately after arrest. He complained to arresting officers about his head hurting, stating it felt like he'd been hit on the head with a baseball bat.

9. Psychiatric evaluation of Patrick was performed but expert testimony was never summoned in court.

10. Records of Psychiatric evaluation were destroyed.

11. Betty Snow the victim and wife of Patrick. Her background was never investigated, nor was Ronnie Pate's, an alleged lover of Betty Snow, and his drug connections.

12. Lab tests of projectiles v. lab test of the .22 barrel is non-existent or missing /Brady material/. State Weapons Expert testified that this little survival rifle was notorious for jamming.

13. Evidence of Betty and Ronnie Pate involvement in sexual intercourse were not pursued. Vaginal swabs, DNA, etc. were not performed or missing. /Brady material/.

14. Proof of adultery was prevented. /Brady material/.

15. No paraffin test was done on Patrick hands after the shooting.

16. No test performed for gun powder residue test of Patrick's clothing.

17. Inconclusive Forensic tests of the window glass holes; entry or exit?

18. Poorly performed police Investigative Team's work at the CS.

19. First five jury strikes were blacks, simply because of race /Brady violation/.

For additional information or offers for assistance, contact Taoss@worldnet.att.net.

Copyright, 1997 People Aligned To Replace Injustice & Cruelty with Knowledge