"AN ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE, WORKING ON A REPORT THAT WILL BE ISSUED TO THE FLORIDA SENATE REGARDING POSSIBLE COMPENSATION FOR WILLIAM DILLON, HAS DENIED A MOTION FROM A FORMER HOMICIDE DETECTIVE TO INTERVENE AGAINST DILLON.
FORMER BREVARD COUNTY SHERIFF'S AGENT THOM FAIR FILED A MOTION LAST WEEK DEFENDING HIS WORK ON THE DILLON CASE AND SAID HIS TESTIMONY IS NECESSARY IN THIS CASE, "PARTICULARLY ON THE ISSUE OF DILLON'S INNOCENCE."
FAIR CAME UNDER FIRE RECENTLY AS ANOTHER WITNESS IN THE DILLON CASE – JAILHOUSE SNITCH ROGER DALE CHAPMAN -- TESTIFIED THAT FAIR COERCED HIM TO LIE AND PROVIDED WRITTEN ANSWERS THAT HE WANTED HIM TO SAY."
BACKGROUND: Bill Dillon, was 22 when he was sentenced to life in prison in 1981, for killing a man in Canova Beach on the eastern coast of the state. During the trial, Dillon was adamant that he had not committed the crime. But a man named John Preston testified in court that he and his scent-tracking German-Shepherd connected Dillon to the killer’s bloody t-shirt. Preston, who billed himself as a "scent-tracking expert", said his dog, “Harrass 2,” even tracked Dillon’s scent repeatedly in later tests. Nearly three decades later, in 2007, DNA testing proved that Dillon’s DNA did not match the DNA on the killer’s shirt. The dog was wrong. Just eight months ago, after 26 years behind bars, Bill Dillon walked out of prison a free man. Preston was exposed by a Florida judge in 1984, who became suspicious of Preston and set up his own test for Harrass 2. The dog failed terribly. CNN unearthed documents which demonstrated that Harrass 2 could not even follow a scent for one-hundred feet. The judge determined the dog could only track successfully when his handler had advance knowledge of the case. Preston and his four-legged so-called expert were discredited in 1987 - but according to CNN, "the state of Florida never reviewed cases on which he’d testified . And nobody ever told Bill Dillon – who sat in prison another 20 years before he ever knew a thing about it. It wasn’t until 2006 that he heard Preston was a fake." The Dillon case is now attracting massive media attention in response to the Florida’s Innocence Project's well publicized concerns that dozens of inmates around the country may have been wrongly convicted as a result of John Preston and his dog. The focus now shifts to Florida's response to the Innocence Project's call for an investigation of those cases. Meanwhile, CNN informs us that Preston, the dog’s handler, died last year. He was never charged with perjury or convicted of a crime. Dillon maintained his innocence from day one and is now attempting to gain compensation from the state for wrongful incarceration. But State Attorney Norman Wolfinger sent a letter to Tallahassee opposing compensation.
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"An administrative law judge, working on a report that will be issued to the Florida Senate regarding possible compensation for William Dillon, has denied a motion from a former homicide detective to intervene against Dillon," John Torre's December 4, 2009 Florida Today story begins, under the heading "Motion denied in Dillon case: Ex-detective seeks to defend his work."
"Former Brevard County sheriff's agent Thom Fair filed a motion last week defending his work on the Dillon case and said his testimony is necessary in this case, "particularly on the issue of Dillon's innocence," the story continues.
"Fair came under fire recently as another witness in the Dillon case – jailhouse snitch Roger Dale Chapman -- testified that Fair coerced him to lie and provided written answers that he wanted him to say.
In return, Chapman said he was promised that sex charges against him would be dropped, and they were.
In Fair's affidavit in support of his motion to intervene, he says Chapman is not telling the truth.
"This is a self-serving lie and inconsistent with the recording made of his interview, which was the result of Chapman's contacting me from the Brevard County jail shortly after William Dillon's arrival," he states in the affidavit. "Chapman was not coached, he was not told what to say, if he didn't know, his information was accepted at face value in conflict with his recent testimony now supporting Dillon."
Dillon was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison in 1981 for killing James Dvorak of Indian Harbour Beach. He spent 27 years in prison before DNA test results excluded him from a key piece of evidence in the case. The state dropped all charges against Dillon last December and he was freed.
He was convicted in part due to Chapman's testimony that Dillon confessed the crime to him and the testimony of dog handler John Preston, who was later exposed as a fraud.
Dillon maintained his innocence from day one and is now attempting to gain compensation from the state for wrongful incarceration. But State Attorney Norman Wolfinger sent a letter to Tallahassee opposing compensation.
Last month, Chapman appeared in Tallahassee and apologized to Dillon for lying against him. He testified that he told Fair that Dillon denied any involvement in the slaying but that Fair told him to gather information against him.
Chapman said that during a second interview Fair asked questions and another officer wrote desired answers on a notepad. Chapman said he parroted the testimony they wanted to frame Dillon.
Fair, in his affidavit, calls Chapman's testimony "slanderous, libelous and defamatory to the good moral character of myself, Investigator Dan Wilmer and Judge Dean Moxley."
"At no time during the interview of Roger Chapman were any visual cues given to him, nor were any notes passed to him, nor were any other communications, other than the verbal conversations that are reflected in the recorded interview and the transcripts, exchanged with him."
Special Master Bram Canter, a judge working on behalf of the state Senate, denied Fair's motion but agreed to make his statements part of the record.
In Fair's affidavit he does not dispute that Chapman may have lied against Dillon only that he did not coerce him into lying. He also says that Chapman contacted him initially.
In case notes obtained from the state attorney's file on the case, there is a handwritten note from then-prosecutor Dean Moxley to prosecutor Karen Thompson about Chapman's encounter with Fair.
"The defendant on 27 and 28 of August made damaging admission to cellmate Roger Dale Chapman. The real bad one on the 28th after Chapman talked to Fair," Moxley wrote. "Roger is very cooperative. He is facing a weak sexual battery case. He's received no promise other than reduced bond. Maybe we should deal."
Moxley is now a circuit judge.
One day after Chapman's testimony, Sheriff Jack Parker officially reopened the Dvorak murder investigation and said he would look into possible misconduct, something that Dillon's attorneys believe may have prompted Fair to get involved now.
"What Fair's motion boils down to is simple," the response states. "Fair has a gut feeling about (Dillon's) innocence that is purely self-serving since Fair himself may now be subject to investigation."
Fair attached a record of Chapman's lengthy criminal history, a transcript of his interview with Chapman and summaries of unfavorable polygraph tests administered to Dillon at the time.
But one of Dillon's attorneys, Seth Miller of the Innocence Project of Florida, said they already submitted all those documents.
"The filing by Mr. Fair adds nothing to the file," he said. "All the documents he places before the hearing officer were already in the papers filed some weeks ago by Mr. Dillon and they have been reviewed by the hearing officers. Mr. Fair's affidavit does nothing to detract from the testimony, heard by the hearing officers, in which the informant testified that Bill Dillon never made incriminating statements to him.""
The story can be found at:
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20091204/NEWS01/912040323/1086/Motion+denied+in+Dillon+case
Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com
