the left side. The second shot entered his left temple and moved through his brain in a left-to-right direction. Lonnie had died almost instantly. 22
Page 62
Image not available.
Lonnie McDuff. Many considered Lonnie to be the only person
his brother Kenneth might have ever cared about.
Courtesy Temple Police Department.
IV
In October 1976, not long after Kenneth became eligible for parole, Addie retained an attorney from Dallas named Gary Jackson. Jackson and his wife Gloria, also an attorney, steadfastly believed in Kenneth's innocence. In an interview with federal agents, the couple insisted that there was no way Kenneth could have committed the crimes for which he had been accused and convicted. According to a confidential report, the Jacksons believed in a rather large conspiracy between the judiciary and several
Page 63
law enforcement agencies to wrongly convict Kenneth of murder. Gary Jackson appears to be among very few people who believed Kenneth's testimony during the Broomstick Murders trial. Jackson maintained that Kenneth lent his car to Roy Dale to commit robbery and murder while he slept in a burnt out shopping center in Everman, just as Kenneth had testified. 23
To bolster the argument of Kenneth's innocence, Jackson commissioned the firm of Leavelle-Hilliard and Johnston, a polygraph service, to administer him a polygraph. During the session on September 6, 1977, Kenneth showed no deception on any of the questions asked of him. 24
While polygraph results are not admissible in a court of law, they are, nonetheless, used often in investigations as a tool to filter out questionable sources of information. Jackson apparently accepted the results as definitive. One week later, he successfully filed a motion to dismiss pending charges against Kenneth for the rape and murder of Louise Sullivan. The granting of the motion, however, was based on the denial of a speedy trial and not on the arguments connected to the polygraph results. Still, the victory must have bolstered the hopes the Jacksons and the McDuffs had for getting Kenneth out of prison.
So convinced were the lawyers of Kenneth's innocence, that, as Gary Cartwright in Texas Monthly chronicled, they started a long and expensive campaign to expose the ''true" Broomstick MurdererRoy Dale Green. In his motion to dismiss, Jackson correctly argued that Roy Dale was the only person who had ever admitted to being present when the murders took place. 25
Gary Jackson's allegiance to Kenneth McDuff went beyond a traditional attorney-client relationship into a business venture. Kenneth was marketed as a victim, unjustly convicted of murder, and wrongly sentenced to death and sent to prison. Talk of a book and movie deal led in 1989 to the incorporation of a business called "Justice for McDuff, Inc." 26
But the first priority was to get Kenneth out.
V
On January 7, 1988, board members Ken Casner and Chris Mealy voted in favor of Kenneth's parole. He appeared to be headed for freedom until additional information was presented to the board, reportedly including
Page 64
letters of protest from a host of local officials from Falls County. The approval was almost immediately rescinded. Only four months later, the board reviewed the case again. Ken Casner voted again for approval, but his was the only affirmative vote. In July and September 1988, Kenneth's case received separate administrative reviews. So in one year1988four actions on a petition for the parole of Kenneth McDuff were taken. 27
Political pressure from Judge Justice's rulings began to build and a crisis came to fruition. In 1988, 28,090 of 49,126 requests (fifty-seven percent) for paroles were approved; in 1989, 34,536 of 61,221 requests (fifty-six percent) were approved; in 1990, 56,442 of 71,074 requests (seventy-nine percent) were approved. 28
During the late eighties and early nineties almost everyone was being released after only an initial review. Through good time
Page 62
Image not available.
Lonnie McDuff. Many considered Lonnie to be the only person
his brother Kenneth might have ever cared about.
Courtesy Temple Police Department.
IV
In October 1976, not long after Kenneth became eligible for parole, Addie retained an attorney from Dallas named Gary Jackson. Jackson and his wife Gloria, also an attorney, steadfastly believed in Kenneth's innocence. In an interview with federal agents, the couple insisted that there was no way Kenneth could have committed the crimes for which he had been accused and convicted. According to a confidential report, the Jacksons believed in a rather large conspiracy between the judiciary and several
Page 63
law enforcement agencies to wrongly convict Kenneth of murder. Gary Jackson appears to be among very few people who believed Kenneth's testimony during the Broomstick Murders trial. Jackson maintained that Kenneth lent his car to Roy Dale to commit robbery and murder while he slept in a burnt out shopping center in Everman, just as Kenneth had testified. 23
To bolster the argument of Kenneth's innocence, Jackson commissioned the firm of Leavelle-Hilliard and Johnston, a polygraph service, to administer him a polygraph. During the session on September 6, 1977, Kenneth showed no deception on any of the questions asked of him. 24
While polygraph results are not admissible in a court of law, they are, nonetheless, used often in investigations as a tool to filter out questionable sources of information. Jackson apparently accepted the results as definitive. One week later, he successfully filed a motion to dismiss pending charges against Kenneth for the rape and murder of Louise Sullivan. The granting of the motion, however, was based on the denial of a speedy trial and not on the arguments connected to the polygraph results. Still, the victory must have bolstered the hopes the Jacksons and the McDuffs had for getting Kenneth out of prison.
So convinced were the lawyers of Kenneth's innocence, that, as Gary Cartwright in Texas Monthly chronicled, they started a long and expensive campaign to expose the ''true" Broomstick MurdererRoy Dale Green. In his motion to dismiss, Jackson correctly argued that Roy Dale was the only person who had ever admitted to being present when the murders took place. 25
Gary Jackson's allegiance to Kenneth McDuff went beyond a traditional attorney-client relationship into a business venture. Kenneth was marketed as a victim, unjustly convicted of murder, and wrongly sentenced to death and sent to prison. Talk of a book and movie deal led in 1989 to the incorporation of a business called "Justice for McDuff, Inc." 26
But the first priority was to get Kenneth out.
V
On January 7, 1988, board members Ken Casner and Chris Mealy voted in favor of Kenneth's parole. He appeared to be headed for freedom until additional information was presented to the board, reportedly including
Page 64
letters of protest from a host of local officials from Falls County. The approval was almost immediately rescinded. Only four months later, the board reviewed the case again. Ken Casner voted again for approval, but his was the only affirmative vote. In July and September 1988, Kenneth's case received separate administrative reviews. So in one year1988four actions on a petition for the parole of Kenneth McDuff were taken. 27
Political pressure from Judge Justice's rulings began to build and a crisis came to fruition. In 1988, 28,090 of 49,126 requests (fifty-seven percent) for paroles were approved; in 1989, 34,536 of 61,221 requests (fifty-six percent) were approved; in 1990, 56,442 of 71,074 requests (seventy-nine percent) were approved. 28
During the late eighties and early nineties almost everyone was being released after only an initial review. Through good time
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