Savoring the start of life after death row

Charges dropped in 1992 Catawba Co. killings; court-appointed defense faulted

Thursday, April 3, 2008

By Marcie Young and David Ingram
Charlotte Observer Staff Writers

RALEIGH --Glen Edward Chapman walked free Wednesday after nearly 14 years on death row in a case that a judge said was marred by a flawed police investigation and a faulty defense.

Murder charges against Chapman, 40, were dismissed Wednesday morning by District Attorney Jay Gaither, who in November was told by a Catawba County judge that the case needed to be retried.

Hours later, Chapman, sentenced to death in 1994 in the deaths of 31-year-old Betty Jean Ramseur and 28-year-old Tenene Yvette Conley, left Central Prison with one of his attorneys in a green Volkswagen.

He waved to reporters and photographers and later said in a news conference that he didn't know for sure he was leaving prison until 10 minutes before he was released.

"Everybody's like, `You're going home,' " he said. "I still didn't believe it until I was actually out."

Ramseur's brother said he was disappointed that the justice system couldn't resolve his sister's death.

"If it wasn't him, then I really do wonder who the killer was," Charles Ramseur, 55, said.

Chapman's release comes five months after Judge Robert Ervin issued a 186-page ruling that said the lead investigator in Chapman's double-murder case withheld critical evidence and lied on the stand. He also said Chapman's defense attorneys, who were court-appointed, did a poor job investigating the 1992 killings.

The case, according to court documents, was also marred by an incompetent defense by two lawyers with a history of alcohol abuse.

The ruling forced the District Attorney's Office to decide whether to retry the case. Gaither dismissed the charges, he said in a news release, because the prosecution's case was "factually incomplete" and there was not enough evidence to try Chapman again.

Ervin found that Chapman's trial attorneys had missed critical evidence, including that Conley was alive after Chapman last saw her and may have died of a drug overdose. Ervin also said in his ruling that the lead Hickory police investigator on the case withheld information that a key witness in the Ramseur case identified someone other than Chapman in a photo lineup.

Chapman's appeals attorney also argued that his trial attorneys, Thomas Portwood and Robert Adams, had failed to interview several critical witnesses and were "excessive users of alcohol."

Portwood, who admitted he drank more than a pint of 80-proof rum every evening during several death penalty trials, has been challenged in court for his representation of at least two other men, one of whom was executed in 2001.

According to Observer archives, Adams told the N.C. State Bar that he drank three scotches a night but that it did not affect his trial performance. A 1998 psychiatrist's evaluation of Adams, ordered by the bar, concluded that Adams "had a drinking problem" and referred him to Alcoholics Anonymous, according to a bar discipline order.

Portwood died in 2003, and Adams could not be reached for comment.

Ramseur and Conley's bodies were discovered within a week of each other in abandoned Hickory homes. Ramseur, according to court documents, was found in a burned-out building and likely had been dead for several weeks. Conley was found in a closet in another empty home.

Prosecutors argued that Chapman had beaten the women to death in separate drug-fueled fights. While Chapman has admitted that he knew both women and had smoked crack with each of them, he has long denied any involvement with their deaths.

Chapman's release, said Ramseur's brother, Charles, raises concerns about the legal system and whether it's working the way it should.

"I would think you would make sure you got the right one before you put him on trial or give him a death sentence," he said by phone Wednesday. "(Murder is) too serious a crime to convict someone if (there's a possibility) they didn't do it."

No relatives of Conley could be found Wednesday.

Chapman is among other inmates set free from North Carolina's death row in recent years. Another former inmate, Jonathan Hoffman, was freed in a Union County case challenged by post-conviction attorneys. Prosecutors declined to attempt a second trial.

The cases have renewed the debate about the state's death penalty -- currently on hold because of a dispute over lethal injection -- and led to changes in how capital cases are handled. But some older cases, including Chapman's, went to trial before the reforms.

On Wednesday afternoon, Chapman made phone calls -- using a cellular phone for the first time -- to his family and other members of his legal team. He ate a bologna and cheese sandwich made, he said, like his mother used to make.

"That was my comfort food," he said.

He was planning to have steak for dinner Wednesday night.

Beyond that, Chapman said he's not certain of his plans but is looking forward to seeing his sons, ages 17 and 22. He said he doesn't think he'll move back to Hickory, where he was born.

Chapman declined to criticize either the criminal justice system or the investigators -- in particular lead investigator Dennis Rhoney, formerly of the Hickory Police Department -- whose work has drawn scrutiny.

"His fate is not in my hands," Chapman said. "I have no bitterness. Why should I give somebody the benefit of knowing that they can just make me bitter?"

Rhoney, who works for the Burke County Sheriff's Office, couldn't be reached Wednesday.

Chapman's attorneys said they would explore a request for a pardon from Gov. Mike Easley, which if granted would allow Chapman to apply for compensation from the state for the time he was in prison.

Chapman said he has no idea who or what might have caused the two women's deaths. He and his attorneys called for abolishing the death penalty.

"The way it's going now, it's not working," Chapman said.

Timeline
Aug. 15, 1992 Prospective renters looking at a home in Southeast Hickory discover 28-year-old Tenene Yvette Conley's body in a downstairs closet. Investigators originally thought she had been killed, but testimony indicates she may have died of a drug overdose.

Aug. 22, 1992 The body of Betty Jean Ramseur, 31, is found in a burned-out and abandoned house in Southeast Hickory. She had died several weeks before.

Jan. 11, 1993 Glen Edward Chapman, then 25, is indicted on first-degree murder charges in the death of Ramseur.

Aug. 16, 1993 Chapman is indicted on first-degree murder charges infor the death of Conley.

Oct. 31, 1994 Chapman's trial, which combined Ramseur's and Conley's cases, begins in Catawba County Superior Court.

Nov. 10, 1994 Chapman is convicted of two counts of first-degree murder.

Nov. 16, 1994 Chapman is sentenced to death.

July 5, 1996 Appellate defense attorneys begin post-conviction proceedings.

July 23, 2002 Frank Goldsmith becomes Chapman's appellate defense attorney. Jessica Leaven joins Goldsmith in December 2002.

Aug. 1, 2003 Judge Robert Ervin makes the complete investigation and case files available to Chapman's attorneys.

Aug. 2, 2006 After all post-conviction hearings, defense attorneys file a motion asking Ervin to order a new trial in both cases based on new evidence.

Nov. 6, 2007 Ervin orders a new trial.

April 2, 2008 Charges against Chapman are dismissed by District Attorney Jay Gaither. He said the prosecution's argument was "factually incomplete" and there was not enough evidence to retry the case.

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