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NEWS & LETTERS, OCTOBER 2003Execution haltedMemphis, Tenn.--Will the case of Philip Workman lead to the unraveling of layers of corruption in the Memphis Police Department, the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office, and the Shelby County Medical Examiner’s Office? Memphis Police Lt. Ronald Oliver was killed when he responded to a robbery call at a Wendy’s Restaurant. Workman had robbed Wendy’s and fled as police arrived. An exchange of gunfire took place. Lt. Oliver was killed, and another Memphis police officer was wounded, as was Workman. A jury found that Workman killed Oliver, and sentenced him to death. The jury based its conviction on the testimony of Harold Davis, and Police Officers Aubrey K. Stoddard and Stephen Parker. Evidence uncovered since, which raised doubts about Workman’s guilt, led to ongoing legal battles that reveal the corruption that led to the original conviction. Harold Davis claimed he saw Workman shoot Oliver, but at an evidentiary hearing in 2001, Davis admitted that he did not see Workman shoot Oliver. He came forward seeking reward money, and police and prosecuting attorneys coached him in his original testimony. Further, prior to the evidentiary hearing, Davis was hidden from defense attorneys by prosecutors and police--with the full knowledge of the presiding judge--even as defense attorneys were asking for a delay so that they could locate him. More corruption is revealed in that for 18 years the Shelby County Medical Examiner’s Office denied it had an X-ray of Oliver’s body. Workman’s gun had been loaded with hollow point bullets that cause a larger exit than entrance wound. When the X-ray was finally turned over to defense attorneys after protracted legal battles it showed an exit wound smaller than the entrance wound, and that the bullet had not fragmented in Oliver’s body. The prosecution had argued that the exit wound had been smaller due to fragments left in Oliver’s body. With the x-ray they had sought to keep from defense attorneys, it is a medical certainty that the bullet that killed Oliver did not come from Workman’s gun. So who did shoot Oliver? Officers Stoddard and Parker testified that they did not fire their weapons. However, a Memphis Police Report, not presented at the original trial, states that Oliver, Stoddard and Parker exchanged gunfire with Workman. An eye-witness, who did not testify at the trial, saw Parker fire a shotgun, and medical records show that Workman was treated for a shotgun wound. Clearly persons other than Workman and Oliver fired weapons. Most likely Oliver was killed by so-called “friendly fire.” But the state was still moving to execute Workman when a surprising announcement was made on Sept. 15: Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen issued a temporary reprieve until Jan. 15, 2004, due to an ongoing federal investigation related to the case that had begun 15 months ago. Anti-death penalty activists believe it is related to Shelby County Medical Examiner O.C. Smith. Fifteen months ago, Smith was found wrapped in barbed wire with a bomb strapped to his chest outside of the Medical Examiner’s Office. He claimed the person who had done this told him it was because of the Workman case. Smith had testified at Workman’s clemency hearing that he had evidence proving Workman’s gun had killed Oliver, contrary to the x-ray evidence that had emerged. His evidence, however, was a series of dubious claims about metallic fragments that could not be corroborated by any other researcher. An extensive police, FBI, and ATF investigation began with local anti-death penalty activists the initial focus. But until the Governor’s announcement this investigation seemed to have faded away. Questions have been raised about whether the attack on Smith was a hoax. With the execution temporarily stopped due to this investigation we’re hoping that the full story of the case and the corruption surrounding it may build momentum to at least a moratorium on executions, if not outright abolition. --Peter Gathje |
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