Joseph Whitfield

                    INNOCENT MAN ON MISSOURI'S DEATH ROW

Joseph Whitfield is sitting on Death Row in Potosi Correctional Center in Missouri, for a crime he did not commit and had absolutely no involvement with, and the proof of his complete innocence is as follows:

The State of Missouri wrongfully charged and convicted Joe of shooting and killing his close friend of over 35 years with no provocation nor motive!

Joe's friend, Ronald Chester was shot twice in the head while he was sitting behind the wheel of his parked ‘84/'85 Lincoln Continental.

Joe was seated directly behind him in the back seat, and Ronald's girlfriend [Maria Evans] was sitting on the passenger side of the rear seat with Joe's 4 year old daughter Jodi who was sitting in her lap were both sitting opposite to Joe.

The State encouraged Maria Evans to lie in her testimony at Joe's trial, that Joe shot Ronald twice in the head, while Joe was sitting directly behind him, but her testimony was contradicted by all of the physical evidence. Maria Evans stated that Joe held a gun in his right hand, and placed it to the right side of the back of Ronald's head and shot him twice. The State's medical examiner stated that Ronald was shot twice behind his left ear and definitely not like Maria Evans had testified to, and the shots were not anywhere close to being contact wounds, as she had stated they were.

Maria Evans' testimony was false and perjured, and by that I mean her eyes were closed when Ronald Chester was shot and killed. Knowing that her eyes were closed during that time and her demonstration on the area and location where Ronald Chester was supposed to have been fatally wounded, only proves that she had not seen what she said she had seen.

According to Chief Homicide Detective Preston Moore, Maria Evans told him on the night of Ronald's death, that a man by the name of Varney Bolden walked up to the rear window, directly behind Ronald, and told Joe to shoot Ronald and her, but Joe refused. Then Maria said that Joe turned to her with a gun in his hand [while she was holding his 4 year old daughter!], and she is supposed to have said to him that if he was going to shoot her, he would have to shoot his baby first, and then she said that she held onto his baby, and closed her eyes and began screaming. Once she opened her eyes, Varney Bolden was pulling Joe out of the car.

The next morning, Maria Evans was called down to the Homicide Office, where she had made an audio cassette tape recording saying exactly the same thing she had said the night before about Ronald's death, to Detective Moore, her eyes were definitely closed!

The State knew that Maria Evans' testimony was false, and that the lie she was telling needed a great deal of support, so they introduced a weapon, [a gun that was never given a chance to be examined or tested by Joe's Defense] that they had claimed to have been the actual murder weapon, and they had said that this weapon was discovered and found in Joe's apartment.

The State also used a woman, by the name of Linda Scott to testify against Joe. Linda Scott was on the scene of Ronald's death, as a matter of fact, she drove Joe and his daughter home that night on the orders of her boyfriend Charles Porter, where she remained until the police arrived, who eventually arrested Joe.

Linda Scott was locked up in a jail in the State of Illinois, on an unrelated charge, and the State found her there, and with some deal making, the State got her to testify against Joe, but they wanted her to lie and say that she had seen Joe shoot and kill Ronald Chester, but her testimony took an unexpected turn towards the truth, and against them.  Not only did she say that she did not see Joe shoot Ronald, she testified in saying that she did not know where Joe had gone after he had left out of their car, but she had seen Varney Bolden walk away from Ronald Chester's car, after the shooting, with an object in his hand, and to make matters worse for the State, Linda went on to say that the weapon that was allegedly found at Joe's appartment was hers, but she said that Joe had brought it there.

Linda Scott's in depth testimony stated that Joe had gotten a ride over Charles Porter's [her boyfriend] area, and had gotten into their car, and that Charles gave Joe their gun and Joe allegedly said that he was getting out of the car to go rob someone, but Linda did not know  where Joe had gone, as a matter of fact, there wasn't any robberies in that area that night.

Also, in Charles Porter's deposition which was taken in prison after Joe's trial, Charles Porter said that he didn't give Joe or anyone else a gun that night, so Linda Scott had lied there, but she had to give the State something behind the obvious deal that was made between her and them.

The Police Officer that arrested Joe, testified that Linda Scott told him to look up in the ceiling of Joe's bathroom, and he will find the gun there, but of course Linda Scott denied that.

Other Police Officers who had accompanied the Police Officer who arrested Joe, stated that they had seen Linda Scott moving around by the bathroom area when they arrived inside Joe's apartment.

A friend of Joe's by name of Freddy Johnson stopped by Joe's apartment, approximately 20 minutes after Ronald Chester's death.  By the time Police Officers had arrived at Joe's apartment, Freddy Johnson had already left.

In 1989, during a legal forum, Freddy Johnson testified on behalf of Joe, and stated that he had stopped by Joe's that night, and while he was there he saw a gun lying on top of some diapers in Linda Scott's diaper bag, and although Joe's attorney knew about Freddy Johnson, she neglected to call him to testify!

Joe's fingerprints were not on the gun, which Maria Evans had testified prior to Joe's trial, that Joe didn't have on any gloves that night. Joe asked for a gun power residue test to be taken for his hands and his clothes, to prove that he had not fired a weapon that night, but he was refused.

The request for this test by Joe, was made approximately 1 hour 15 minutes after Ronald Chester's death, when he was in custody of the Police inside their Head Quarters.

The Officers had enough time to test Joe, and to obtain an accurate reading, because the gun powder residue would still be on Joe's skin, if he had fired a weapon that night, because gun powder residue will remain on a person's skin for at least 72 hours.

                                    SUMMARY OF FACTS:

1)     Linda Scott was present when Ronald Chester was shot and killed
2)     Linda Scott drove Joe and his Daughter home by the order of her boyfriend, Charles Porter
3)     Freddy Johnson testified in 1989 that he had seen a gun in Linda Scott's diaper bag, while he was there on the night of Ronald Chester's death
4)     In 1994, Linda Scott admitted the gun was hers
5)     The Police Officer who arrested Joe at his apartment, testified that Linda Scott told him where to find the alleged gun in Joe's apartment
6)     The Police Officers accompanying the Police Officer who arrested Joe, testified that they had seen Linda Scott moving around in the same location where she alleged the gun was supposed to have been found, when they first entered Joe's apartment, and Joe was up front at his door
7)     Joe's fingerprints were not on the gun

                                        FURTHER FACTS:

1)     There were 3 eyewitnesses that saw Varney Bolden shoot Ronald Chester, namely; Ms Ava Toney, Mr Gary Hackner and Mr Willie Gream
2)     August Nilges, a Ballistics and Forensic Expert testified at Joe's trial, and stated that it was physically impossible for Joe to have shot and killed Ronald Chester, in the manner that he was. According to the trajectory of the shots, he said that those shots that killed Ronald Chester came from outside of his car, around the rear driver's side window and door area
3)     Joe's trial attorney knew that the rear driver's side window was down [open], when Ronald was shot and killed, but did not allow the Jury and the Court to be aware of that fact. Maria Evans testified in a deposition, and at a prior legal forum, that the rear driver's side window was down when Ronald was shot and killed, but she said that she closed it once everyone that was in the area had left. Afterwards, the Evidence Technician Unit arrived and took pictures of the car, but now the window was closed, and these were the pictures the State had shown to the Jury
4)     The State capitalized on this horrible blunder, which was made by Joe's trial attorney, and used his Expert witness against him, by asking Mr Nilges ‘can a bullet pass through a glass window without breaking it?' And of course, Mr Nilges reply was ‘no'
5)     The Jury were totally misled and confused about the circumstances that surrounded Joe's case
6)     The shots that killed Ronald Chester came from outside of his car, and without the Jury knowing that the rear window was indeed down [open] when Ronald was shot and killed. They had no other choice but to believe that he was shot by Joe, being on the inside of his car
7)     The State used false testimony to charge and convict Joe
8)     Maria Evans admitted on cassette tape, that her eyes were closed when Ronald Chester was shot and killed. She also told the Chief Homicide Detective, on the night of Ronald's death, that her eyes were closed. But the cassette tape has been lost by the State, which therefore meant the Jury could not hear Maria Evans say, in her own voice, that she didn't see Joe shoot Ronald, like she had testified to, at Joe's trial

The usage of known perjury testimony by the State, and the loss of vital exculpatory evidence by the State [evidence that could help Joe] namely; the cassette tape of Maria Evans statement, saying that her eyes were closed when Ronald Chester was killed], together with totally ineffective assistance of Joe's trial attorney, caused Joe to be found guilty of a crime that he definitely did not have any involvement with, and which has placed him on death row.

                    JOE DESPERATELY NEEDS YOUR HELP

Joe is desperately seeking help in obtaining investigators, and financial assistance to pay for a Forensic and Ballistics Expert, which will help him to prove his complete innocence.  Since Joe's trial, sadly Mr Nilges has passed away.

Time is running against Joe right now, and any assistance you are able to afford him will be greatly welcomed and appreciated.

If you would like to help Joe by donating some funds, or if you would like  further information about Joe's case, or ways you can help him, please write
in the first instance to:
                                        Stephanie Vanzant
                            PO Box 334
                               Nixa, MO
                             65714  USA
    
Alternatively, if you wish to write Joe direct, his details are as follows:
                                                
                            Joe Whitfield C.P.80 H.U 5-B-25
                    Potosi Correctional Center
                              Rt 2, Box 2222
                            Mineral Point, MO.
                                63660   USA

        Joe wishes to thank you for taking the time out to read his web-page,
      and hopes that you will contact him or Stephanie in the very near future.
         Time is of ultimate importance. Make a difference, and write TODAY!

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