My Name is Randy Turpin Bell, I am a 44 year old black male. On May 5, 1983, I was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to die by electrocution. I have been on death row for nearly 17 years. If I am executed, I will be the first man in the United States' history to have been arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to death for having contmitted a murder for which there is no proof that the person that I am alleged to have murdered is dead.

In December of 1981, white man by the name of Charles Mims was reported missing. The only thing that they found was his abandoned truck at a campground. There was no blood, clothing, weapons, shell casing, tire marks or bodies found; not even a dead animal! In other words, there was no forensic evidence ever found anywhere about the disappearance of Charles Mims.

Yet, 18 months later, I was arrested and charged with his murder. What was the state's evidence? The testimony of a convicted felon by the name of Michael Joe Hubbard.

              The Facts Regarding This Case:

Around 1982-1983, the Chilton county police on a charge of burglary' arrested Michael Joe Hubbard. When he was arrested, he was asked if he knew anything about the disappearance of Charles Mims. At that time, he stated that he knew absolutely nothing. Several months later, he changes his story.

Mr. Huber alleges that on December 14, 1981, he and I met Charles Mims at the campgrounds in order to sell Mr. Mims some stolen goods. He further alleges that when we met Mr. Mims, I pulled out a gun and demanded that he get on the ground. He also said that I ordered him to tie Mr. Mims up and to put him in the trunk of my car. He says that I did not like the way that he had tied Mr. Mims up so I retied Mr. Mims hands myself.

He also alleges that I forced Mr. Mims into the back of my car and drove several miles to another location where I took him out of the trunk of my car and led him into the woods and forced him to lie down in a one foot ditch whereupon I fired at close range a bullet into the head of Mr. Mims. He also alleged that I took from Mr. Mims a wallet containing a large sum of money then we both drove away.

                                    The Trial:

At my trial, the prosecution brings in a number of whiteness that never once stated that they saw me kill Mr. Mims. In fact, none of the witnesses ever stated that they had ever seen me with Mr. Mims. The only thing that they could testify to was an alleged conversation between Mr. Mims and Mr. Hubbard over the telephone.   They said that Mr. Mims told them that he was talking to Mr. Hubbard and that Mr. Hubbard and he were supposed to meet at 6:00 p.m. at a laundry mat.  Not one of these whiteness ever testified that they knew for a fact that Mr. Hubbard, Mr. Mims and I ever kept that appointment. In fact, several of the witnesses testified that they had seen Mr. Mims around the time that we were supposed to have met and he was alone.

Now Mr. Hubbard also alleges that several days after he had been arrested, I came up to the jail and spoke to him about what to do with the body. Mr. Hubbard alleges that I told him that I would take care of it, He also alleges that several weeks later, I came back to the jail and told him that I had taken care of that matter". He said that I told him that I got rid of the body by dissolving it with acid. He claims that both of these conversations took place while he was in custody, and that it took place while he was outside in the jail yard and I was on the outside fence.
 
                                                    The Defense:

My mother hired an outside lawyer to handle my defense. This lawyer had no experience with capital cases. My mother had very little money. In fact, he took all she had. He assured her that there would not be any problems getting me released because he was absolutely sure that the state had no case.

Came the day of my arraignment . My lawyer walks into court totally unprepared. He was totally shocked when the judge held me over for trial and bail was denied. My lawyer's staff consisted of one; himself he had no secretary', no investigator, and not even a paralegal assistant. Therefore, instead of turning the case over to a more qualified lawyer, he decides to handle the case himself.  And to make matters worse, the judge orders that I be moved to a maximum security facility where convicted felons are held thus making it extremely difficult for me to assist my attorney in my defense. In spite of all this, my attorney did make the usual motion for discovery. Of which they gave him absolutely nothing.

In court, my attorney asked the prosecution and the witness if whether a deal had been made for his testimony. Both he and the state denied that a deal had been made. Yet in open court, the prosecution states to the jury that Michael Joe Hubbard was not an accomplice in this case. Nor was he charged with being an accessory before, during or after the fact.

My entire trial took exactly three days. The jury convicted me of capital murder.

                                                        The Jury:

The jury was an all white jury. One of the juror's last name was Mims. My attorney made no effort to challenge this juror

                                The Sentencing:

My attorney made no effort to call any character witnesses on my behalf.   He made no effort to call any member of my family. He made no statement as to my criminal record, of which I had none. I never had any convictions of any serious crimes. Mr. Hubbard on the other hand had a criminal record as long as my arm. This fact was not allowed to be brought out at trial.

                            Fourteen Years Later:

I get a new lawyer with an entire law firm behind him. This firm has quite a lot of experience in capital murder cases. With this new lawyer, a number of startling facts have surfaced:

(I) The prosecution did make a deal with Michael Joe Hubbard for his testimony. This was evidenced by a memo that was found where the arresting officer went to Michael Joe Hubbard's trial and asked the judge to be lenient with him because he was instrumental in the convection of Randy Bell. The same was done for another witness.

(2) Some notes were found where the prosecution made a deliberate decision to exclude all blacks from serving on this trial. This was indicated by the notes that were made in the margins of the prosecuting attorney's selection of the jury. It had a check mark next to each member of the jury pool of W or B to indicate that juror's race. There was also a note that was next to a juror whose skin cloning was very fair that they might consider him because he was so close to being white.

(3) The presiding judge was involved in the initial investigation before I was arrested. This was evidenced by a memo to one of the arresting officers stating "You need to bring me a body before arresting Mr. Bell.

(4) A $ 10,000 reward had been offered for testimony for the arrest and convection of the murderer of Charles Mims when there was no evidence that Charles Mims was dead.

(5) Michael Joe Hubbard had been arrested and had served time for homicide.

                                     Summary

it is my belief that had all these fact been known, I never would have been arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to death.

If I am executed, I will be the first man in modern American history to be executed for a murder that no one has proved ever happened. In almost every state, the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that such a crime occurred. In addition, in most states, if the prosecution uses an accomplice's testimony, that testimony must be corroborated by some forensic evidence (such as a body) or by another eyewitness.

The state of Alabama has a history of using coerced or suborned testimony from convicted felons to imprison or execute innocent people. A recent Example: The walter McMillan case.

Walter McMillan was an innocent black man convicted of murdering a white man. The state's evidence? The corrodes testimony of a convicted felon (A white man). Mr. McMillan's only crime was that he dated a white woman.

It took six years of this man's life on death row before the facts came out that Mr. McMillan had been framed. Mr. McMillan was a hard working citizen who had no criminal record!

    WAKE UP AMERICA !  Today it is I: tomorrow, it could be you.
                                
If you would like to write to me about this issue or if you have any
information regarding any cases like mine, please write to me at :

                        Randy Bell Z-430,
            Room 7-D-5, Holman Unit 3700,
                        Atmore Alabama
                           36503-3700.

    Or you can E-mail me at my lady's E-mail address :
                                         randy@wgn.net

                                                       Sincerely,
                                                Randy Bell