Prosecutorial Misconduct, Police Corruption, and Insufficient Counsel:
This is the story of Ken Middleton.
In 1990 Ken’s wife, Kathy, was killed in a tragic accident involving a handgun. Following the heartbreaking loss of his beloved wife, Ken found himself caught up in a nightmare from which he simply cannot awake. He was indicted for first degree murder. He stood accused of having killed Kathy.
Fact: Ken Middleton TURNED DOWN an Alford Plea offer.
If Ken would have accepted this Alford Plea, a plea that even the West Memphis Three accepted, he could walk away a free man! They would consider his period of incarceration to that point sufficient enough to meet their sentencing requirement.
With appeals exhausted,
He wouldn't even consider it!
No guilty man would turn that down!
Fact: The original trial judge overturned HER OWN CASE, granting Ken a new trial.
In 2005, Judge Edith Messina ruled Mr. Middleton was "abandoned by post-conviction counsel, thus providing just cause to re-open his Rule 29.15 proceeding." She then held a two day evidentiary hearing that convinced her to grant him a new trial.
6 days later, the state filed a notice of appeal.
Fact: Former Missouri governor Joseph P. Teasdale testified he "would clearly have pardoned Mr. Middleton of all wrongdoing."
Mr. Teasdale exclaimed “In my 41 years as a lawyer, I had not witnessed such a violation of a defendant's constitutional rights.”
Justice For All?
We have gathered a staggering number of FACTS to show that justice has not prevailed. Read for yourself how our system failed Ken Middleton