Page 37 - June July 2017

Guilt vs Innovence: The Story of Billy Kuenzel ,

conducted by Dr. Joseph Embry revealed two pellets trigger. His testimony contained several inconsistencies
were lodged in the victims back along with an exit surrounding the sequence of events. In his closing
wound. She also had traces of white polythene statement Robert Rumsey simply dismissed this as
C wadding, the type found in shotgun shells on her irrelevant, referring to instead to the aberrations in
Venn’s testimony as “jewels”. He stated “If there are not
face and chest and her leg was broken. Dr. Emery
A concluded that she had been shot in the chest at point some inconsistencies, there is something wrong”. Billy
P blank range with a .16 gauge shotgun. Kuenzel was put in a cell on the night of November
15th 1987 and told he would be “sent to die.” He was
I Harvey Venn was named by eight separate witnesses sentenced to death almost exactly a year after his initial
T who came forward and identified both him and his arrest.
A car being parked outside Joe Bob’ Crystal Palace that
L night between the hours of 10pm and 11pm. They During the trial Billy was represented by William
all said that he was accompanied by another man
Willingham, an inexperienced state appointed lawyer.
described by one of them as having a “mustache and He was grossly unprepared, spending a mere eight
P bushy hair” but none of them could identify him. hours with his client prior to the trial and averaging

U Venn was questioned at the home he shared with less than two hours per week preparing his defense.
Billy Kuenzel by the police on November 11th, 1987, In 2002, Willingham admitted in an affidavit that he
N two days after the murder. Venn claimed to have had been ineffective in the original trial. He said that
I been nowhere near the store on the night in question. he was “lulled into complacency” by Robert Rumsey

S He told police he had driven to Fayetteville, Alabama who told Willingham prior to trial that the prosecution’s
to visit a friend but, on discovering his friend was
case was “problematic”. He was strongly under the
H not there he returned home arriving there sometime impression that the prosecution had no real case and any
M between 10.00pm and 10.30pm. evidence they had against Billy was “extremely weak”.
E Three days later on November 14th Venn was Willingham also admitted that he did not adequately
pursue investigative leads which would have allowed
N interviewed again, this time in police custody. During him to demonstrate far more persuasive evidence of his

T this interview, Venn’s story changed dramatically client’s innocence. He unwisely believed the evidence he
and he “confessed” that he and Billy had attempted had available to him at the time was sufficient to win the
to rob the convenience store. He said he had waited case.
in the car while Billy donned a ski mask, entered the
store and shot Linda Jean Offord after she refused Billy was charged and convicted for the murder of Linda
to give him the money. He claimed that Billy had Jean Offord based almost entirely on the testimony of
disposed of the .16 gauge shotgun shell by burning Harvey Venn along with the testimony of 16 year old
it in a trashcan located inside the yard of their home. April Harris who had passed by “Joe Bob’s Crystal
On November 15th Billy Kuenzel was arrested. The Palace” in a car driven by her friend Crystal Epperson
police obtained a search warrant and a day later on the night in question. She stated in court that she
found a used shotgun shell inside a 55 gallon drum. had seen Harvey Venn’s car parked outside the store
It was .16 gauge, the same as the murder weapon. sometime between 10.15pm and 11pm. She claimed to
have seen two people inside the store that she identified
During their incarceration, both men were separately as Venn and Kuenzel but that she could not see the
offered a “plea bargain”. Billy, knowing himself to cashier. Harris was not questioned very much further on
be innocent and nowhere near the scene of the crime, this matter and nobody questioned the fact that the car
refused. There was no dispute that Harvey Venn was would have been at least 200 feet away and that it was
at the convenience store that night so he took them dark and it was raining. From the angle she claimed to
up on the offer. He implicated Billy in return for an have approached the store, it would be impossible to
8-10 year prison sentence. During the trial, Venn have a clear view of anyone inside, even on a clear day.
testified that it was Billy who had accompanied him The defense also failed to cross examine April Harris
that night, and it was Billy who had pulled the about the fact her testimony contradicted Venn’s trial
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