Page 41 - June July 2017

Guilt vs Innovence: The Story of Billy Kuenzel ,

female officer who was in the room at the time was moved to tears at hearing his words. The biggest surprise
though, was yet to come. Billy says “Jane told me to watch for a letter that was most important that might
shock me.” That afternoon, after supper, a letter from Jane arrived in the mail. Inside was a proposal “Will you
marry me?” Their destiny was sealed. With the help of David Kochman, the marriage license was approved. On
February 22nd 2008 Bill and Jane got married at Holman Correctional Facility. Despite his situation, Bill has
never lost his sense of humor, referring to his prison uniform he joked, “I was the one wearing white!”
C

A Billy Kuenzel’s case has attracted prestigious support from various people including the 93 year old former
P Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morganthau who has personally overseen and been responsible for
approximately three and a half million criminal prosecutions. In his amicus brief in May 2013 he states there
I is “..little to no doubt that Mr. Kuenzel is factually innocent of having any involvement in the murder of Linda
T Offord”. He also points out “Mr. Kuenzel did not receive a constitutionally permissible trial”.
A Now that Billy’s latest filing has been denied, legal avenues have been exhausted and Billy is currently in the

L process of filing a reconsideration motion. In all probability it is his last chance. Harvey Venn was sentenced
to 10 years in prison and served just eight. Billy Kuenzel still sits on Death Row with little hope of a fair

P hearing despite the fact that there is proof of manufactured evidence, police and prosecutorial misconduct and
incompetent representation.
U
N Frustratingly the state is far more concerned with getting a conviction than they are with getting the truth.

I Billy’s case is just one example of how the United States justice system is fatally flawed. If all of the evidence
had been turned over by the prosecution, the case would have never even gone to trial. Billy Kuenzel was
S a convenient scapegoat, with no resources to properly defend himself. When I first started researching this

H subject, I naively assumed that for a death sentence to be passed, the evidence of guilt would be overwhelming.
M How many more Billy Kuenzel’s have been executed or are at risk of execution for another person’s crime? It is
almost unimaginable to realize that a miscarriage of justice of this magnitude could occur and that an innocent
E man will lose his life.

N
T

Photo Courtesy of google.com

Catherine Farmer is a freelance writer, working on several projects from guide books to stage shows. She has
been actively involved in the anti death penalty campaign for several years and have written articles on this
subject. She also created a website for wrongfully convicted death row inmate Billy Kuenzel.

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