S3, The State v. Dennis Perry - Episode 22 – You'll Have Your Answer
Undisclosed: Toward Justice
mital
4.2 • 10.5K Ratings
🗓️ 4 May 2020
⏱️ 57 minutes
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Summary
May 3, 2020 / Following new DNA testing on an old suspect, Dennis Perry's attorneys have filed an Extraordinary Motion for a New Trial in Glynn County Superior Court, seeking to overturn his conviction.
#undisclosed #freedennisperry
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In 2018, we covered the case of Dennis Perry in season three of our podcast. |
| 0:14.7 | Dennis is now serving two life sentences for the murder of Harold and Thelma Swain, who were shot down in the entryway of their small |
| 0:21.0 | rural church in Waverly, Georgia in 1985. |
| 0:24.7 | It wasn't until 15 years later that Dennis Perry was arrested for the crime. |
| 0:29.1 | After the case was reopened and a new investigator was brought on to solve what was by then, |
| 0:34.3 | Camden County's most notorious unsolved cold case. At Dennis's trial, the evidence |
| 0:39.9 | against him consisted primarily of two problematic eyewitness identifications. The testimony of a woman |
| 0:46.1 | named Jane Beaver, who claimed Dennis told her in advance of his plans to commit a murder, |
| 0:51.0 | but who had secretly been promised $25,000 if her testimony resulted in his |
| 0:55.7 | conviction. And a statement made by Dennis after his arrest which police officers would describe |
| 1:00.7 | as a confession. Despite the fact, not one of them had made a record of any statements Dennis made |
| 1:06.6 | that can be described as an admission of being involved in any crime. It was on this evidence that |
| 1:12.8 | Dennis Perry was convicted. The jury was just about to begin deliberations on whether Dennis should |
| 1:17.7 | be executed when the prosecutor came to him with an offer. Forfeit any right to appeal your |
| 1:23.2 | conviction the prosecutor told him, and your life will be spared. Instead of the death penalty, |
| 1:28.6 | you'll get two life sentences. Dennis accepted the sentencing agreement, but he has never |
| 1:34.3 | stopped maintaining his innocence in this crime. A few months after season three of this podcast came to a close, |
| 1:48.0 | Dennis' attorneys at the Georgia Innocence Project and King and Spalding filed a habeas petition on his behalf, |
| 1:54.0 | challenging his conviction on the basis of numerous due process violations, |
| 1:57.9 | including the prosecutor's intentional withholding of exculpatory evidence and the |
| 2:02.5 | resulting ineffective assistance of counsel. The Attorney General's office moved to dismiss Dennis's |
| 2:08.0 | petition, arguing, among other things, that Dennis Perry was procedurally barred from raising a challenge |
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