A palanode is a poem in which the poet retracts a viewer's sentiment expressed in a former poem.

The legend that the first palanode was written by Stessa Chorus, who was deprived of his sight after writing the Helen of Troy was the cause of the Trojan War.

Later he wrote a palanode, which roughly translates to,

there is no truth in that story. You didn't ride in the well-road galleys. You didn't reach the walls of Troy.

By writing this wrong, Stessa Chorus regained his vision.

The concept that a palanode can make someone whole again, whether figuratively or literally, has always held a tenuous position in legal systems.

Under Scottish law, a party accused of defamation could traditionally offer a public palanode either voluntarily or at the prompting of a court.

Some viewed the palanode as a positive, noting the value of this expedient and reconciling animosities, shortening lawsuits, and saving that against from expenses which may often prove ruinous to both parties.

Others oppose them, arguing they were lacking in credibility and sincerity, and were instead an empty public show of sound and fury signifying nothing.

In the American criminal justice system, we have our own version of the palanode, the witness recantation.

Defendants often offer them with the hope that their convictions will be reversed.

But in practice, such palanodes rarely had the intended effect of making either the accuser or the accused whole again.

The palanode is a palanode.

Chester Homan III was charged with a murder of Tejong Ho on August 21, 1991, one day after he had been killed.

He wasn't just charged with murder though. He was charged with first degree murder, simple assault, aggravated assault, conspiracy, robbery, theft, caring and unlicensed firearm on public streets, and receiving stolen property.

You could say that they threw the book at him.

The next month, in September 1991, three witnesses testified at a preliminary hearing, Yunko Nihai, Deirdre Jones, and Andredockins.

A preliminary hearing is held before a magistrate judge to determine whether there's probable cause so that the case can go to trial.

Yunko testified to the event of the night that her boyfriend was killed.

Her recollection was fairly consistent with her police statement from the night of the murder, except that she seemed to recall more about the man who was not the shooter, the guy who held down Tejong Ho's legs, was wearing.

She had stated on the night of the murder that she didn't remember anything about what the shooter himself wore, and she stuck by that in her testimony.

But at this hearing, she mentioned that the second man, again, the one holding down her boyfriend's legs, were a white t-shirt of some kind, and maybe white sneakers or high tops, along with a dark cap and shorts she had mentioned in her initial statement.

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