3A
NEWS/ The Charlotte Post
April 18, 1996
Spann appeals death sentence
Continued from page 1A
guilty.
“I just knew what I had
heard,” Sizemore said this
week.
Before long, however, he'd
tracked down evidence that, if
substantiated in court, proves
Spann's innocence.
An outline of that evidence,
backed by a 14-year-old diary
entry, videotaped interviews
with the confessor's brother-
in-law and analysis by crimi
nologists, contend that Spann
is innocent.
Spann was arrested four
days after Melva Harper
Neill, 81, was found strangled
and sexually assaulted in her
home in Clover. He allegedly
had in his possession a gold
coin that belonged to Neill.
Later, authorities produced a
palm print belonging to Spann
which they say had been
found on some papers in the
dead woman's bedroom.
The new evidence indicates
that the murder for which
Spann was convicted was
actually a chain of at least
three murders of elderly white
women within a 12-mile
radius of each other. The mur
ders occurred between July
and November 1981.
Spann is charged with the
second murder, Neill’s. No one
has been charged in the first
murder, the July 12, 1981
killing of Mary Ring of Clover.
William Johnny Hullett is
serving a life sentence in the
third murder, the November
killing of Bessie Kate
Alexander, 69, of Smyrna.
Spann was already in custody
when Alexander was killed.
In all three murders, the vic
tims were elderly white
women, who were sexually
assaulted, beaten and stran
gled.
“The killing finally stopped
when William Johnny Hullett
was arrested for and confessed
to the murder of Bessie
Alexander,” according to the
motion filed last month. “On
Feb. 5, 1996, nearly 15 years
after the crimes, Hullett
signed a sworn declaration,
against his penal interest,
admitting his own involve
ment in the death of Melva
Neill and stating unequivocal
ly that Sterling Spann was
not present during her mur
der.”
Hullett has confessed to
being outside while his step
brother, Fred Kimble of Kings
Mountain, went inside the
Neill home and returned with
some jewelry. Hullett said
Kimble, who denies involve
ment in the murders, later
told him he had killed Neill.
Two forensic specialist con
cluded the three murders
were committed by a serial
killer and one, after examin
ing Hullett, said Hullett was
probably the perpetrator of all
three murders. That conclu
sion is collaborated by the
statements of Hullett's wife
and daughter, who allege he
violently sexually assaulted
them.
Spann had said he got the
coin from a red-headed white
man. Jessie Pruitt, who has
red hair, was located and
gave an affidavit saying he got
a gold coin from Hullett in.
1981 and that he gave it to a
black man, though he did not
know Spann's name.
Hullett and Kimble had a
produce route that ran by
each of the three victims'
homes. He'd said Kimble told
him that he was going to col
lect some money that was
owed him when he entered
Neill's home.
While Caucasian hair was
found at the murder scene, no
hair particles consistent with
people of African descent were
found. And the clearly defined
palm prints, supposedly made
when Spann pressed his
hands on the bed as he
assaulted Neill, was on two
pieces of unwrinkled paper
and were not smudged,
according to Sizemore. He
said no other fingerprints
were produced at trial.
A fingerprint expert disputes
the state's theory of how the
fingerprint was made, saying
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West sees need to advance struggle
Continued from page 1A
in his 70-minute speech, but
the issue of race and race rela
tions once again took center
stage.
“Any time one talks about
race mattering, one must
begin with tradition,” he
explained. “Tradition raises
the fundamental question of
what it means to be moral,
courageous and committed.”
The theologian/activist said
that African Americans are
not just people with problems,
but problem people who are
blamed for society’s ills,
whether real or imagined.
“Problem people are subject
to extinction and various
other forms of subjugation,
because of what they have
been reduced to,” West said.
Although race and race rela
tions was his primary focus.
West also touched on an issue
that concerns Americans of
every kind. West said that
paranoia and poverty are at
the root of what is destroying
America.
“Paranoia creates fear and
distrust and poverty in turn
creates hopelessness and dis-
pair,” he said.
West said that events like
the Million Man March last
year are the result of discon
tent in the country, especially
among African Americans. He
said that the march was good
for the African American com
munity and the entire nation.
“It's very important for a
variety of blacks, including
Farrakhan, to come together
for the purpose of advancing
the black struggle,” he said.
Nurica Goode of the Black
Student Coalition described
West as inspirational.
“He changed the way a lot of
people here viewed the issue
of race,” she said. “He was
real positive.”
Quoting everyone from Plato
to DuBois, West ended his
address on the premise that
despite her problems, America
still has the potential to go
down as the greatest nation in
the annals of history.
“I'm a prisoner of hope and I
hope that we can truly
respond as a nation to meet
the needs of people and meet
those needs as we proceed
with this experiment called
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