Wilder v. Lambert Affidavit in Support of Motion for Production of Trial Transcripts; Correspondence from Johnston to Seay

    IN TIiE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR TEE MIDDLE DISTRICT OT ALABAMA

MONTGOMERY DIVISION

x

JULIA ?. WILDER,. .

PetLtloner,:

-agalnst- :
Civil No.

EAL0N M. LAMBERT, JACK C. LUFKIN :
aad JOEN T PORTER' IN THEIR
OFFICIAL CAPACIIIES AS MEMBERS :

OF THE ALABAMA BOARD OF PARDONS
AND PAROLES, ANd TED BUTLER, A :

PRoBATToN AND PARoLE OFFTCER,
EMPLOYED BY TEE ALABAMA BOARD :
OF PARDONS AND PAROLES,

:
Respond eats .

AFFIDAVIT IN SUPPORT OF PETITIONER'S MOTION
FOR PRODUCTION OF TRIAL TRANSCRIPTS

C. Lani Guinier, being duly sworn, states:

1. I am an attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educa-

tional Fund, Inc., and am one of the attorneys representing

petitioner in the above-captioned matter.

2. The District Attorney of Pickens County, tvtr. P. M.

Johnston, has refused to furnish copies of the notes of out-of-

court interrogations he conducted to build his case against

petitioner. In a letter, dated June 2I, L982 addressed to Mr.

Solomon S. Seay, Jr., one of petitioner's attorneys at trial,

attached hereto as Exhibit A, Mr. Johnston made clear that no



requests for the notes would be honored even though he was aware

that the out-of-court statements would be of use to maintaining

a collateral attack on petitioner's conviction.

3. The refusal to provide these materials is unexcusable

and unreasonable, and has prevented petitioner's attorneys from

making a complete review of petitioner's trial, and thus has

potentially caused the petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed
1n the above-captioned matter to be incomplete by failing to
raise all possible merltorious objections to petitioner's con-

'f inement.

4. Pursuant to Rule 5 of the Rules Governj-ng Section 2251

Cases in the United States District Courts, respondents should

be ordered to furnish all materials requested in the attached

motion /':

C c?,t
i Guinier

Subscribed to an sworn before
-r4me this /,.L day of May 1983

,lci;i'/ P:blic, Si:i,: of Xsiv tcrt.1 t::--t:?i
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2



P. M. JOHNSTON
OISTNICT ATTORNEY
P. O. BOX /ta2
ALTCEVTLLE, AI-ABAMA 354.2

TELEPHONE
oFFtcE205/373C35O 3t3!x)

Mr. Solomon S. Seay, Jr.
GRAY, SEAY & LANGFORD
Attorneys at Law
352 Dexter Avenue
Montgomery, Alabama 36104

Re: State of Alabama vs.
State of Alabama vs.

(

STATE OF ALABAMA
OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY

TWENTY.FOURTH J UDICIAL CI RCUIT

OFALABAMA
FAYETTE. LAMAR, PICKENS COUNTlES

June 2L, 1982

Dear I"1r. Seay:

After reflecting on the present status of Bozeman and
Wilder, I have decided not to furnish the requested depositions.
f believe that any use of these depositions to j.nitiate a Ccram
:Ibbis proceeding would at this point only serve to extend the
time of confinement.

I realize that you have your clientsr interests and other
pressure to consid,er, and for that reason you may not be able
to withhold further action. However, for whatever it is worth
to your rrry reasoning goes this way: At this point I have no
compelling reason to oppose the first parole date which will
ordinarily come up. I would also ask that Wilder be released
at the same time as Bozeman even though her parole date would
ordinarily be Iater.

On the other hand, if there is further pressure applied
to the Court, the Board of Pardons & Paroles, or to the Governor,
which seeks to have these cases handled in anything but a
routine manner, then I could be forced to oppose parole at every
step. As far as I know, there has been no reguest made to the
Board of Pardons & Paroles to deny parole; and there has been no
publicity given to any recent requests for early release. However,
I can visualize the situation changing drasticly with a few press

RELETurD J'Uil 2 3$BU

t

Julia Wilder
Maqgie Bozeman



P. M. JOHNSTON
OISTBiCT ATTOSNEY
P. O. BOX 4a2
ALTCEV|LLE.AI EAMA 35aa2

TELEPHC'NE
oFFrcE2o5E73{XrO 3{rn

(

STATE OF ALABAMA
OFFICE OF THE OISTRICT ATTORNEY

TWENW.FOURTH JUDICIAL CIHCUIT

OFALABAMA
FAYETTE, LAMAR, PICKENS COUNTIES

Page Two:
June 2L, L982

conferences and headlines.

From my point of view, it would be foolish for me to
furnish you with the ammunition to shoot at me j-n a Coram Nobis
proceeding; ahd it would be counter-productive for you to use it.
Bozeman and, Wilder would both be out long before we got through
arguing the issues

Yours very'truly,

P. M. Johnston
oistri6t Attorney

PMJ/fe

cc: Mr..J. L. Chestnut, Jr.
CHESTNUT, SANDERS & SANDERS
1405 Jeff Davis Avenue
P. O. Box 1305
SeLma, Alabama 36701