It also mentions the evidence that names the person who was potentially responsible for the killing of Helen. The Beatrice Six was exonerated in early 2009, ultimately raising questions about the reliability of confessions and memory in criminal cases. In Mind Over Murder, four of the five living Beatrice Six members share more details about their case. Mind Over Murder chronicles the events of what led up to the wrongful conviction of the accused parties. It adjusts for the number of visitors and daily workers commuting into cities. Meanwhile, Smith died of AIDS in Oklahoma City in 1992, following several run-ins with the law, including a 1981 arrest for rape and a two-year stint in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary from 1987 to 1989 for burglary. I wasnt even born, said Nick Faulder, 25, who manages a paint store. We were all basically chemically induced idiots. The Beatrice case is an extreme example of the difficulties faced by those who have been promised compensation for being wrongfully convicted and spending years behind bars. WebHBOs original six-part documentary series, Mind Over Murder, revisits the 1985 rape and murder of Helen Wilson, a beloved 68-year-old grandmother in the small town of At the time of the first monetary award, Shelden was reportedly living in a vehicle near Lincoln, Nebraska but has since kept a low profile. A GOP Proposal To Actually Address the Student Loan Crisis, Student Loans Are a Massive Problem. She hoped the money would help her buy a car and get things fixed around the house. The Beatrice Six were also told by Gage County Sheriff detectives and a police psychologist, Wayne Price, that they had committed the crime, despite them having absolutely no recollection of the attack, details The Washington Post. The group would be dubbed the Beatrice Six and their lives would be turned upside down as the main suspects in the case. Tragically, White did not live to hear the judgment in his favor, and it was awarded to his estate. The Beatrice Six and Wilson's case are the subjects of an HBO documentary titled Mind Over Murder. Another had developmental disabilities and said she had been raped by her stepfather. Months later, the aforementioned people were convicted and sentenced to prison for Helen's murder. The state would agree to pay White $500,000, Gonzalez $350,000, and Winslow $180,000, reported the Lincoln Journal Star. They were found guilty in various different charges of murder and second-degree murder. Now, years after DNA evidence exonerated the defendants, they are about to collect a $28 million civil rights judgment against Gage County, which prosecuted them based on false confessions. The suspect, Brandon Long, 25, told police he heard a disturbance outside his home. Gage County built its criminal case against the Beatrice Six by drawing out false confessions and manufactured memories from three of the defendants, a state-run inquiry and court reviews would later find. None of us were living aboveboard lives, Ms. Gonzalez said. THE MURDER of Helen Wilson resulted in six suspects going to jail in relation to the homicide. His attorney later stated that Thomas started to believe that maybe he was guilty after all. (CN) A Nebraska county must pay $28.1 million to six people wrongfully convicted of a 1985 rape and murder after a jury found that two officers coerced them into false confessions. A sheriff-appointed psychologist helped several of the Beatrice Six recover supposed repressed memories of the crime, despite there being clear evidence that their statements contradicted evidence at the scene. I block bad things out. The same year, White, who later died in a 2011 work-related accident, filed a civil rights lawsuit, and the group was ultimately awarded $28.1 million in damages. The latter two soon copped to participating in the crime, and Taylor additionally brought up the name Cliff Shelden, a neer-do-well who immediately turned around and told officers that his own wife, Debra, had been present. LINCOLN, Neb. WebAiring every Monday at 10 p.m. EDT from July 20, the six-part series explores the case of the "Beatrice Six," a group of friends who were wrongfully convicted of the 1985 murder Lena Vosik Murders Husband Newspaper Article Investigation Discoverys The Beatrice Six looks into the decades-long saga of Helen Wilsons murder in Beatrice, Nebraska. The group would all take falls and take different pleas during trial. Regardless, she reached an agreement for a $300,000 settlement with the state in 2014, followed by a $1.8 million award two years later. She volunteered at a Methodist church in town, composed little poems for her grandchildren on their birthdays and was forever snapping photos and making tape recordings at family parties to preserve the memories. He was awarded a little over $2 million. Mr. Smith died in 1992. The TV documentary was made available to viewers on June 20, 2022. After her release, she moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, with her husband. Joseph was released from prison in October 2008. Her family owns hundreds of acres of precious irrigated land outside Beatrice, with tax bills that she said were likely to increase by $10,000 or more. He also filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Gage County, Nebraska on behalf of The Beatrice Six in 2009. During his time in prison, Joseph White was the driving force behind calls for a re-examination of the DNA evidence which later led to their exoneration. Following her guilty plea to aiding and abetting second-degree murder, Gonzalez was sentenced to 10 years in prison and released after about five years. In July 2016, a jury awarded them $28 million and in 2019, the county's appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States was declined. But in her view, the judgment is also poisoned, the money forever rooted in the murder of one innocent woman and the wrongful convictions of six others. But she also stated that much of what she said came from her dreams and nightmares. [1][2][3] In 2008, DNA evidence implicated Bruce Allen Smith, an original prime suspect in the murder who had died in 1992, and all of the Beatrice Six were exonerated the following year. However, he died in September 1992 and could not be tried for Helen's homicide. During the investigation, police took him in for questioning and were able to obtain blood and DNA samples from Bruce. She claims her family, including her daughter Rachel, still viewed her as a murderer, despite her exoneration. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/01/us/beatrice-six-nebraska.html. In 2008, newly introduced DNA evidence confirmed the group's innocence and they were exonerated the following year. Nonetheless, if theres something fundamentally dismaying about Wangs gripping six-part affair, it manages to end on a hopeful note that speaks to arts capacity for distilling and clarifying tangled tales and, in the process, opening eyes, hearts, and minds. Lang said the two men knew each other and the shooting did not appear to be related to an attempted burglary or a self-defense situation but police are not sure why Rader was at the home. The 2020 He was present at the civil trial with his fiancee Lydia Buckley. That made us disposable. After collectively serving 77 years in prison, law enforcement reviewed the evidence again in 2008, and new DNA testing conclusively identified Bruce Allen Smith as Wilsons lone killer. In late 1989, White was found guilty of first-degree murder, with the other five individuals admitting to aiding in the alleged crimes. However, most of these confessions were given out of fear, says Omaha World-Herald. She said: "They still believed to varying degrees that they had blood on their hands. We were all partyers. Mr. Searcey, who did not respond to a request for comment, focused on six mostly poor, troubled people with loose ties to Beatrice. From hair trends to relationship advice, our daily newsletter has everything you need to sound like a person whos on TikTok, even if you arent. In 1989, he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. On February 5, 1985, Helen Wilson was sexually assaulted and murdered at her home in Beatrice, Nebraska. WebIn 1985, 68-year-old Helen Wilson was found dead in her apartment. In 2016, they won the case, but sadly, Joseph had already died by then in 2011 in a work-related accident where he was crushed to death by a crane. The Gage County board approved agreements with six insurers on Wednesday to secure $5.98 million to help pay the countys debt off It was higher than in 77.3% U.S. cities. Her case would go cold for four years until investigators arrested three men and three women for her murder James Dean, Kathleen Gonzalez, Debra Shelden, Ada JoAnn Taylor, Thomas Winslow, and Joseph White. That function is superbly carried out by Mind Over Murder, a six-episode HBO docuseries (June 20) from One Child Nation director Nanfu Wang that looks into a knotty 1980s murder in Nebraska (and the wrongful convictions it begat) and, as part of that inquiry, encourages a local theater to stage a production about the tale with a script made up of court transcripts and public record documents. The answers suggested by Wang involve mentally unwell and/or low-intelligence suspects, interrogation manipulation, untrustworthy bloodwork, and outright conspiracy, the last of which came via Richard Smiths deliberate refusal to order available DNA testing, and to hide that decision from the defense. Following his release, he received $180,000 in compensation for his wrongful conviction, followed by another $7.3 million in the 2016 decision. Web1 murder. He had a torrid time in prison, as he was sexually assaulted regularly. "Aides said he talked about Ivanka Trump's breasts, her backside, and what it might be like to have sex with her," a new book by Miles Taylor says. for them to throw us away. After her release, Kathy moved to York, Nebraska, where she started to work as a cashier at a grocery store. for them to throw us away.. She said, I still think that I was guilty because I was there.. The $28 million jury award is one of the largest judgments ever levied against such a small place, say experts who study wrongful convictions. Randy Emory, a Beatrice man who bounced between Nebraska and a Missouri. But because the county has limited financial resources and a dwindling population, nearly all of its 22,000 residents must foot the bill by paying hundreds or thousands of dollars in higher property taxes. A task force led by Nebraskas attorney general then identified the real killer as Bruce Allen Smith, who had been 22 at the time of the murder and was seen heading toward Ms. Wilsons apartment building the night she was killed. While the investigation into Helen's homicide was underway, another Beatrice, Nebraska, resident was among the list of suspects. A psychologist who examined her also diagnosed her with Stockholm Syndrome. Discuss Beatrice, Nebraska (NE) on our hugely popular Nebraska forum. With the same patient thoroughness that she brought to her maiden installments, Wang spends the back half of her series explainingthrough candid interviews with four of the Beatrice Six, and numerous lawyers, police officers, and morethe methods used to compel these men and women to provide false statements, which included feeding them details and then (courtesy of police psychologist Dr. Wayne Price) brainwashing them into thinking that their dreams about the murder were real. The Beatrice Six were the first people in the state's history to be cleared and exonerated with DNA. That semen evidence found recovered from the scene came into question in 2008 when White and Winslow would request the court retest the DNA. Are you wondering where the Beatrice Six might be now? Because I know about paying for something somebody else did, she said. He has since understandably maintained a low profile, and hence not much is known about where Thomas lives or what he does. The series explores one of the biggest cases of false memory and wrongful conviction in the United States. [5] It is expected that the county will make payments twice a year after property taxes are collected. 2023 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved. In exchange for testifying against White, Shelden, Wilsons great-niece, received a 10-year sentence and was released after serving about four and a half years. Eli Chesen, a Nebraska psychologist who evaluated the group members after they left prison told The New Yorker some members suffered from Stockholm Syndrome. Six innocent people were sent to prison for the 1985 murder of Helen Wilson. Furthermore, she relayed that, on the following morning, Taylor told her that she and White had killed Wilson.