Wrongful conviction: how a family survives.

• Author: Vollertsen, Nancy
• Position: Revealing the Impact & Aftermath of Miscarriages of Justice

I grew up in a typical 1950s home in Tulsa, Oklahoma with my parents and my younger brother and sister. Dad sold insurance and Mom was a legal secretary for a large firm of corporate attorneys. My sister Betsy was a Girl Scout, I was a Camp Fire Girl, and we both babysat and made our own clothes. My brother Greg was a Boy Scout, played in the bell choir at church, and had his own paper route. We attended First United Methodist Church every Sunday morning and our biggest decision on Sunday night was whether to watch Ed Sullivan or Perry Mason on our one small TV. By 1985, though, the world was a different place and our little family was facing much more difficult challenges that even Perry Mason couldn't solve. Greg had been sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit and all of our lives were turned upside down as we fought to save his life.

After high school Greg, Betsy, and I all attended the University of Oklahoma. Betsy and I both graduated, but after a year Greg decided college really wasn't for him so he quit and started a very successful career as an iron worker. He worked on buildings all over Oklahoma, bought his own home, and had a boat for recreation. Like many people in the 1970s, Greg's other recreation was smoking a little pot and he had a couple of run-ins with the law when he got caught. While he was in a drug rehabilitation facility in 1983 he met Kathy Godwin; they immediately became a couple and married later that same year. Their daughter Krissy was born in 1984 and their second daughter, Kim, followed ten months later. Kathy was a stay-at-home Mom and Greg continued working as an iron worker to support his family.

The rest of our lives were moving right along too. Mom still loved her career as a legal secretary, Dad was now a busy real estate appraiser, and Betsy was a Registered Nurse at a Tulsa hospital. I had married my husband Vernon while we were students at the University of Oklahoma and after graduation he was commissioned as an officer in the United States Army. As a military family we moved every three years and in 1982, with our two young children Jennifer and Mark, we arrived in Ada, Oklahoma where Vernon was assigned to teach ROTC at East Central Oklahoma State University.

We enjoyed living in Ada, a small town that was great for raising a family. I worked at the local bank, we joined a square dancing club, but the best part was that we were only two hours from Tulsa and my family. We were able to spend lots of time together, something that was difficult to do when we lived in Georgia and Colorado, and it was especially nice since Kathy, Krissy, and Kim joined the Wilhoit family while we were there. We had all come to love Kathy and we were naturally concerned when she and Greg started having problems and decided to separate in May 1985. Kathy and the girls moved to an apartment, but Greg still spent almost every night with them as they worked on their relationship. In the meantime the Army notified us that our three years in Ada were up and we were being reassigned, this time to Germany. I was sad to be leaving Oklahoma and nervous about moving to Europe, but in May 1985 I started preparing our family for our July 1st move to Heidelberg.

Then on June 1st Kathy was found brutally murdered in her apartment and our world was shattered. Our reaction was the same as I imagine any murder victim's family would be. We were grief stricken, shocked, horrified, and outraged. Thank God Krissy and Kim, who were four months and fourteen months old, were still upstairs in their cribs and unharmed. Greg was at his house when he got the call about Kathy's death and immediately drove to Mom and Dad's, out of his mind with grief and inconsolable. Betsy had come to Ada to help me pack so she and I immediately drove to Tulsa, arriving just as Krissy and Kim were released from Social Services back to Greg. We were all together, but joining us were the Tulsa police. They wanted Greg to come down to police headquarters to answer some questions. We weren't really surprised since the spouse is often a suspect, but Greg assured us he had been home asleep all night so we, very naively, weren't too worried. Whoever killed Kathy had bitten her on one of her breasts so they requested teeth impressions from Greg, which he willingly gave them. They also asked him about his alibi, and he explained that he had been home alone. There were, of course, other questions, but after a couple of hours they seemed satisfied and Greg came home so we could plan our final farewell to Kathy and he could start contemplating the rest of his life.

The rest of his life began right away as the sole parent to two infants. He naturally had to go back to work, so the girls were put in day care and he did his best to provide a stable home for them. Since he was still reeling from Kathy's death and was a man who didn't have a lot of hands-on experience with babies, he gratefully received a lot of help and support from Mom, Dad, and Betsy. He also received a lot of love and moral support from me, but the Army still expected us to be in Germany by July and there was no delaying our move. I hated being so far away from everyone, especially during such a difficult time, but I also knew how strong our family and our faith was and knew they would all somehow survive without me.

Mom did a wonderful job of keeping me updated on all the family activities and also what little news there was from the police on the investigation into Kathy's murder, but communication between the United States and Europe was much different in the 1980s than it is now. Telephone calls were very expensive so they were infrequent, but the news was better in the form of a letter anyway. I also enjoyed sharing the stories of the beautiful places and things we were seeing and doing during our travels. I did have the decency to feel guilty telling them about all the adventures I was having while they were still dealing with the day-to-day challenge of Greg's depression and raising two toddlers, but trips to Paris or Munich made me feel better. Then in February 1986, nine months after Kathy's murder, I received a letter from Mom that brought me crashing back down to earth. Out of the blue, Greg had been arrested and charged with Kathy's murder.

This is where our family changed forever, from the fairly normal one I've tried to describe, albeit one that involved a murder, to a family obsessed with protecting and saving one of its own. We had always believed in the justice system, believed when we read that the police had arrested someone they had solid, irrefutable evidence, but also believed in that most basic right of the accused, that they are innocent until proven guilty. Those beliefs were soon to go flying out the window, never to be seen again. I'm fairly certain that many of the issues we were forced to deal with and the feelings that we had are common to anyone who has had a loved one accused of a violent crime. Maybe all sisters believe that their brothers are innocent. I only know that when I heard Greg had been arrested my first thought was that a horrible mistake had been made. My feelings weren't just based on the fact that Greg was one of the most passive people I knew or the fact that I knew he loved Kathy and would never hurt her. I'm sure there have been many violent crimes committed by passive people in the name of love. No, it was because I totally believed Greg's story that he was home asleep when the murder took place, and his story never changed one iota no matter how many times we talked about it. Greg just wasn't that good an actor.

Mom and Dad shifted into high gear, knowing as I did that there was some kind of bizarre misunderstanding, but also knowing that since Greg was charged with first-degree murder it was imperative to hire the best possible attorney to represent him. They spent a good portion of their life savings to retain two highly respected defense attorneys, considered by many to be the best in the state. We were stunned when they talked to the District Attorney, Larry Stuart, and were informed that he would be seeking the death penalty. That possibility had truly never entered any of our minds. Greg was in complete shock and the rest of us couldn't even wrap our minds around the possibility. Since the death penalty is supposed to be reserved for only the worst of the worst crimes, we were stunned once again when Greg was released on $75,000 bond pending his trial. It made no sense, but we certainly weren't going to argue. Mom and Dad had to put up their house as collateral for the bond, but they never hesitated. They totally believed in Greg's innocence and I don't think it even occurred to them that he could run and they might lose their home.

Greg came home, but he was an emotional wreck. He was able to work sporadically, but it was a challenge. He had difficulty concentrating, which is essential for iron working, and his drug use increased as he attempted to self-medicate. When he was arrested Mom, Dad, and Betsy had to step in and take over the care of Krissy and Kim. It was a huge responsibility, but one they accepted willingly. They also had to support and encourage Greg as he sank deeper and deeper into despair. I tried to support everyone from the other side of the world, but I felt so helpless. I wanted to be there to talk to the attorneys, to attend the court hearings, to hug Greg, to take Krissy and Kim to the park, to give Mom, Dad, and Betsy a break. Instead I was isolated on an Army post in Germany with absolutely no one to talk to. Vernon was often in the field, I had two small children, and since he was an officer I knew it could be very detrimental to his career if it was widely known that his brother-in-law was accused of murder. All of our hopes hung on these two great attorneys and their ability to uncover the truth.

We soon learned that the only evidence that the prosecution said connected...