Unbelievable twist in Michael Lloyd Self case!

[crystaldawn]

I was doing some googling in response to JS comment that Michael Lloyd Self may no longer be in prison. I found an article and was suprised at what I was reading. There were several girls killed in the area at the time and two were Rhonda Johnson and Sharon Shaw who Self was eventually convicted of murdering. What was shocking is the author of this article thinks that Johnson and several other girls were actually murdered by Edward Harold Bell!! Most of you probably remember he was the murderer of Larry Dickens in the UM segment that featured Matthew McConaughay. Isn't that amazing if that were the case?! This article was from last year and it said that Michael Lloyd Self is still in prison at the Federal Penitentiary in Cincinnati, Ohio. Its a very lengthy article and is in PDF format but here is the link if anyone is interested:

http://www.galvestonpolicenews.com/html/gcpnaug06.pdf

[george ramos]

Tommy Deal is the one serving a federal prison sentence. Not Michael Lloyd Self. Whether he was released or not was not mentioned. I would like to know if he was released although he was only convicted of killing Rhonda Johnson. Double murderers are almost never released. Remember Leonard Peltier?

[justins5256]

I found an article online that revealed the name of the man who allegedly confessed to murdering Rhonda Johnson and Sharon Shaw. His name was not released on UM. The UM segment briefly mentioned the other murders, but not that Edward Harold Bell was a suspect. Very interesting.

P.S. What the hell is Self doing in Ohio?!

[george ramos]

He is not in Ohio. Tommy Deal is in Ohio. Self was not convicted of a federal crime.

[Kane]

Originally Posted by george ramos

Double murderers are almost never released. Remember Leonard Peltier?

Yeah, he's the guy convicted of the 1975 murders of FBI agents Jack Coler and Ron Williams. He openly admitted to firing at the agents, but denies that he fired the fatal shots.

His supporters argue that he was framed, and have been unsuccessfully demanding his freedom. His many supporters include a number of celebrities, such as: Oliver Stone, Jane Fonda, Rage Against the Machine, Winona Ryder, Val Kilmer, Bonnie Raitt, Robert Redford, Peter Coyote, and Steven Seagal.

Leonard Peltier was mentioned in the news recently. David Geffen, film producer and creator of Geffen Records, reportedly hasn't forgiven Bill Clinton for his decision not to pardon the convicted killer back in 2000. Aw! Poor baby! Geffen's murderous hero is still rotting in prison.

[george ramos]

I made a mistake on my post. Self was only convicted of killing Rhonda Johnson. I just edited my post.

[justins5256]

Originally Posted by george ramos

I made a mistake on my post. Self was only convicted of killing Rhonda Johnson.

Yes, he was. The UM segment made it sound like he went down for both murders, but he was, in actuality, given a life sentence with the possibility of parole for the slaying of Rhonda Johnson. The last time I saw this on Lifetime, the ending implied he was still in prison as his appeals were exhausted, and he had been denied parole repeatedly.

Although I do believe that Self was probably innocent, I thought UM's presentation here was very one-sided. All of the subjects interviewed were supporters of Michael Self. His only detractor was the original prosecutor on the case, but he didn't seem to offer much of an argument for Self's guilt. I read an article on Newsbank indicating that the prosecutor's recollection of the case wasn't very good, so perhaps that is why his arguments came across very weak on UM.

[george ramos]

That was in the 1980s. He must have gotten parole since he is no longer listed on the department of corrections website. He may be innocent. I didn't see the episode about his conviction.

[george ramos]

He died almost 20 years ago. Unfortunately, he was never exonerated. Sorry about bumping an ancient thread.

Cops seek leads on 1971 mystery torso

09:02 AM CST on Monday, January 28, 2008

By Scott E. Williams / The Daily News

GALVESTON — In 1971, the disappearance of two Webster girls last seen on 61st Street in Galveston launched an investigation that ended in an arrest and the discovery of a skeletal torso in a Pasadena bayou.

More than 36 years later, investigators say they believe the wrong man was convicted, and the torso did not belong to the missing kid police had identified.

Sharon Shaw and Rhonda Johnson, both 14, had come from Webster to Galveston in summer 1971 to surf. The pair was last seen alive Aug. 4, 1971, waiting for a friend to pick them up on 61st Street. The friend later told investigators the girls were gone when she arrived.

In early 1972, police found the girls’ skulls in Turner Bayou, a month apart. However, months earlier, in the same area, a torso had turned up. Police ascribed the remains as belonging to Phillip Manning, a 13-year-old boy from Pasadena who had gone missing weeks earlier.

A few months ago, police learned that Manning, now 49, was alive and well. At 13, he had left home with a trucker, who had offered to make him an apprentice, of sorts. However, months later, Manning abandoned the truck driver, who was abusive.

At 14, Manning joined the U.S. Army, even though he was four years below the age requirement. When his true age was discovered more than a year later, he was discharged and sent home, although he ended up in Louisiana. After a lifetime of moves and brushes with the law, Manning now lives in Austin.

Galveston police detective Fred Paige said that Manning’s life prompts the question, “Whose bones were those?”

Paige said he and other investigators with a variety of agencies believed that the torso likely belonged to Sharon Shaw or Rhonda Johnson. However, he also said detectives wanted to be certain. He asked that anyone with information on the remains call the police at 409-765-3702.

Webster resident Michael Self ultimately received a life sentence in the girls’ killings, but police now believe he was innocent. Self died in prison more than 20 years ago.

The Webster investigator in the case that led to Self’s conviction was Tommy Deal, who would later be sentenced to federal prison for bank robbery.

[unsolvedmysteriesfan]

He did not die 20 years ago; that was a mistake. He died in 2000 from heart failure. He was never exonerated.

[george ramos]

Yeah, I just found out that he died in 2000 due to another guy posting another article. It was sheer luck that I even found out that he died. There isn't a lot of info on him. I never saw his final appeal segment so I didn't know that it was filmed during the 90s. Anyway, it's too bad that he was never exonerated.

[rk]

Originally Posted by Kane

Yeah, he's the guy convicted of the 1975 murders of FBI agents Jack Coler and Ron Williams. He openly admitted to firing at the agents, but denies that he fired the fatal shots.

His supporters argue that he was framed, and have been unsuccessfully demanding his freedom. His many supporters include a number of celebrities, such as: Oliver Stone, Jane Fonda, Rage Against the Machine, Winona Ryder, Val Kilmer, Bonnie Raitt, Robert Redford, Peter Coyote, and Steven Seagal.

Leonard Peltier was mentioned in the news recently. David Geffen, film producer and creator of Geffen Records, reportedly hasn't forgiven Bill Clinton for his decision not to pardon the convicted killer back in 2000. Aw! Poor baby! Geffen's murderous hero is still rotting in prison.

This one is a very complicated case - more complicated than you may appreciate.

Whatever is the truth of who killed those two agents, Peltier's conviction was not a safe and acceptable one. It came out after the trial that the key piece of evidence against him: the ballistics report had been falsified. In simple terms, the bullets did not match the gun. Without that evidence, the case against Peltier simply collapses. He may or may not have done it (and there's no evidence he did do it any more than anyone else who was involved in the shootout with police at the reservation that day), but there's no reliable evidence that should have led to his conviction.

It is also important to note that the case against Peltier was brought after there had first been an attempt to prosecute two different suspects for the crime. That case collapsed and was a huge embarrassment for the FBI. Desperate then to secure a conviction against Peltier, it is widely considered the evidence against him was then largely falsified.

There is also the consideration that an entirely different person again has confessed to the crime but refused to surrender to authorities, who have been unable to locate him.

Not a simple case this one, and at least I wouldn't want to be treated by the justice system the way Peltier was. The likelihood appears to be that he actually didn't do it.