Dr. John Branion's final appeal - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

justins5256 · 05-27-2007, 12:15 PM

I watched this one last night. I was thinking of doing a write up (and may if there is interest) but I'm feeling lazy at the moment. I'm sure most of the posters here are familiar with the case, even though it is not discussed very often (or at all).

Do you think he killed his wife?

If not, did he pay someone to kill her?

DarkDante · 05-27-2007, 02:01 PM

^ I haven't seen this segment in awhile, but from what I remember I think he did a pretty good job of convincing me that he was innocent. Take that for what its worth.

dynoguy88 · 05-27-2007, 06:05 PM

I got a request to put this case on the net but I don't have it in my collection.

I remember this case quite well but like DarkDante, I haven't seen it in a couple years. A tragic ending for the guy where I believe he was finally found innocent AFTER he had died of his brain tumor in jail.

From what I can remember, the time table of him leaving his office, picking up his son from school and arriving home with him to find his wife dead on the kitchen floor made it impossible for him to have pulled it off given the distance of driving he would have had to do as well as the timing of the gun shot the next door neighbors heard. Yet, he was still found guilty.

I might be mistaken, but I think his "guilty" conviction was also compliments of racism since all of the jurrors were white and he was black. I believe this murder took place in the very late 60's or early 70's when racial tensions were much higher than they are now.

justins5256 · 05-27-2007, 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dynoguy88

I got a request to put this case on the net but I don't have it in my collection.

I remember this case quite well but like DarkDante, I haven't seen it in a couple years. A tragic ending for the guy where I believe he was finally found innocent AFTER he had died of his brain tumor in jail.

From what I can remember, the time table of him leaving his office, picking up his son from school and arriving home with him to find his wife dead on the kitchen floor made it impossible for him to have pulled it off given the distance of driving he would have had to do as well as the timing of the gun shot the next door neighbors heard. Yet, he was still found guilty.

I might be mistaken, but I think his "guilty" conviction was also compliments of racism since all of the jurrors were white and he was black. I believe this murder took place in the very late 60's or early 70's when racial tensions were much higher than they are now.

He was never exonerated officially. The governor commuted Branion's sentence to "time served" due to his failing health. He was released to a hospital where he died from a brain tumor.

Dr. Branion's trial began in a Chicago courtroom in May of 1968 - a month after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Racial tensions were at an all time high. There was only one black juror on the panel.

While I think Branion could be innocent of this crime, I find it odd that exactly four shell casings were missing from a box of bullets found in his closet. He was also caught in a lie about his ownership of a specific type of firearm that could fire the 9mm ammo.

It was suggested in the segment that Branion could have hired someone to kill his wife, thus making the whole time table theory irrelevant. Unfortunately, this possibility was not explored more in depth in the segment. It would be interesting to know if the cops checked his bank accounts for a massive withdrawal around the time of his wife's death, although I doubt it would be a clincher.

Also, the failing health issue, and not being able to get the needed heart transplant unless he was cleared on the charges. Seems like a good time to drum up a "final appeal" to get the public behind you in hopes of prolonging your life as much as possible.

Just some things to think about...

kadrmas15 · 06-01-2007, 05:05 AM

I dont know, the man was a doctor I think he would be smarter than that but that is just my opinion. It could just be a coincidence that the 4 shells were missing. I dont know, I mean I dont think the final appeal really has anything to do with his ill health, at least I dont think that was the only reason he did it anyway. Remember, UM thoroughly investigated these cases before doing the final appeal segments so they must have thought it was a good one to do, I imagine they had thousands of requests.

SP4CE INV4DERZ · 06-01-2007, 05:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkDante

^ I haven't seen this segment in awhile, but from what I remember I think he did a pretty good job of convincing me that he was innocent. Take that for what its worth.

Yeh me too, I haven't seen this one in awhile. My initial thought was he was innocent but I'll put it on my re-cap list.

CanadianUMFan · 06-22-2007, 03:04 PM

I just saw this case on the Mystery Channel here in Canada last night and while I don't believe that Branion himself killed his wife, I do suspect that he hired someone or some people to do so. IIRC, there was nothing missing from the house which would rule out a burglary and I don't recall anything being mentioned about the victim being sexually assaulted so what would be the motivation for anyone else wanting to kill her unless they were being paid to do so?

wiseguy182 · 11-25-2007, 02:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by justins5256

He was never exonerated officially. The governor commuted Branion's sentence to "time served" due to his failing health. He was released to a hospital where he died from a brain tumor.

Dr. Branion's trial began in a Chicago courtroom in May of 1968 - a month after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Racial tensions were at an all time high. There was only one black juror on the panel.

While I think Branion could be innocent of this crime, I find it odd that exactly four shell casings were missing from a box of bullets found in his closet. He was also caught in a lie about his ownership of a specific type of firearm that could fire the 9mm ammo.

It was suggested in the segment that Branion could have hired someone to kill his wife, thus making the whole time table theory irrelevant. Unfortunately, this possibility was not explored more in depth in the segment. It would be interesting to know if the cops checked his bank accounts for a massive withdrawal around the time of his wife's death, although I doubt it would be a clincher.

Also, the failing health issue, and not being able to get the needed heart transplant unless he was cleared on the charges. Seems like a good time to drum up a "final appeal" to get the public behind you in hopes of prolonging your life as much as possible.

Just some things to think about...

I don't believe Branion killed his wife, although I wouldn't rule out hiring someone to do it. Interestingly, he seems much more upset at being accused of hiring someone than being accused of doing the crime himself.

but the timetable makes me believe it would be virtually impossible for him to have committed the crime himself.

Regarding the 4 bullets missing/his uncertainy of a ownership of a certain gun, I don't necessarily believe that makes him suspicious. It was believed that the people who murdered his wife spent at least a half an hour in the apartment, so they could have had time to search around and find the gun. Plus, while it would seem that the perpetrators would have brought the weapon with them, it appears that they tried to strangle her first, and when that didn't work, they shot her. so I don't think they initially intended to use a gun, but found one anyway and used it.

I don't find his failing health and that it coincides with the timing of the segment suspcious. I think he figured he might die soon, and if he got cleared, he might get the heart transplat, and the guy naturally is going to do everything he can to save himself.

James T · 11-25-2007, 07:38 AM

When I started watching it I thought he came across as a truthful person, however as it progressed he came across poorly- he talks about having a lengthy affair as if was something that was to be expected and not a problem and should not be addressed as a motive. I guess he abandoned his young son instead running away to Africa where he rekindled his prior hanging out with vermin as he had sone with the Panthers by cosying up to the Genocidal Dictator Idi Amin. The woman at the school said his timeline on picking his son up was quite a way off as well.

wiseguy182 · 11-25-2007, 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by James T

When I started watching it I thought he came across as a truthful person, however as it progressed he came across poorly- he talks about having a lengthy affair as if was something that was to be expected and not a problem and should not be addressed as a motive. I guess he abandoned his young son instead running away to Africa where he rekindled his prior hanging out with vermin as he had sone with the Panthers by cosying up to the Genocidal Dictator Idi Amin. The woman at the school said his timeline on picking his son up was quite a way off as well.

From all accounts that I've heard that the woman at the school verified Dr. Branion's accounts.

I agree that he does come off bad on a couple instances, such as the affair.

The police said they could do this in six minutes. If they can, I'd like to see it. Actually, even in desirable conditions they couldn't have done it: Dr Branion had the added time delays of snow and traffic: next to last shopping day before Christmas.

Some of this I found online and it wasn't mentioned in the segment. I might post more later and possibly post a link to the article.

James T · 11-25-2007, 08:43 AM

Here is a nice piece on it

At 11:30 A.M. on December 22, 1967, Dr. John Branion set off in his car from the Ida Mae Scott Hospital on Chicago's South Side. Five minutes later—after passing his home—he picked up his 4-year-old son from outside a nursery school, then called on a Maxine Brown, who was to have lunch with Branion and his wife. When Brown explained that she was unable to keep the engagement, Branion drove to his apartment at 5054 S. Woodlawn Avenue. His story was that he had arrived at 11:57 A.M. and found his wife Donna lying on the floor of the utility room. She had been shot four times by a. 38-caliber automatic pistol. Branion immediately summoned help.

Police treated Branion's story with palpable disdain; already witnesses were coming forward to dispute his version of events. Another factor was Branion's unpalatable detachment. Just two days after his wife's murder he flew to Vail, Colorado, for a Christmas break.

One month later, armed with a search warrant, police recovered two boxes of Geco brand. 38-caliber ammunition from a closet in Branion's apartment. One full box contained 25 shells. The other box had 4 shells missing, the same number that had killed Donna Branion. Shortly afterwards Branion was arrested for murder.

According to prosecutor Patrick Tuite, the story that Branion had told police was correct in every respect save one: chronology. Yes, Tuite said, Branion had gone to pick up his son, then on to Maxine Brown's, but first he had sneaked home and shot his wife, before hastening to establish an alibi. This theory was borne out by Joyce Kelly, a teacher at the nursery school. She testified that Branion had entered the school between 11:45 A.M. and 11:50 A.M., some 10 minutes later than he had claimed. Furthermore, she said that Branion's young son was waiting inside the school, again contradicting the defendant's story.

Detective Michael Boyle described for the court a series of tests that he and another officer had performed, driving the route allegedly taken by Branion. They had covered the 2.8-mile journey in a minimum of six minutes and a maximum of 12 minutes. Time enough, said the prosecution, for Branion to have committed the murder and then gone to pick up his son. Oddly enough, this assertion was never seriously challenged by the defense.

A ballistics expert, Officer Burt Nielsen, stated that the bullets which had killed Donna Branion could only have been fired from a Walther PPK. 38-caliber automatic pistol, a very rare make. The prosecution pointed out that Branion, an avid gun collector, had at first denied ever having owned a Walther, until it was shown that he had received just such a gun in February 1967 as a belated birthday present. This had prompted Branion to change his original statement in which he claimed that nothing was stolen from his apartment; now he said that the Walther must have been taken by the intruders who killed his wife. The murder weapon was never found.

Much was made of Branion's peculiar indifference toward the discovery of his wife's body. He admitted not bothering to examine it because he could tell from the lividity that she was dead. (Lividity is the tendency of blood to sink to the lowest extremities in a corpse.) But Dr. Helen Payne testified that when she examined the body at 12:20 P.M. lividity was not present. Branion again altered his story, saying that he had really meant 'cyanosis,' a blue discoloration of the skin caused by dc-oxygenated blood.

To establish motive, the state argued that Branion was conducting an affair with nurse Shirley Hudson and wanted to be rid of his wife. Questioning of Maxine Brown, who had allegedly overheard a compromising conversation between Hudson and Branion one day after the murder, produced the following, seemingly fruitless, exchange:

Prosecutor: Who is Shirley Hudson?

Defense Counsel: Objection.

The Court: Sustained.

Prosecutor: Do you know what, if any, relationship Shirley Hudson bore to the defendant?

Defense Counsel: Objection.

The Court: Sustained.

And so it went: an endless string of improper questions, countered by an equal number of objections, all of which were upheld by the court. But the damage was immense. By such tactics the prosecution was able to establish the likelihood of an illicit relationship, if not the certainty.

Declining to testify on his own behalf, Branion remained mute while the jury convicted him of murder and Judge Reginald Holzer passed sentence of 20-30 years imprisonment. Defense counsel Maurice Scott immediately argued that the trial had been prejudiced by Chicago's recent racial disturbances and vowed to appeal.

Released by Judge Holzer on an unusually low bond of $5,000, Branion took his case to the Illinois Supreme Court. On December 3, 1970, while conceding that the evidence against Branion was wholly circumstantial, the court held that it was sufficient to uphold the guilty verdict, stating:

To support a conviction based on circumstantial evidence it is essential that facts proved be not only consistent with defendant's guilt, but they must be inconsistent with any reasonable hypothesis of innocence; but the People are not required to establish guilt beyond any possible doubt.

In 1971, Branion, sensing that the end was nigh, fled the country. After an amazing jaunt across Africa he found asylum in Uganda, occasionally acting as personal physician to Idi Amin, that country's dictator. Upon Amin's ouster, Branion was arrested and returned to the United States in October 1983.

Yet another stunning twist came in 1986, when Judge Reginald Holzer received an 18-year jail sentence for extortion and racketeering. Branion's lawyers seized this opportunity to charge that Holzer had received a $10,000 bribe during the 1968 trial, paid by the defendant's brother-in-law, Nelson Brown. Prosecutor Patrick Tuite admitted that he had heard rumors of Holzer's intention to overturn Branion's conviction and had gone to see him, urging that the law be allowed to take its course. The speculation is that Holzer, unnerved by Tuite's visit, swindled those who allegedly paid the bribe, then sought to placate them by substituting a ludicrously low bail of $5,000, allowing Branion to escape. Because there was no way of corroborating the story—Brown had himself been stabbed to death in 1983—this final effort to overturn Branion's conviction met with the same fate as its predecessors.

After serving just seven years of his sentence, Branion was released from prison in August 1990 on health grounds. One month later, at age 64, he died of a brain tumor and heart ailment.

Branion's conviction stunned Chicago's black community. Initial outrage over a perceived lack of police effort in apprehending the killer quickly turned to fury when the verdict of the jury was announced.

crystaldawn · 11-25-2007, 08:44 AM

I think he was definitely a sleaze for carrying on an affair while married but I don't think he killed his wife. Also the segment on the volume is from the NBC version. I believe on the Lifetime version they update it further and say that in addition to needing a heart transplant he was discovered to have a brain tumor. He was granted a release I believe based on his poor health but by then wasn't able to cognitively realize he was free and died soon after. Just to fill anyone in that might not know that.

wiseguy182 · 11-25-2007, 09:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by James T

Detective Michael Boyle described for the court a series of tests that he and another officer had performed, driving the route allegedly taken by Branion. They had covered the 2.8-mile journey in a minimum of six minutes and a maximum of 12 minutes. Time enough, said the prosecution, for Branion to have committed the murder and then gone to pick up his son. Oddly enough, this assertion was never seriously challenged by the defense.

The people in the segment that drove it did so several times with the earliest being 11 minutes, if I remember correctly. Also, as I stated above, Branion met with snow and very heavy traffic that day, which the police did not account for in their time estimate. In addition, they said it took Branion one minute to pick his son up from school, but the school teacher says he was in there for 5 minutes, which is also what Branion stated.

wiseguy182 · 11-26-2007, 08:46 AM

I felt bad for Dr. John as the guilty verdict was read. it looked like he had been shot through the heart, at least that's what the actor portrayed.

I wonder what section of Chicago this happened in. Southside is known to have some of the worst crime in the country.

Justin is right, this case (to my surprise) hasn't been discussed much.

there are a few final appeals segments i have yet to see, but I can't think of a single one that i'm 100% that the accused was guilty. each one has at least some credible evidence to suggest their innocent. not saying for sure all of the final appelants are for sure innocent, but they at least have a strong case.

James T · 11-26-2007, 08:59 AM

I cannot say I did- he had the chance to put his side across and chose not to, his team totally fudged the issue of an affair to where it made them look like they were hiding things, a man who finds his wife in that state who is also a doctor but does not even bother to check for vital signs as anybody finding a loved one would automatically do and not even getting the reason as to why he did not bother correct, lying about not having that make of gun, the differing times & circumstances between his version of picking his son up and the teachers version of events, it was no wonder he was found guilty.

05-27-2007, 12:15 PM	#1
justins5256 Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Aug 08, 2002 Posts: 3,866	Dr. John Branion's final appeal I watched this one last night. I was thinking of doing a write up (and may if there is interest) but I'm feeling lazy at the moment. I'm sure most of the posters here are familiar with the case, even though it is not discussed very often (or at all). Do you think he killed his wife? If not, did he pay someone to kill her?
	Last edited by justins5256; 05-27-2007 at 12:50 PM.

05-27-2007, 06:05 PM	#3
dynoguy88 Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Apr 01, 2000 Location: Michigan, USA Posts: 3,675	reply I got a request to put this case on the net but I don't have it in my collection. I remember this case quite well but like DarkDante, I haven't seen it in a couple years. A tragic ending for the guy where I believe he was finally found innocent AFTER he had died of his brain tumor in jail. From what I can remember, the time table of him leaving his office, picking up his son from school and arriving home with him to find his wife dead on the kitchen floor made it impossible for him to have pulled it off given the distance of driving he would have had to do as well as the timing of the gun shot the next door neighbors heard. Yet, he was still found guilty. I might be mistaken, but I think his "guilty" conviction was also compliments of racism since all of the jurrors were white and he was black. I believe this murder took place in the very late 60's or early 70's when racial tensions were much higher than they are now.

11-25-2007, 08:44 AM	#12
crystaldawn Member Forum 4000 Club Member Join Date: Dec 17, 2002 Location: Illinois Posts: 4,261	I think he was definitely a sleaze for carrying on an affair while married but I don't think he killed his wife. Also the segment on the volume is from the NBC version. I believe on the Lifetime version they update it further and say that in addition to needing a heart transplant he was discovered to have a brain tumor. He was granted a release I believe based on his poor health but by then wasn't able to cognitively realize he was free and died soon after. Just to fill anyone in that might not know that.
	__________________ Blog:www.lostnfoundblogs.com Podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/s...nfoundpodcasts Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Lostnfoundpodcast

05-27-2007, 02:01 PM	#2
DarkDante Member Senior Member Join Date: Jul 27, 2002 Posts: 1,569	^ I haven't seen this segment in awhile, but from what I remember I think he did a pretty good job of convincing me that he was innocent. Take that for what its worth.

06-01-2007, 05:05 AM	#5
kadrmas15 Retired from Board 03/03/11 Senior Member Join Date: Mar 11, 2006 Location: Minnesota Posts: 1,910	I dont know, the man was a doctor I think he would be smarter than that but that is just my opinion. It could just be a coincidence that the 4 shells were missing. I dont know, I mean I dont think the final appeal really has anything to do with his ill health, at least I dont think that was the only reason he did it anyway. Remember, UM thoroughly investigated these cases before doing the final appeal segments so they must have thought it was a good one to do, I imagine they had thousands of requests.

06-22-2007, 03:04 PM	#7
CanadianUMFan Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Jun 21, 2007 Location: St Catharines, Ontario, Canada Posts: 215	I just saw this case on the Mystery Channel here in Canada last night and while I don't believe that Branion himself killed his wife, I do suspect that he hired someone or some people to do so. IIRC, there was nothing missing from the house which would rule out a burglary and I don't recall anything being mentioned about the victim being sexually assaulted so what would be the motivation for anyone else wanting to kill her unless they were being paid to do so?

11-25-2007, 07:38 AM	#9
James T Member Senior Member Join Date: Apr 23, 2006 Location: England Posts: 1,571	When I started watching it I thought he came across as a truthful person, however as it progressed he came across poorly- he talks about having a lengthy affair as if was something that was to be expected and not a problem and should not be addressed as a motive. I guess he abandoned his young son instead running away to Africa where he rekindled his prior hanging out with vermin as he had sone with the Panthers by cosying up to the Genocidal Dictator Idi Amin. The woman at the school said his timeline on picking his son up was quite a way off as well.

11-25-2007, 08:43 AM	#11
James T Member Senior Member Join Date: Apr 23, 2006 Location: England Posts: 1,571	Here is a nice piece on it At 11:30 A.M. on December 22, 1967, Dr. John Branion set off in his car from the Ida Mae Scott Hospital on Chicago's South Side. Five minutes later—after passing his home—he picked up his 4-year-old son from outside a nursery school, then called on a Maxine Brown, who was to have lunch with Branion and his wife. When Brown explained that she was unable to keep the engagement, Branion drove to his apartment at 5054 S. Woodlawn Avenue. His story was that he had arrived at 11:57 A.M. and found his wife Donna lying on the floor of the utility room. She had been shot four times by a. 38-caliber automatic pistol. Branion immediately summoned help. Police treated Branion's story with palpable disdain; already witnesses were coming forward to dispute his version of events. Another factor was Branion's unpalatable detachment. Just two days after his wife's murder he flew to Vail, Colorado, for a Christmas break. One month later, armed with a search warrant, police recovered two boxes of Geco brand. 38-caliber ammunition from a closet in Branion's apartment. One full box contained 25 shells. The other box had 4 shells missing, the same number that had killed Donna Branion. Shortly afterwards Branion was arrested for murder. According to prosecutor Patrick Tuite, the story that Branion had told police was correct in every respect save one: chronology. Yes, Tuite said, Branion had gone to pick up his son, then on to Maxine Brown's, but first he had sneaked home and shot his wife, before hastening to establish an alibi. This theory was borne out by Joyce Kelly, a teacher at the nursery school. She testified that Branion had entered the school between 11:45 A.M. and 11:50 A.M., some 10 minutes later than he had claimed. Furthermore, she said that Branion's young son was waiting inside the school, again contradicting the defendant's story. Detective Michael Boyle described for the court a series of tests that he and another officer had performed, driving the route allegedly taken by Branion. They had covered the 2.8-mile journey in a minimum of six minutes and a maximum of 12 minutes. Time enough, said the prosecution, for Branion to have committed the murder and then gone to pick up his son. Oddly enough, this assertion was never seriously challenged by the defense. A ballistics expert, Officer Burt Nielsen, stated that the bullets which had killed Donna Branion could only have been fired from a Walther PPK. 38-caliber automatic pistol, a very rare make. The prosecution pointed out that Branion, an avid gun collector, had at first denied ever having owned a Walther, until it was shown that he had received just such a gun in February 1967 as a belated birthday present. This had prompted Branion to change his original statement in which he claimed that nothing was stolen from his apartment; now he said that the Walther must have been taken by the intruders who killed his wife. The murder weapon was never found. Much was made of Branion's peculiar indifference toward the discovery of his wife's body. He admitted not bothering to examine it because he could tell from the lividity that she was dead. (Lividity is the tendency of blood to sink to the lowest extremities in a corpse.) But Dr. Helen Payne testified that when she examined the body at 12:20 P.M. lividity was not present. Branion again altered his story, saying that he had really meant 'cyanosis,' a blue discoloration of the skin caused by dc-oxygenated blood. To establish motive, the state argued that Branion was conducting an affair with nurse Shirley Hudson and wanted to be rid of his wife. Questioning of Maxine Brown, who had allegedly overheard a compromising conversation between Hudson and Branion one day after the murder, produced the following, seemingly fruitless, exchange: Prosecutor: Who is Shirley Hudson? Defense Counsel: Objection. The Court: Sustained. Prosecutor: Do you know what, if any, relationship Shirley Hudson bore to the defendant? Defense Counsel: Objection. The Court: Sustained. And so it went: an endless string of improper questions, countered by an equal number of objections, all of which were upheld by the court. But the damage was immense. By such tactics the prosecution was able to establish the likelihood of an illicit relationship, if not the certainty. Declining to testify on his own behalf, Branion remained mute while the jury convicted him of murder and Judge Reginald Holzer passed sentence of 20-30 years imprisonment. Defense counsel Maurice Scott immediately argued that the trial had been prejudiced by Chicago's recent racial disturbances and vowed to appeal. Released by Judge Holzer on an unusually low bond of $5,000, Branion took his case to the Illinois Supreme Court. On December 3, 1970, while conceding that the evidence against Branion was wholly circumstantial, the court held that it was sufficient to uphold the guilty verdict, stating: To support a conviction based on circumstantial evidence it is essential that facts proved be not only consistent with defendant's guilt, but they must be inconsistent with any reasonable hypothesis of innocence; but the People are not required to establish guilt beyond any possible doubt. In 1971, Branion, sensing that the end was nigh, fled the country. After an amazing jaunt across Africa he found asylum in Uganda, occasionally acting as personal physician to Idi Amin, that country's dictator. Upon Amin's ouster, Branion was arrested and returned to the United States in October 1983. Yet another stunning twist came in 1986, when Judge Reginald Holzer received an 18-year jail sentence for extortion and racketeering. Branion's lawyers seized this opportunity to charge that Holzer had received a $10,000 bribe during the 1968 trial, paid by the defendant's brother-in-law, Nelson Brown. Prosecutor Patrick Tuite admitted that he had heard rumors of Holzer's intention to overturn Branion's conviction and had gone to see him, urging that the law be allowed to take its course. The speculation is that Holzer, unnerved by Tuite's visit, swindled those who allegedly paid the bribe, then sought to placate them by substituting a ludicrously low bail of $5,000, allowing Branion to escape. Because there was no way of corroborating the story—Brown had himself been stabbed to death in 1983—this final effort to overturn Branion's conviction met with the same fate as its predecessors. After serving just seven years of his sentence, Branion was released from prison in August 1990 on health grounds. One month later, at age 64, he died of a brain tumor and heart ailment. Branion's conviction stunned Chicago's black community. Initial outrage over a perceived lack of police effort in apprehending the killer quickly turned to fury when the verdict of the jury was announced.

11-26-2007, 08:46 AM	#14
wiseguy182 Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Apr 11, 2006 Location: Wendy's salad bar Posts: 7,030	I felt bad for Dr. John as the guilty verdict was read. it looked like he had been shot through the heart, at least that's what the actor portrayed. I wonder what section of Chicago this happened in. Southside is known to have some of the worst crime in the country. Justin is right, this case (to my surprise) hasn't been discussed much. there are a few final appeals segments i have yet to see, but I can't think of a single one that i'm 100% that the accused was guilty. each one has at least some credible evidence to suggest their innocent. not saying for sure all of the final appelants are for sure innocent, but they at least have a strong case.

11-26-2007, 08:59 AM	#15
James T Member Senior Member Join Date: Apr 23, 2006 Location: England Posts: 1,571	I cannot say I did- he had the chance to put his side across and chose not to, his team totally fudged the issue of an affair to where it made them look like they were hiding things, a man who finds his wife in that state who is also a doctor but does not even bother to check for vital signs as anybody finding a loved one would automatically do and not even getting the reason as to why he did not bother correct, lying about not having that make of gun, the differing times & circumstances between his version of picking his son up and the teachers version of events, it was no wonder he was found guilty.