John Purvis in 2003

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FREED MAN IS RECLAIMING LIFE
PLANTATION RESIDENT WRONGLY CONVICTED OF MURDER MARKS 10 YEARS OUT OF JAIL.
Sun-Sentinel
January 14, 2003
Author: Ardy Friedberg and Paula McMahon Staff Writers
Estimated printed pages: 4

Out of prison for a decade, John Purvis still stashes candy bars in his bed. It's a trick he learned while locked up for a double murder he did not commit.

He walked free 10 years ago today.
"I try to blot it out of my mind," Purvis said of his nine years behind bars. "But it'll never leave."

Purvis at 61 is a schizophrenic who talks like a shy teenager, eagerly and nervously telling how much his life has improved and what he likes most about being out of prison.

"I can walk around the streets in fresh air, I can walk to church and have a coffee. That's being free," Purvis said. "I eat whenever I want to. I watch TV whenever I want to. I don't have fences or barbed wire around me."

Purvis was convicted of raping, stabbing and strangling his 38-year-old neighbor Susan Hamwi and leaving her 18-month-old daughter, Shane, to die in their home on Poinsettia Drive in Fort Lauderdale. Purvis lived with his mother, on whom he was totally dependent.

Purvis' case is similar to those of three other Broward men who have been exonerated or are hoping to be cleared in high-profile murder cases. All four were either ******** or mentally ill.

The parallels are most obvious in the case of Tim Brown, a Hollywood native who has served 11 years of a life term for the 1990 murder of Broward Sheriff's Deputy Patrick Behan. Brown is waiting for a federal judge to decide whether he should be released from prison since new evidence uncovered a suspect sheriff's detectives overlooked.

Brown, who is mentally ********, was 15 when he confessed to Behan's murder. He said detectives hit him, threatened him with the electric chair and kept him from his mother to get him to confess.

Frank Lee Smith died of cancer on Death Row in January 2000, months before DNA cleared him of the 1985 rape and murder of a Fort Lauderdale girl, which the Broward Sheriff's Office investigated.

Jerry Frank Townsend, who is mentally ********, was released in June 2001 after DNA evidence proved he was not the serial killer who raped and murdered several women in Broward and Miami-Dade counties in the 1970s and '80s. Townsend confessed to Miami and Fort Lauderdale police and was convicted although he got important details of the murders wrong and later retracted his statement. He had served 21 years in prison.

The cases have worried many Floridians and embarrassed the Broward State Attorney's Office and some South Florida law enforcement agencies, including the Broward Sheriff's Office and the Fort Lauderdale Police Department.

Fort Lauderdale police questioned Purvis soon after the murders, but his mother was present and they got nothing. Two months after the killings, detectives picked him up again and interrogated him alone.

Fort Lauderdale Detectives Richard Martin and Richard Rice said Purvis confessed to them and to psychologist Joel Klass. The interview with detectives was kept out of evidence, but Klass was allowed to testify. Purvis was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

Purvis said he confessed under pressure from the detectives, who told him he could go home if he cooperated.

Experts in false confessions say that about 120 defendants around the country have been cleared after it was proven they gave false confessions. Among the most vulnerable are the mentally ill and people with low IQs.

In 1985, just months after Purvis was convicted, police and then-prosecutor Robert Carney, now a Broward Circuit judge, received information that Hamwi's ex-husband, Paul Hamwi, had hired someone to kill her. They checked it out but closed the case and never told Purvis or his attorney.

Years later, Purvis' appellate lawyer, Steve Wisotsky, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University, asked for the file. Fort Lauderdale Detectives Tim Bronson and Robert Williams began re-investigating.

In 1994 Paul Hamwi and Paul Serio were convicted of murdering Susan Hamwi and are serving life in prison. Hamwi paid Robert Beckett and Serio $14,000 to kill his wife to get out of paying a $180,000 divorce settlement. Beckett was granted immunity after agreeing to cooperate in the investigation.

Detectives Rice and Martin could not be reached for comment Monday.

Purvis' brother, Mike Bartlett, negotiated a $1 million settlement from the city of Fort Lauderdale. Purvis' mother, Emma Jo Bartlett, and the rest of the family said it was more important to resolve the case and get the money for Purvis than to prolong the lawsuit in hopes of a bigger jury award.

Purvis lives in a comfortable home in Plantation Acres with Mike Bartlett, his sister-in-law Bernadette, and his niece and nephew.

When Purvis was released, he told reporters what he wanted to do.

"I want to drive a car, just to see the world again," he said. "I'll probably go swimming every day and eat steak every night."

He has done much of that -- he loves steak and hamburgers, but not every night. He frequently takes a dip in the backyard pool. He goes to the barbershop once a month, and every now and then he buys a suit and tie for church. He is a big TV fan and enjoys J.A.G., Law and Order and Clint Eastwood movies.

"I'm enjoying life," he said. "I read the Bible a lot. What else can I really ask for?"

But Purvis can't drive any more. His license expired while he was in prison, and his nervousness increased so much during his prison years that he no longer has any hope of getting it back.

Purvis attends classes most days at a counseling center and walks to services at a nearby Baptist church twice a week. He still gets psychiatric treatment but no longer has nightmares.

Because of Purvis' mental illness, Bartlett and his sister became Purvis' legal guardians. They must get permission from a Broward probate judge to spend any of the trust money.

The financial settlement left Purvis with a $150-a-week allowance. Some of that helped buy the house in Plantation Acres, where he has his own room and shares a wide-screen TV.

While he remembers the days after his release as a time of parties, eating steak and watching himself on TV, his mother said then that Purvis often awoke in a panic, didn't want to be alone and was afraid of police. On a visit to an amusement park he saw security guards and asked Bartlett if they were police to take him back to jail.

Purvis is not the only one still trying to recover.

Susan Hamwi's sister, Karen Conner, who lives in Blue Ridge, Ga., said Monday that her dead sister and niece have been on her mind, particularly in the last few weeks. She said it is too difficult for her to discuss what happened.

"I'm still working it out for myself," she said. "I try not to go there too often.

"This is happening a whole lot more with DNA and everything, so I guess it is going to affect a lot more victims," she added. "No one wants an innocent person to be in prison."

Staff writer Paula McMahon can be reached at pmcmahon@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4533.
Caption:
PHOTOS 2
Caption:
Photo/Michael Francis McElroy

(color) Reflecting: John Purvis, 61, was wrongly convicted of murder. Purvis, who is schizophrenic, is among other mentally ill Broward County men who have been exonerated or are hoping to be cleared in murder cases.
Edition: Broward Metro
Section: LOCAL
Page: 1B
Index Terms: PROFILE JOHN PURVIS
Copyright 2003 Sun-Sentinel Company
Record Number: 0301140081

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