Article about Final Appeal/Thomas Drake case

[justins5256]

TV Show on Local Convict Delayed

WINTER HAVEN - Thomas Drake, convicted in the attempted murder of his wife eight years ago,
won't be taking his plea of innocence to the masses anytime soon.
Drake's story was supposed to be aired on the Oct. 23 episode of the NBC program "Final Appeal", but
the show was postponed due to a political broadcast. A week later, the show was canceled because of
low ratings, said Tim Rogan, the show's coordinating producer.
Now Drake's story along with several others that were planned for airing on "Final Appeal" will
be presented during an episode of NBC's "Unsolved Mysteries," Rogan said.
But Rogan couldn't say when the Drake segment might appear.
"Most of the slots on "Unsolved Mysteries" have been filled for the rest of the season, through
May," Rogan said. "The chances are pretty good that the Drake story will air, I just can't say when."
In the segment, Drake maintains that he is innocent of beating his wife, Nancy, with a claw hammer
in the church office where she worked, even though two independent juries found him guilty of
attempted murder and robbery.
Drake, 54, and his attorney, Larry Shearer of Lakeland, say that there is no physical evidence
to support the conviction. Prosecutors maintained during the trial that Drake had been seen going into
his wife's office around the time that she was attacked, and theorized that he took the $3,800 from
the church's safe to begin anew with another women.
He was convicted of attempted first-degree murder in December 1983, six months after the beating.
But Drake was granted a new trial after his wife told authorities that her husband wasn't her attacker.
During the second trial in April, a medical expert testified that the area of Nancy Drake's brain
that stores memory was destroyed during the attack, making it impossible for her to remember who hurt
her.
The Drakes later divorced, and she has remarried and is living in Indiana.
Nancy Drake Marshall will say on film that she doesn't remember the attack.
Drake was convicted a second time and sentenced to life imprisonment. He is serving his sentence
at Avon Park Correctional Institution.