25 January 2000
Mr. Don Siegleman
Governor of Alabama
600 Dexter Avenue
Montgomery, AL 36104
Dear Governor Siegleman:
I am a member of The International Bannister Foundation,
and I am writing for the cause of Patrick Swiney.He
is innocent and should not be kept in prison.All
along, there seemed to be a lacking of evidence of his guilt but now there
is forensic evidence of his innocence.This
new evidence that has recently surfaced should have been presented in Mr.
Swiney's trial but was suppressed by the district attorney.Obviously,
this is not the way to give a person a fair trial.
So I urge you, as Governor of the State of Alabama,
to right this terrible wrong that's been done to one of your own citizens.Please
be reminded that Mr. Swiney served as a law enforcement officer for 13
years in your state, with a record of high honor.In
fact, he served as Vice-President of the Fraternal Order of Police and
was in good standing with politicians and authorities state-wide.Now,
we see that when he was accused of murdering his wife and her lover while
in the act of adultery, he was judged guilty until proven innocent in a
court of law.I was raised to believe
that every citizen is judged innocent until proven guilty, so I do not
understand how the State of Alabama can call Mr. Swiney's trial fair and
impartial when those who wanted him out of the way sought to convince the
court that the State had a case against him.A
review of the trial transcripts will show you that the State never did
prove its case, yet Mr. Swiney was convicted of capital murder and sentenced
to death in prison.This is wrong.
However, given the way Alabama conducts its justice
system, we now have proof of innocence.Now,
since Alabama judges people guilty until proven innocent, you must free
Mr. Swiney because we have proven him innocent.
Yes, this is an injustice and while you may not have
the authority to grant clemency or a pardon, you do have the authority
to right a terrible wrong.There
is no pardon necessary because Patrick did not commit any crime for which
to be pardoned.However, even a partial-pardon
-- if that's all you can do to bring Mr. Swiney home -- would be acceptable
to the Swiney family.They can deal
with the public's misguided opinion while he is a free man better than
they can deal with Patrick being falsely imprisoned.I
urge you to do whatever it takes to free Patrick Swiney immediately.He's
already spent 11 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit.Now
it's time to bring him home where he can live out the rest of his life
in peace.
Yours very truly,
Nancy Monzo
[address]
[telephone]
