Attorneys for Daniel Green—-convicted in 1996 for the murder of James Jordan—Michael’s father—-are presenting evidence they hope will result in a new trial:
— A sworn statement from a former jury forewoman that says she conducted her own investigation into Jordan’s death, a violation of a judge’s order.
— An affidavit that appears to show that Jennifer Elwell, a state forensics expert, withdrew a statement that said she found Jordan’s blood in his car. Documents also say Elwell was ordered by a supervisor to destroy the only known sample of Jordan’s blood shortly after the trial, unbeknownst to Green’s defense attorneys at the time.
— An affidavit from a former newspaper editor who says Demery told her he killed Jordan after the victim witnessed a drug transaction. In her statement, the editor says she never told anyone of the confession.
— An allegation that Robeson County Sheriff Hubert Stone, whose office helped conduct the murder investigation, had an illegitimate son, a known cocaine dealer, who was the first person called on Jordan’s phone. The judge at Green’s trial did not allow jurors to hear about the relationship between Stone and the drug trafficker.
Anyone who remembers the incident—James Jordan was shot as he slept in his car at a rest area on US Highway 74–knows that conspiracy theories floated around that his father’s murder was somehow related to Michael Jordan’s gambling and Green and his partner in crime—Larry emery–were fall guys.
I’m not an attorney, but the evidence that will be presented (based on news accounts) is based less on the case that Green and Emery were not involved in the crime but more on “misleading testimony and misconduct by the prosecutor and jury.”
