Beth Pitts

PLANTEDEVIDENCE.COM

JUSTICE DENIED!


	Email Me

Beth Pitts

At trial, the state called as their last witness a woman named Beth Pitts. Pitts testified that she and I had dated for ten months prior to my arrest on October 12, 1995. She testified that during the time we dated, I had told her at least twelve times that “If I had not been so smart and such a good police officer, I would have been arrested a long time ago for these murders” (Volume IV, TPP. 1549-1550).

However, the jury never heard any evidence that defense attorneys knew existed in three prior statements Pitts gave to police that would have cast doubt on her testimony and to her truthfulness on the witness stand. Also, the jury never heard evidence as to when Pitts had told investigators that I had been making the comments to her she testified I had made a total of twelve times.

Pitts was interviewed by Agent Don Gale of the S.B.I. on August 19, 1995, August 22, 1995 and August 26, 1995. These three interviews lasted a total of approximately fourteen hours. However, not once in Pitt’s first three interviews with police does she mention that I had made the comment to her “If I had not been so smart and such a good police officer, I would have been arrested a long time ago for these murders”.

In fact, during her first interview on August 19, 1995, she informed Agent Gale that “she believed everything I had told her about the investigation and she simply believed I was innocent” (statement August 19, 1995, page 3, paragraph 3).

The state contended at trial the comment was a confession to the murders of Gunnarsson and Miller. Since Pitts was never cross examined about her prior statements, and, the state never had to explain, if I had actually been making the comment Pitts testified I had made to her, which they claimed amounted to a confession, how it was possible that Pitts would believe everything I told her and that she believed I was innocent.

In Pitt’s statement of August 22, 1995, she told Agent Gale that we had discussed the case every time the issue came up, once or twice a month during the time we dated. However, in this statement she never tells Agent Gale anything about the alleged comment she later testified under oath I had made to her at least twelve times.

Also during her interview on August 22, 1995, she gave Agent Gale a 90 minute Sony cassette tape of telephone calls she had recorded of us talking on the telephone together or August 18, 1995 and August 19, 1995. She told Gale that she wanted him to realize that on the audio tape she was saying things in a effort to get me to talk and that she believed nothing I said at this point.

However, during Pitt’s first interview on August 19, 1995, which is the same day she recorded the telephone conversations of us talking, she told Gale that “she believed everything I told her and she simply believed I was innocent”.

The jury never heard that Pitts could believe everything I told her and that she simply believed I was innocent and not believed anything I told her all on the same day of August 19, 1995.

Only on September 5, 1995, which was two weeks after the last of Pitt’s first three statements to investigators in August 1995, does she miraculously remember the alleged comments she testified under oath that I had made to her at least twelve times (Exhibit K, Interview of Carolyn Pitts).

Also, she only remembered this alleged comment on September 5, in a six minute conversation, when Agent Gale called her (Exhibit K, Interview of Carolyn Pitts).

It was never explained:

	Why Pitts refused to speak to Agent Gale on July 25 1995 when he first came to her home and did not tell him about the comment then.
	Why she did not tell Gale about this alleged comment in her first three statements in August 1995 which lasted for fourteen hours and totaled fourteen typed pages of information, but just miraculously remembered the alleged comment when Gale called her on September 5, 1995.
	How Gale knew to call Pitts just so she could tell him about the alleged comment.
	Why Agent Gale never asked Pitts why she had refused to mention anything about the alleged comments in her first three statements in August 1995.
	Why Pitts never went to anyone in law enforcement during the ten months we dated to tell them about the alleged comment she claimed I had made to her at least twelve times and which the state claimed was a confession to two murders.

Pitts was asked just four questions on cross examination by defense attorneys. She was never cross examined about her prior statements that would have cast doubt on her truthfulness as a witness.

So the last testimony the jury heard was from Pitts and that I had told her at least twelve times “If I had not been so smart and such a good police officer, I would have been arrested a long time ago for the murders”.

But one of the most puzzling facts about state’s witness Beth Pitts lies with the District Attorney, Tom Rusher. The District Attorney was aware, and had copies of all of Pitt’s statements by September 22, 1995. Pitt’s first three statements of August 1995, where Pitts failed to mention the alleged comment were turned over to the defense during discovery in November 1995 approximately one month after my arrest on October 12, 1995.

However, Pitts statement of September 5, 1995 where Agent Gale claimed Pitts finally told him I had made the alleged comment to her at least twelve times was withheld from defense attorneys for nineteen months and only turned over to the defense on June 11, 1997, just twelve days before the start of my trial (Exhibit L, Voluntary Discover, Pg. 2, Paragraph 2).

Why the District Attorney refused to turn Pitt’s statement of September 5, 1995 over to the defense and withheld this statement from the defense for nineteen months when he knew it existed and which the discovery process required him to turn over in a timely manner, was never questioned by the defense.

Back to Top