A Confession to Gunnarsson's Murder

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A Confession to Gunnarsson's Murder

Before and during trial six years in Watauga County Superior Court, defense counsel, investigators and prosecutors knew evidence existed that revealed:

	Gunnarsson was friends with two men named Michael Blackwelder and Brandon Shelton.
	It was always the state’s theory that the motive for Gunnarsson’s murder had been jealousy.
	A man named Brandon Shelton had repeatedly admitted to his friend, Robbie Smith that he and Michael Blackwelder had killed Viktor Gunnarsson over an affair Gunnarsson had with Shelton’s wife.
	A month prior to Gunnarsson’s murder, Brandon Shelton returned home from work to find Gunnarsson and his wife together and threatened to kill him.
	Brandon Shelton had made a direct confession to Robbie Smith by saying, “OK. I’ll tell you I killed Viktor Gunnarsson”.
	Brandon Shelton admitted that he and his friend Michael Blackwelder were able to get inside Gunnarsson’s apartment on the night of the murder with a key and then coaxed Gunnarsson out of bed on the pretense of going to a party.
	Trial testimony showed that Michael Blackwelder had lived in Gunnarsson’s apartment prior to the murder as a roommate. Blackwelder was one of three people who had a key to the apartment and had the only key that could not accounted for (TPP. 1380-1381).
	Trial testimony showed that I had never met or seen Viktor Gunnarsson (Volume IV, P. 1425).

The Affair and a Confession

During the investigation into the death of Viktor Gunnarsson, investigators located a woman named Heather Mae Shelton. On April 11, 1995, Ms. Shelton was interviewed for the first and only time. Ms. Shelton at first denied knowing Viktor Gunnarsson. However, she later admitted that she did know him and had an affair with him. Investigators also learned that in November 1993, a month prior to Gunnarsson’s murder, Gunnarsson and his friend named Daniel Johnasson had, in fact, been to her home. Heather Shelton admitted to investigators:

	She did know Viktor Gunnarsson and had an affair with him.
	In November 1993, which was one month prior to the murder, Gunnarsson had in fact been to her home. Gunnarsson was drunk or high. She had sex with him in her bedroom.
	Her husband, Brandon Shelton, came home from work as she and Gunnarsson were getting dressed.
	After her husband came home and caught her and Gunnarsson together, he started yelling and cussing at her and Gunnarsson, threatening to kill both of them.
	After the murder, Brandon Shelton admitted to Ms. Shelton that he and a man named Michael Blackwelder had killed Gunnarsson.
	Her husband, Brandon Shelton, was sober when he made the confession to her that he killed Gunnarsson.
	Her husband kept all the newspaper articles about Gunnarsson’s murder in scrapbooks and he told her she would never have sex with Gunnarsson again.
	Brandon Shelton, was extremely jealous and possessive of her.
	When her husband made confessions to her that he killed Viktor Gunnarsson, she believed him (Exhibit G, Statement of Heather Shelton).

Defense Attorneys were aware prior to and during trial that investigators had interviewed Heather Shelton and what she had told investigators in her statement on April 11, 1995 concerning admissions by her husband that he killed Gunnarsson. Even though Heather Shelton was listed as a defense witness, she was never called to testify on my behalf during trial (Exhibit T, Defense Witness List).

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