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JUSTICE DENIED!


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The following is the defendant’s side of the story as told in his own words. In this story every piece of the state’s evidence is addressed, piece-by-piece. Documented evidence is presented that shows that investigators lied in court, documents filed in this case, and witnesses changed their sworn testimonies and testified to events that truly made no sense based on the state’s evidence and theories presented by the state. This story will show you how overzealous investigators and prosecutors ignored any evidence that pointed away from the defendant, L. C. Underwood, even a confession to Gunnarsson’s murder by another man, who repeatedly stated while sober that he killed Viktor Gunnarsson, and a man who had the perfect motive for murder. Also, the story will show how prosecutors and investigators knew a state’s star witness had confessed to his girlfriend that he was a hitman and had committed two prior murders in the past, but never questioned him about these murders during any interview they had with this witness. You will read how the jury never heard any of this evidence because defense attorneys never presented any evidence to the jury. You will read how inept defense attorneys failed to present any witnesses or evidence on the defendant’s behalf that would have destroyed the state’s case. And finally, you will see how the criminal justice system failed and condemned an innocent man to life in prison plus 40 years for a crime he did not commit.

All of the facts, evidence, and information used in this story are taken from the following sources:

Official laboratory reports filed by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, some of which are used as exhibits.
Sworn trial testimony connected to the prosecution of this case, which is indicated by the volume and transcript page number as follows (Volume #, TP #).
Official police statements resulting from interviews conducted by Detective Paula Townsend of the Watauga County Sheriff’s Office, Special Agent Don Gale of the North Carolina Sate Bureau of Investigation, and other investigators in these cases which are indicated either by statement date, page number and paragraph, or as actual exhibits at the end of this story.
Sworn Affidavits filed and signed by Special Agent Don Gale of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.
Sworn testimony in official search warrant affidavits filed by Detective Paula Townsend dated January 3l, 1994 and November 20, 1995.

Writers note: In July 1997, I, L. C. Underwood, was sentenced to life plus 40 years for the kidnapping and murder of a Swedish citizen named Viktor Gunnarsson. I am currently serving my sentence at the Pasquotank Correctional Institution in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. I am 5l years old.

The story of how I ended up at the Pasquotank Correction Institution is both fascinating and troubling. It is fascinating because of the mystery and intrigue surrounding the victim. It is troubling because of:

	Overzealous investigation that led to my arrest
	Free handed prosecution of my case
	A poorly financed defense team that failed to uncover, present, or challenge key evidence that was favorable to me
	Appellate Attorneys who failed to rebut or challenge the State’s brief on direct appeal, when they knew evidence existed that would have disputed the evidence the state alleged on appeal connected me to these murders.

These topics raise serious doubts about my guilt.

The N. C. State Court of Appeals heard my case but upheld the conviction in August of 1999. The N. C. Supreme Court also upheld the Court of Appeals decision in October of 2000.

However, two months after the Court of Appeals upheld my conviction, the same justices heard the case of Lauren White, during which the court had to decide if an uncharged crime should have been allowed into evidence. White was granted a new trial, even though only four dissimilarities were shown between the two crimes.

In my case, an uncharged crime was allowed into evidence – the murder of my ex-fiancée’s mother, Catherine Miller of Salisbury, North Carolina, who was found shot twice four days after Gunnarsson was last seen alive. In my case there were ten dissimilarities, yet the Court of Appeals and the State Supreme Court refused to grant me a new trial. The United State’s Supreme Court and the N. C. Supreme Court have ruled in prior cases that similar acts or uncharged crime evidence is admissible if there is substantial evidence tending to support a reasonable finding by the jury that a defendant committed a similar crime.

The jury at my trial clearly rejected the State’s evidence that I killed Miller.

The North Carolina Supreme Court and the North Carolina Court of Appeals were asked to consider two points of law. One involved whether the judge should have allowed prosecutors to use mitochondrial DNA evidence to convict me. The other questioned if the judge should have allowed the prosecution to introduce evidence that I killed Miller, even though I was never charged with the crime. Even though evidence was developed at trial that disputed each piece of the State’s case on appeal, my appellate Attorneys never made the appellate courts aware of this evidence. It was never heard or considered in the court’s decision on whether to grant me a new trial.

Ironically, the source of the mitochondrial DNA evidence – 17 hairs SBI technician John Bendura testified he found embedded in a trunk mat removed from my car – was never challenged by defense attorneys during my trial, even though they had strong evidence that the hairs had been planted. The hairs, the only direct evidence linking me to Gunnarsson, were found on October 8, 1995 after twenty-two months and six detailed searches of the mat. SBI Agent Bendura testified that he just casually noticed the hairs as he was preparing to return the mat to investigators. More puzzling is the fact that on October 8, 1995, the day Agent Bendura claimed he discovered the hairs on the mat, the SBI laboratory in Raleigh, North Carolina was closed. That day was a Sunday. However, my defense attorneys never challenged the only direct evidence the state claimed at trial linked me to Gunnarsson’s murder.

No evidence was presented at trial in my defense, even though evidence existed that would have disputed the state’s case against me. For the first time I want my side of the story to be told and to present evidence that supports my innocence.

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