THE DNA EVIDENCE

Dr.. Joseph Embry, State Medical Examiner, testified in the trial of 1989 that the DA's office called the coroner's office to tell them not to perform DNA testing on the female victim. Dr. Embry stated that this was highly unusual. Thus, the vaginal swab and fingernail cultures were not taken. This destroyed the DNA evidence forever. Proving adultery was essential to this case. We sought to find out why the DA would not only suppress but destroy the very evidence that would prove his case against Patrick Swiney.

Here are letters by those who knew the female victim Betty Snow, the District Attorney J. Michael Campbell and Patrick Swiney well:

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Letter (1) 20 January 2000

Mr. Don Siegleman

Governor of Alabama

600 Dexter Avenue

Montgomery, AL 36104

Dear Governor:

I am a friend of the Swiney family and I have worked hard over the years to help Patrick Swiney. I am one of the few who is not afraid of Nell Snow's political influence. When Patrick was arrested, I was shocked and, with his mother Odelle Swiney, we led the community to come up with the initial bond of $125,000.00.

As soon as we did this, Michael Campbell got that bond raised to $500,000.00 which we raised in one day. I went to Mike Campbell's office and told him that even if he raised that bond to a million dollars, we'd get Patrick out of jail. I told him these things because I know Patrick very well. I know the history of his life and his marriage to Betty Snow. Now, I wish I'd told Patrick how Betty was the type of person who would sleep with just about anyone who would ask her [like mother, like daughter], and I wish I'd told him about Betty and Mike Campbell having an affair, but I just couldn't bring myself to say these things to Patrick because I knew how much it would hurt him.

I've always felt that Patrick would one day be released from prison to come home where I think he belongs. I have my doubts as to whether Patrick actually shot anyone, but even if he did, under the circumstances, I think it was justified because a man can only take so much before he cracks.

Patrick may have been hot-headed at times, but he was never hurtful to anyone. He helped everyone who needed help and this is why his community loved him enough to help him get bonded out. We were so angry with the unfairness of the trial and how Mike Campbell lied to the jury, that after Patrick was sent to prison, I headed up a campaign to get Mike Campbell kicked out of office.

One year after Patrick was sent to prison, Campbell was no longer District Attorney. We saw to that and are proud to have removed him from office because he abused his powers and that's not what we want in our county. We want fairness and justice for everyone. I don't think that's what Patrick received and now I ask you as governor and former attorney general, to please do everything you possibly can to right a terrible wrong that's been done in Shelby County to a good and decent man.

I think Patrick Swiney deserves his freedom and I hope you will act upon this to show the citizens of Alabama that you are a man who seeks justice for all.

Thank you for your time, and I remain sincerely,

Betty Dupre

1129 Hickory Hill Drive

Alabaster, AL 35007

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Letter (2)

20 January 2000

Mr. Don Siegleman

Governor of Alabama

600 Dexter Avenue

Montgomery, AL 36104

Dear Governor:

I am Patrick Swiney's brother. I am an electrical design engineer living with my wife and three children in Ohio. My 12-year-old son, Patrick, is named after my brother. My brother is 10 years older than I am, so I was 33 -- my brother 43 -- when this tragedy happened in 1987.

I am writing to you to ask you to look at the evidence of innocence that has recently come to light, showing that my brother was not the one who shot his wife and her lover. And even if my brother had shot them, it would have been in a crime of sudden heat of passion and -- according to Alabama law -- not murder. But my brother was not the kind of person to hurt another person.

He was in the police force for 13 years in the State of Alabama and carried a .38 pistol with him at all times. During that time, he never shot anyone, and believe me, there were times when he put his own life in grave danger trying to avoid shooting anyone. He's just not the kind of person who would shoot anyone or hurt anyone. He might get extremely angry, and be harsh with his words, but I tell you that when my brother gets angry, unless he's being directly bodily attacked, he always walks away rather than stay and do harm. He might kick a tree stump, shoot at a rock or a post, punch a wall, but never would he hurt a living soul.

For example, when Patrick was married to his first wife, the mother of his daughter, their marriage was shaky. His wife was jealous of my brother's affection toward his daughter and she drove his daughter away from him. That's what destroyed the marriage. One day, after their separation, Patrick was so angry that he went to their house and shot out a porch lamp. He never aimed at any human being. He just shot out the porch lamp and then left.

When this tragedy happened with Betty Snow Swiney and Ronnie Pate, the prosecuting attorney, Mike Campbell confided this porch lamp incident to the defense attorney, Dick Bell, a personal injury attorney -- a gullible man, unfamiliar with the history between Mike Campbell and Betty Snow. Mike Campbell was able to put a lot of fear into the mind of Dick Bell, with scenarios such that Campbell "could" make Patrick look like a dangerous man, walking the streets, who should be locked up because he goes around shooting people when he gets angry, when in fact, all that was ever shot at was a porch lamp.

Dick Bell became sufficiently scared for his client and together, they decided that because this porch lamp incident would make Patrick look very bad in the eyes of the court they should not call any witnesses for the defense, lest this porch lamp incident come out in the open. Mike Campbell made Dick Bell believe that if the lamp incident did not come out in court, Patrick would be better off. However, I know this was part of Campbell's ploy to prevent the real truth from being revealed during the trial.

With NO witnesses for the defense, the prosecution had free reign to cite one conjecture after another without fear of being discredited. Had any witnesses for the defense been called to the stand, they would have been able to discredit all of the tales Mike Campbell was presenting to the jury. Not "some" tales, all of them!

In his trickery, Mike Campbell kept his word about not mentioning the porch lamp incident, but instead he called a witness for the prosecution who stated that one time he saw Patrick shoot a BB gun [a pellet gun] at a crow in the yard where he and Betty Snow Swiney lived.

Campbell told the jury that this was an indication of how dangerous Patrick was. The truth was that Patrick had a blue-bird nest up in one of his trees and he shot at the crow to keep it from destroying the blue-bird nest. He didn't kill the crow. He just shot at it to cause it to fly away. Most everyone in Alabama knows how rare blue-birds are. They are almost extinct. Stating that because Patrick once shot a pellet gun at a crow meant he had murderous tendencies, is like saying that anyone and everyone who has ever shot a BB gun at a critter -- or any hunter -- has a tendency of becoming a cold-blooded murderer.

Nevertheless, Mike Campbell was able to convince the jury that Patrick shooting at a crow was sufficient evidence to show that he had tendencies to be dangerous killer who needed the death penalty to make their neighborhoods safe again. Since there were not going to be any witnesses for the defense, including no expert witnesses, there was not going to be any words to refute this ridiculous innuendo about may brother's character.

The truth is that Mike Campbell and Betty Snow Swiney were high school sweethearts. I and others can attest to this from first-hand knowledge. The fact that Mike Campbell and Betty Snow Swiney remained very close after she and Patrick were married, is widely known.

What happened at the trial was a display of judicial misconduct by the District Attorney. He not only hid the truth of innocence [the forensic reports that surfaced in 1997 showing that there was no gun powder residue or blood on my brother's skin or clothing], but he destroyed all evidence of adultery.

I believe Mike Campbell should have recused himself from the trial and ordered a Special Prosecutor, but Mike Campbell could not take a chance that his own DNA [sperm] would be revealed in any forensic testing done by the State. Thus, Mike Campbell did not remove himself from this case. He needed to remain closely involved in order to make sure that any chance of his own culpability was headed off before the jury ever heard the truth. Thus, Campbell did pre-arranged maneuvering to ensure that Patrick would be convicted of a crime we now know he did not commit.

However, even without the proof of innocence, Patrick's case was based on adultery and a crime of sudden heat of passion. Mike Campbell could not allow adultery to be admitted into court. Why?

Why would Mike Campbell, high school sweetheart [and continued close "friend"] of the victim be so concerned about showing that she and Ronnie Pate had committed adultery as to tell the Coroner's office not to perform the vaginal swab and fingernail cultures during the autopsy? Why would Campbell be so concerned about showing adultery between Betty Snow and Ronnie Pate as to prevent DNA testing of the bed sheets in the guest room? The only logical answer to these questions, knowing beforehand the relationship between Mike Campbell and Betty Snow, is that Campbell must have feared that his own DNA would also be revealed in these tests.

How could he possibly explain this to the jury? He couldn't, so he had no choice but to hide the truth from them, while framing an innocent man of a crime he did not commit. How handy for Campbell that my brother was knocked unconscious during the shootings so that he has no idea what happened. How convenient for Campbell that the police did a shoddy job of investigating the crime scene. How advantageous that the police refused to admit my brother to the hospital when he complained about being hit over the head with something that felt like a baseball bat.

How inexplicable that the police fabricated [twisted] my sister's comments in their hand-written reports. How untenable that other items written in the police reports are in fact false. For example, the police reports state that my sister and mother were found inside the house at the crime scene when the police arrived, when in fact they were never allowed to enter at all.

I submit to you that my brother is innocent and should be released from prison immediately. A terrible injustice has been done to my brother and my entire family because of the District Attorney's judicial misconduct. The transcripts reveal conjecture by Mike Campbell that only a person on the "inside" of a relationship could have possibly known. Campbell speaks with such passion in the transcripts that, to an observant reader, Campbell was revealing his own personal conversations with the victim, Betty Snow Swiney, in the throws of their own passionate interludes.

What the Governor decides to do about the judicial misconduct is a matter for the Governor to decide. Meanwhile, I humbly ask that you do everything possible to right a serious wrong that has been done, and free my brother from prison. Let him walk among the free again where he belonged all along.

Please understand that Patrick has a support system ready to stand behind him to help him re-adjust to the free-world. He is a burden to society now because he is imprisoned without cause. Freeing my brother will also remove an unnecessary tax burden from your constituents.

Thanking you in advance for your honesty and compassion. I pray that you are as outraged over this injustice as anyone would be who sees an innocent person in prison. Fortunately, you are in a position to rectify this, whereas the average citizen is not. You may not have the power to grant clemency to a guilty person who is not on death row, but you can recommend a pardon, partial-pardon, or reduction in sentence; and surely you have the authority to right an obvious injustice.

Sincerely,

Dan Swiney

11504 Imhoff Ct.

Cincinnati, OH 45240

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