According to Biblical reports, a Roman governor once sarcastically asked Jesus, What is truth? When it comes to court cases, the truth may be difficult to discern. But in cases of murder, getting to the truth may mean the difference between life and death row. Take the case of Alan Gell, who was charged with murder in Bertie County in 1995 and later convicted. Gell had spent six years on death row until it was discovered in an appeals court prosecutors withheld critical evidence. He was acquitted in 2004 after the jury deliberated for about 45 minutes. Jerry Waller has come to know that fine judicial line in his 20 years as a private investigator. About 95 percent of the cases the Kinston native handles involve murder. I seek one thing the truth, he said. It doesnt matter what side youre on the defense, the prosecution you should be seeking one thing the truth. Waller is a licensed criminal defense investigator handling state and federal cases in or related to North Carolina. His job has taken him to all 100 counties and across the country. Hes also conducted interviews with witnesses via telephone or digital video overseas in places such as Mexico, Guam and Afghanistan. Waller graduated from North Lenoir High School in 1977. Following high school, he joined the U.S. Air Force doing a stint at Seymour Johnson in Goldsboro and left the military in 1982 as a staff sergeant. I did some investigations in the Air Force, he said, but nothing of this magnitude. Waller earned a Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice at ECU and began working as a court intake officer in 1986 at the Division of Adult Probation and Parole in Lenoir County. He was promoted to a parole officer and later an intensive probation/parole officer. In January 1993, he earned licensure through the states Private Protective Services Board and opened his business, Professional Investigations & Paralegal Services. There was a need for it, he said about the services he offers. He receives referrals from North Carolina district and superior courts, federal district courts, Navy and Marine Corps trial judiciaries and attorneys, as well as from the general public. Most everything is started originally from an attorney, Waller said about the 600 or so cases on which he has worked. The Gell case is one of several photographs hanging on his downtown office walls. In a lawsuit against the SBI, Gell was told to explain what the threat was that he had stated he experienced every day, Waller said. (Gell) said, I was threatened each day with a needle to be placed in my arm, Waller said. Vaughn Jones spent nearly six years in a county jail for a double murder and he faced death row in Pamlico County. It ended as a mistrial due to a hung jury the jury was unable to agree on a verdict. A second trial was held in Craven County for first degree murder without parole and, again, ended in a mistrial. A third trial was held in Craven and the verdict was not guilty. Waller also worked on the case of Marlon Williams, who was charged with the murder of his grandfather. Williams was found not guilty in Lenoir County Superior Court in June. The Williams case was big for us, he said about him and his staff. Not guilty verdicts are rare, he added. Sometimes a defendants sentencing can be reduced. Wade Walker, a Marine, was sentenced to death at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., for a double murder in Jacksonville and was waiting on death row for more than seven years. I worked on the appeals with the Marine Corps, Waller said, and I traveled all over the United States talking to witnesses and got Wade a new sentencing hearing, and he got a life sentence. Another Jacksonville Marine attracted the attention of the national media. Cesar Laurean was charged with murdering a pregnant Marine from Camp Lejeune, Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, and burying her in his backyard after authorities found him in New Mexico, Waller said. The trial was moved to Wayne County. He was convicted, but the case is on appeal. Anytime youve got a case thats got national attention to it, Waller said, its always an interesting case. Military cases often involve numerous people, and because murder cases move slowly, many of the witnesses have been shipped elsewhere, including overseas, he said.
Do lawyers need investigators?
Private investigators can testify, while lawyers cannot sit at the witness stand. (A private eye) does certain things that he can do that, naturally, I cant do, Attorney Bill Gerrans, of Gerrans, Foster & Sargeant, said. Waller said if an attorney fails to investigate thoroughly, his or her defendant can file a motion for ineffective assistance of counsel and request a new trial. Gerrans said hes known Waller since he was of school age. I was one of the first people to hire Jerry, he said. He found out early on that Waller knew how to find out more information than Gerrans would tell him to find, and he has access to more information than Gerrans has available to him. (Waller) can locate people that members of the family havent been able to locate in 20 to 30 years. The police couldnt even find them, he said. Gerrans said he doesnt have the staff to do what a private investigator does. It helps equalize the playing field to have someone to help you, he said, contrasting that with the numbers of state law enforcement hes up against in the courtroom. Superior Court Judge Paul L. Jones said a person who is incarcerated is not in a position to find witnesses, nor are they going to find neutral witnesses. And their witnesses may not be any more credible than they are. A lot of people who will be convicted want to be sure of the integrity of the criminal justice system, said Jones, who has judged 189 murder cases. He said some prosecutors may be biased and are simply looking to convict, rather than doing an adequate job finding the truth. Attorneys make sure (prosecutors) dont mess up, Jones said, and it is what law enforcement says it was. In addition, some defendants dont feel comfortable talking to law enforcement, he said. But they may talk to a private eye who has a knack for communicating without pressure. Jerry looks at it more like a jury does, Gerrans said about the cases. An investigators paycheck comes from the state or the federal government, and some of them make about $250,000 a year more than judges and lawyers make, Jones said. There have been attempts by the legislature to put a cap on it, he said.
DNA and cold cases
DNA is not the ultimate proof its thought to be in the courtroom, both Waller and Jones said. You think its a good thing, Waller said, but samples can be contaminated, witnesses die (and theres) bad lab work. He said one of his current cases involves the SBIs mishandling of evidence. DNA alone cant prove anything, Waller said. There has to be much more information along with it, as well as testimony. Just because DNA is there, he said, doesnt mean you killed a person. There was DNA samples taken in the Duke lacrosse rape case. It normally takes six to eight months to get the results back, but in the Duke case it took 48 hours, Waller said. Why? he asked. A lot of people went to prison on that, but it wasnt the people they had thought they had charged. Waller recalled a case where only a skull and teeth were found. It wasnt DNA that solved the case. The (deceased) had an unusual moon-shaped filling, he said, That broke the case, not DNA. Waller is equally dubious about cold cases. He is working on one case that had gone cold after it was considered a suicide. A cold case is one that hasnt been solved and isnt being investigated. Three people were arrested for a case in Jacksonville dating back to 1972 for the murder of Bill Miller, a Marine. One of the suspects, from Oregon, was required to pay $400 a month for electronic house arrest. The information that was obtained to arrest the three individuals came from a mentally unstable person, Waller said. The charges were dismissed on two of them, and the third suspects case was overturned due to lack of evidence in the appeals court, he said. Bonita Murphy was kidnapped from the Scotchman Store on North Queen Street and raped and murdered in 1985. In 2006, Johnny Ray Mewborne was convicted and charged with a life sentence. However, he was already serving a life sentence at Maury Correctional Institution. So cold cases kind of scare me at times, Waller said.
Beyond comprehension
Cases of horrific murders are not easily forgotten. Waller recalled a case in Johnston County when John Violette was found not guilty by reason of insanity after cutting off his 4-year-old daughters head and putting it in the trash. When interviewing a convict on death row, Waller said he sees a lot of mental health issues, no family support and no hope. Recently, he talked to a suspect at Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro who had been diagnosed with a mental health problem, received treatment and got a prescription, but didnt have the money to fill it. Its a disaster waiting to happen, Waller said. I just dont understand why the mental health system is in the shape its in now, he said, because youre going to deal with those people one way or another, because youre going to deal with them in the mental health system or the criminal justice system. Violette had been getting treatment until he came to North Carolina and was told he didnt need it, Waller said. You know that guy wouldnt have done that (murder of his daughter) if he had been in his right mind, he said. Interviewing unstable people requires being alert to the surroundings, as well as respect for the suspect. Every once in awhile, you will run across the real deal, Waller said, and that is a mean individual, you know, and hes going to hurt somebody, or shes going to hurt somebody. No matter what the charge is, the job of a private investigator boils down to one thing searching for the truth, so anyone can hopefully have a fair trial. I like the work I do. Im proud of it, Waller said, because I just think, 12 people should hear it all. And I truly believe that the state and the police should be held accountable for every move they make, because when you take someones freedom away, youve taken just about everything theyve got.
Margaret Fisher can be reached at 252-559-1082 or Margaret.Fisher@Kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @MargaretFishr.
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Local private eye tells about his 20 years investigating murders