Introduction to Patrick Swiney's case

Betty was still very close to her child hood sweetheart, Mike Campbell. She had also been married to Ronald Pate.

He had no idea that his new wife was sleeping around. He loved Betty. He had no problem with Mike Campbell coming to visit them or call his wife. He knew they were close friends and that was okay. He knew that Betty and her ex-husband, Ronnie Pate, had been married 5 years and that it was an abusive marriage because Betty told him she had gotten a restraining order against him when they broke up. He knew Ronnie Pate and Betty had to straighten out some tax returns. Betty wanted her ex-husband to come over to the house to do this. Patrick didn't want his wife's ex-husband in the house, and no longer had reason to believe Ronnie Pate was still abusive. He suggested she meet him at a restaurant or something to get their taxes done. So, he and Ronnie never met. They spoke on the phone once.

Two nights before the shooting, Patrick and Betty had an argument. It was primarily over her son who was growing marijuana in the house. Patrick had been bugging her for weeks to tell her son to get it out of the house. Finally he told her that if he didn't get the stuff out of the house, he was going to call the police. Betty flipped out over this and threw Patrick out of the house, including all his belongings. He drove to his mother's house and stayed there that night. The next day, he returned to pick up the rest of his things. These items included a clock radio, his AR7 .22 semi-automatic rifle and a couple other things. He placed them all in the front of the truck and returned to his mother's house. That night, he realized that in all the commotion, he had not fed the dogs. Betty had given him one of dogs for his birthday in October. A cute little Beagle, Patrick's all time favorite dog. He says it's because they are so smart.

Patrick's mother told Sherry Swiney that he got all dressed nice and clean and neat that night and said he was going over there to feed the dogs. He was sober. No one is allowed in her house if they've been drinking, even today.

Patrick said he went to three taverns and drank less than ½ a beer at each, which is highly unusual. He said he went to the taverns where he knew Betty could find him. He was making himself available for her, hoping she would show up.

When Betty didn't show up at any of the taverns, Patrick left to go feed the dogs, deciding not to even let Betty know he'd been there. When he drove by the house earlier that day, there were two vehicles in the yard. When he drove up to the house to feed the dogs, he could see only Betty's vehicle in the yard. He parked his truck, walked across the yard and looked into the window. He saw Betty and a man [Ronnie Pate] in passionate embrace and fondling.

That's the last thing he remembers. At that moment, he became unconscious from a severe blow to the back of his head. When he came to, he was inside the house. The rifle that had been in his truck when he looked through the window, was now in his hand. Well, not "in" his hand. The tip of the barrel was being held by his fingertips. He looked and saw the bodies lying on the floor, then felt the barrel in his hand. He was confused, but he immediately summoned help.

He told the police -- most of which were former colleagues -- that he had no idea what happened, that he was unconscious during the shootings, that his head felt like someone had hit him with a baseball bat. He was still in a daze but the police did not elect to send Patrick to the hospital for treatment. He was the one and only suspect and was taken in for questioning.

The DA of Shelby County alleged that Patrick sought, stalked, and tracked down his unfaithful wife Betty Snow Swiney and her ex-husband Ronald Pate, found them while they were in the course of adulterous activities, and on December 10, 1987, he shot and killed them in cold blooded murder in a "white hot jealous rage".

Seems simple right? Well this is not the whole story. Michael Campbell, Betty’s child hood sweetheart and “close friend” was the man prosecuting this case.

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. Patrick's family sought to find out why the DA would not only suppress but destroy the very evidence that would prove his case against Patrick Swiney.

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 Patrick’s skin or clothing], but he destroyed all evidence of adultery. 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.

Patrick Swiney was convicted of a double murder on June 12, 1989, by the courts in Shelby County, in the State of Alabama. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He is innocent and we can prove it beyond any doubt.

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 Patrick 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 Patrick to the hospital when he complained about being hit over the head with something that felt like a baseball bat.

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.

Patrick's family and community members have since determined that Mike Campbell and Betty Snow were having an affair while she and Patrick were married. Betty Snow was also still romantically connected to her ex-husband, Ronnie Pate, when she married Patrick Swiney, but Patrick was unaware of this at the time. Had he been aware of this, they would not have gotten married.

DA Michael Campbell alleged that there had been no adultery because the victims were fully clothed when they were shot, thus telling the jury that the DNA tests were unimportant. The autopsy report says Betty had no underwear on, was in her bare feet. Ronnie Pate was in his bare feet. The master bedroom where Betty and Patrick slept showed no signs of being used. The bed sheets in the spare bedroom were in recent disarray. The video tape is said to show this, but Patrick has been stonewalled by officials and has not been able to obtain this video for examination.  It is the same with the crime scene photographs.

PATRICK SWINEY is not the shooter. The DA knew this then and he knows this now. Still, Patrick was sentenced to Life without Parole and he's been made to suffer greatly since 1989.

In 1997, 10 years later after the crime, Sherry Swiney found two forensic reports that had never been admitted into the trial. One was on blood testing. No blood was found on Patrick Swiney's skin or clothing, even though the DA claimed that Patrick shot the male victim at point blank range in the head, execution style. The second forensic report was on the gun powder residue testing.

The forensic report signed by Joseph H. Embry, M.D. Slate Medical Examiner Stated, "Laboratory analyses failed to reveal conclusive evidence that the above named person fired a weapon, handled a fired weapon, or whether the hands were in close proximity to a fire arm when it was discharged." 

We now know that Betty Swiney was not fully clothed when she was shot.  Patrick's forensic pathologist, Dr. Glenn Larkin M.D., noticed that the Alabama forensic lab reports revealed gun power burns on Betty's buttock but no gun powder present on the jeans she was allegedly wearing.  Thus, the DA has been caught in yet another lie to the jury when he told them the DNA tests were unimportant because the victims were fully clothed when they were shot.

We now know that it was impossible for Patrick to be the shooter.  Patrick's forensic scientist, Dr. Jon Nordby, Ph.D., tested the AR-7 rifle.  His tests revealed that is it impossible for anyone to shoot an AR-7 .22 semi-automatic rifle eight time in an enclosed space without being covered with gun shot residue.  The victims were shot eight times (Pate twice, and Betty six times, and one shot misfired) inside Patrick and Betty's marriage home (enclosed space).

We now know that there never was a shot made through the kitchen window and screen.  The DA told the jury that Patrick shot the AR-7 through the kitchen window and screen and hit Pate in the neck, then ran around to the front of the house, broke down the front door, entered and began a shooting frenzie inside the house.  The current DA, Robby Owens, gave the lawyers crime scene photos in 2002 that had never been introduced in the trial.  Two of those photos are of the kitchen window and screen.  There are no bullet holes in the window and screen.

 TO BE CONTINUED

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