0:00

One thing I learned and representing people at

0:02

the state hospital and

0:04

sort of representing people at the

0:07

state penitentiaries. As Americans,

0:11

we have taught ourselves

0:13

that freedom is the most important

0:15

thing in the world. We wanted

0:17

our freedom.

0:20

We don't want to be in prison or

0:22

a state hospital, so

0:24

it's not surprising that someone

0:26

would want to escape. It

0:28

didn't do much other

0:31

than add to her mystique.

0:34

He had the ability to jump over

0:36

a fence that had lots of

0:38

barbed wire on the top and

0:41

physically be able to do that. My

0:55

name is Stephen Gorham g

0:57

O r H A m

0:59

H. I'm an attorney

1:02

in Salem. I've been an attorney since

1:04

nineteen seventy five. I

1:06

went to Cornell University

1:09

as an undergrad, and

1:11

then as a graduate, I went

1:13

to as a loss to school.

1:16

I went to wet Land at University in Salem,

1:18

Oregon, UH, where

1:20

I have been practicing since nineteen

1:23

seventy five. Steve

1:25

represented Diane Downs as her post conviction

1:27

attorney. Post conviction attorneys

1:30

represent a client after the verdict and will

1:32

typically assist a guilty party in making

1:34

the case that they were not adequately represented

1:36

by their counsel in the courtroom, they

1:38

try to help them appeal the verdict or provide

1:41

other post conviction relief. My

1:43

first step in in representing

1:46

somebody at the time in the post conviction was

1:48

to go visit them.

1:50

So I'm sure that

1:53

was in the Oregon's Correctional

1:57

Center here in Salem.

2:00

It happens to be about a mile from my

2:02

office on State Street. The

2:04

women's prison was built

2:06

right next to the Organs State

2:09

Penitentiary, right outside their wall.

2:11

The Organs State Penitentiary was built

2:14

in the hundred sometime and

2:16

it's on walled prison, and

2:18

they built the women's prison right outside

2:21

the wall. And the women's prison

2:23

was a one story building

2:26

with a fence around it.

2:29

Um they had a small yard

2:31

that was outside the

2:33

building. Uh, you could

2:36

see the yard from State Street

2:39

because it's right office State Street, and

2:41

it was surrounded by tall,

2:45

chain length fence with hard wire

2:48

on the top. But that's

2:50

not where our story in this episode really

2:52

begins. Shortly after

2:54

Steve took on Diane as a client, she

2:57

escaped from prison. So also

3:00

in that's

3:02

when Diane escaped, she

3:05

jumped over the fence. She

3:08

knew some people, she

3:11

had other inmates

3:13

at the Oregon State Women's Correctional

3:15

Center new people

3:17

in Salem, some of whom

3:20

lived a couple of blocks

3:22

from the women's prison. So there

3:24

were houses that were rental houses

3:26

on State Street. And

3:29

when Diane escaped, she got

3:31

picked up by a couple because

3:34

she was either hitch hiking. I'm not

3:36

sure why they let her out, but

3:39

they didn't say very far they let her out.

3:43

Eric Mason was working as a reporter in Oregon

3:45

at the time of Diane's escape. He

3:47

traveled with a photographer around the area

3:49

to find potential places Diane could have

3:51

escaped too, hoping to be among the first

3:54

to figure out her whereabouts. She's

3:56

at Oregon Women's Correctional Facility

3:58

and doing the rest

4:00

of her life there. And

4:04

you know, it's not the most high

4:07

UH security MAX

4:10

facility in the world. There there's

4:12

a couple of chain length fences and today

4:15

it's closed, but at the time,

4:19

you know, it was where all

4:21

kinds of women evolved

4:24

in strange crimes were being held. And

4:26

so she's been there a while and I think

4:29

life is just grinding

4:32

on for Diane. And

4:34

just down the street, I mean literally

4:37

blocks from

4:40

the Women's Correctional for Center are two

4:42

guys that are semi homeless,

4:45

working poor who are

4:47

there and crazy

4:51

as it is. Once again my path

4:54

crosses these two people as I'm

4:57

devoting and donating some time

4:59

down at the Union Gospel Mission to

5:02

make dinner and do some other things there

5:05

for them, and I meet to see you guys,

5:07

Wayne and Bob,

5:10

and you know, I strike a conversation

5:13

at the dinner hour with them, and they're two

5:15

very interesting guys, and

5:18

so they begin to tell me about

5:20

their life. And the reason

5:22

I went to go visit their house

5:26

was because there were sources of information

5:28

about how the world of drugs worked in this

5:30

town potentially

5:33

well. I saw them as people

5:36

who needed help, and obviously they needed

5:38

help from the Union Gospel Mission, but

5:41

they also wanted to tell me stories, and they

5:43

knew I was a reporter, and

5:45

so I got to know them in

5:48

the months leading up to her escape.

5:51

So when when

5:54

the escape happens and she goes

5:56

over the wire, it's like, Wow,

5:59

she's got some guts to go straight

6:01

over the fence.

6:05

I'm thinking, you know, fourteen eighteen

6:08

feet or so. She goes

6:11

open over the top of it and is out

6:13

and gone, and day

6:17

goes by, and two days goes by, and I'm

6:19

thinking, Wow, she might have actually

6:22

escaped and got away with it. And so every

6:25

day the assignment was be

6:28

the first to find Diane and

6:30

get it on TV. And if you can't, make

6:32

sure you get her arrested being walked in.

6:35

And so we were driving everywhere,

6:37

myself and the photographer. I

6:40

remember this. We were thinking,

6:42

Okay, she could be out

6:44

in front country, she could be

6:47

living down by the Wabama River, she

6:50

could be trying to find

6:52

the next guy already. And

6:56

so we were we were

6:58

trying to check off all the boxes of things

7:00

we've done. And I said

7:02

to the photographer, you

7:05

rode around each day with a photog. I

7:08

said, wouldn't it be weird if

7:11

she ended up at Wayne's

7:13

house along the river, just

7:16

a few blocks from

7:19

the Women's Correctional Center and the

7:21

prison, and darn it, that's

7:24

where she was. Eric

7:26

offered to show me the area firsthand. So

7:28

we got in this car and toward the area and near

7:30

the prison where Diane flood so

7:33

and then there's Milk Creek. You can see Milk Creek,

7:36

and then on the other side of Milk

7:38

Creek is the women's facility

7:40

and you can see that fence

7:43

there. Yeah, I see that barbed wire fence.

7:45

That's pretty intense. Yeah, and so

7:47

at the time though, it

7:51

was not as well fortified as it is now,

7:55

and Diane just basically climbed

7:57

it, hopped over and kept going. I

7:59

was surprised at how the prison was like a modern

8:02

day castle with a river moat. There's

8:06

big open brush

8:09

on three sides of

8:12

the place, and you'd expect, you

8:15

would have thought that

8:19

if someone wanted to get out of town fast, they'd

8:21

head towards the railroad

8:24

tracks and into a

8:28

box car or anything getting out of town

8:30

and taken off. But that's not what

8:32

was going to happen here. And

8:35

then the state police officer where they brought

8:37

her in was right over here,

8:41

and um,

8:43

that's where I first

8:46

saw Bob and Wayne

8:49

being led away, almost

8:52

as if, you

8:54

know, they were on the same perp walk as Dian

8:57

downs, but they were all together right here. I

9:00

wanted to know what Bob and Wayne were like, these

9:03

two men who harbor Diane after her

9:05

escape. Bob was you

9:07

know, studious looking and you

9:10

know, had glasses and kind of looked

9:12

like a computer geek. And

9:14

Wayne was a fairly decent

9:17

looking individual and

9:19

looked like he could be a landscaper,

9:22

you know, in southern California. And

9:24

they really did have little odd jobs every

9:27

day that they would do, but they never really made

9:29

enough money to have a nice place,

9:31

and so they had this tiny little hovel along

9:35

Mill Creek and then would go down and have dinner

9:38

at the Union Gospel Mission and that

9:40

was their life. So they have a

9:43

notorious convicted

9:45

killer show up in the middle of the

9:47

night at their house. You know, it

9:50

was quite a surprise, but you know, they

9:52

certainly weren't going to throw her out either.

9:59

I think what was

10:01

later determined was

10:04

that she used the creek

10:07

Mill Creek to be

10:09

able to confound

10:13

the dogs, and

10:15

she knew enough about tracking

10:17

that she went down that creek, and

10:20

so I think one of the first things she did

10:22

is she got rid of her clothes and

10:27

I think left them in the water. I'm

10:30

not sure how what level of

10:33

nakedness that she was, but

10:36

when she showed

10:38

up at Bob and Wayne's place, she

10:41

was cold. I

10:44

didn't have her clothes or most of them,

10:46

and just needed to get warm in a place

10:48

to stay. And I believe and I'm

10:50

gonna have to go back to check this. See this is

10:53

true that she

10:56

had some correspondence with

10:59

peep Hole outside the prison.

11:01

It was a pen pal, and I'm not

11:03

sure how that worked into it, but they finally

11:06

looked at her tablet and began

11:08

to figure out who she'd been talking

11:10

with, and so um,

11:12

that's what helped them

11:15

figure out part of you know,

11:18

what her plans were and how to she was

11:20

getting out and whatnot said

11:23

he fell in love with her, yes,

11:27

and so um.

11:29

I remember Wayne almost

11:33

thinking and saying

11:35

things to the effect of, I

11:38

couldn't believe my good fortune. You

11:41

know, here I am a marginally

11:44

employed but mostly homeless

11:46

man in Salem, Oregon, and

11:51

the woman of my dreams comes walking through

11:53

the door almost half naked. From

12:03

what I read with Wayne, it's unlike Wayne

12:05

and Diane had a relationship. Diane

12:08

was sleeping with Wayne, so I don't think he would

12:10

easily give her up if that was the case. That's

12:13

true. I think Wayne was the

12:17

type of guy who was street smart

12:20

and really didn't like

12:22

snitches or people that turned other

12:24

people in, and so yeah, I would

12:26

imagine he kept things pretty quiet. What

12:29

I really can't believe is that,

12:34

given the search that was

12:37

done, that

12:39

for those days

12:42

following the escape, she stayed

12:44

right where she was a non founder. That's

12:47

that's the part that's amazing that

12:50

she was able to basically hide

12:52

right here in plain site.

12:55

I think it's okay. So here's where

12:57

we go over the creek. You can see

13:00

very vegetated down there, and

13:02

someone just walking up that creek

13:04

would have tried to

13:07

find someone's back porch,

13:10

which she did. So this neighborhood

13:12

is cute. It looks like it's an older neighborhood

13:14

with little bungalows. That actually

13:17

looks very different than what I thought it would

13:19

look like in my head, because these houses are

13:21

just adorable, like painted little

13:23

ladies, right, and they're the ones that

13:25

are right on the creek. Some

13:28

of them are just

13:32

like an outbuilding to

13:35

another house. Okay,

13:37

I see here at the creek, just some of these.

13:40

See this little building here, Oh yeah,

13:42

it looks like an outhouse attached

13:44

to this house. It's just a little outbuilding,

13:47

like a shed. And that's what those

13:49

two. It was very much like a shed.

13:52

And you can see the water. You

13:55

know, someone could just sort

13:57

of swim along this creek

14:00

and dare

14:02

sent. You couldn't follow

14:04

that trail, and I think that's I

14:07

think that's what she was able to do after

14:12

she was captured. Diane's brother James, was

14:14

one of the only people close to her who was

14:16

able to speak to her about the escape. I

14:19

wish she'd call me, That's

14:23

what I said at the time. Actually, I remember

14:25

that. I remember it. I was working and

14:29

Um, I was working at a

14:31

place in San Joaquin Valley, California.

14:33

You know, I wanted to take her to Canada

14:36

and take her to Mexico, or just

14:38

take her away from here and to

14:40

where she'd be safe. And but yeah,

14:44

she didn't. Obviously. What did you

14:46

think when she was found? I've

14:50

had conversations there about this. I

14:52

thought, it's not surprising she was

14:54

caught. I guess, you know, she's looking for a faction,

14:56

and she's looking for love. You know, she's

14:59

just looking to be hell and tell everything's

15:01

gonna be okay, you know.

15:03

And I guess maybe that's why I wanted to call me

15:05

so I could tell her that what were your conversations

15:08

about about that time that she escaped?

15:11

UM, that she she scaled

15:13

over the walls and took off and

15:16

she was going to go there, and she said, oh

15:20

my god, what do I do

15:22

now, you know what I mean, best

15:24

laid plans. It's like she get over and it's like,

15:27

oh, ship, where

15:30

am I gonna go? And I mean, even

15:33

if you go to the house you have in mind to go to,

15:35

it's like, what's your next Her next plan

15:37

was to find the person that did this, and

15:40

every time she said that to herself, it's like,

15:43

how do you do that? You know what

15:45

I mean? And so she

15:48

got to this person's house and was

15:52

checking up with this guy and never

15:55

got to the part of finding the person

15:57

that did this. Well, she also

16:00

had tons of authorities

16:02

looking for her, So I don't what I mean.

16:04

It's like to get over the fence and it's like,

16:07

oh my goodness, races, what do

16:09

you do? Then?

16:11

Sixteen foot tall was circular

16:14

razor wire on the top of there's two of them.

16:18

How did she do it? She um

16:20

threw threw something over the top and

16:23

just climbed over. Literally,

16:25

she just climbed over to sixteen foot

16:27

fences with circular, not barbed

16:30

wire, but razor wire on top of them.

16:33

Once caught, Diane was transferred to another

16:35

prison under the Interstate Compact, likely

16:38

to prevent the organ Women's Penitentiary from

16:40

receiving any additional public attention

16:42

that arose from her presence there. You

16:44

know, they sent her to New Jersey after

16:47

her escape, which is semi surprising

16:50

in the center, it's not so surprising that they

16:52

sent her out of town because

16:54

at the time, our women's prison was

16:57

you know, not the

16:59

most sure. And the interstate

17:01

compact is basically, uh

17:04

like baseball trading

17:06

or football trading. You know,

17:08

you you trade an inmate for another

17:10

inmate, and that's

17:12

pretty much what it is. I

17:15

read records that um

17:17

that New that there was a lot of rejections

17:20

for who would house Diane downs

17:22

after the escape, and that

17:24

New Jersey said, we will

17:26

take Diane if we

17:28

could send you to inmates when

17:31

we have the need, when they needed Yeah,

17:34

you know, and I'm relatively sure they

17:37

moved Diane to get

17:39

her out of town so that the publicity

17:41

wasn't always there and

17:44

again originally because she

17:46

had escaped, and a

17:48

lot of times they they

17:51

do the prisoner swaps or the interstate

17:53

compact to try to get

17:57

a new environment for the inmate. They

18:00

will, you know, maybe under different

18:02

circumstances in a different prison

18:05

a state, they will you

18:08

know, get better. Whatever that

18:10

means, I'm sure no one wanted to take

18:12

Diane because of the publicity.

18:15

And then you know she tried to escape that prison.

18:18

Oh I didn't know that. Oh

18:21

yeah, you didn't know she tried to escape New Jersey.

18:24

But while she was in New Jersey, she

18:26

got had a personal relationship

18:28

with a man who was a helicopter pilot

18:32

who was

18:35

going to steal

18:37

a helicopter and

18:39

land in New Jersey and escape

18:42

with Diane again. And

18:45

he gave that conspiracy

18:48

up. I'm not going to get this right, you

18:51

know, a couple of months before it was

18:53

supposed to go into practice because

18:57

of something that happened. Uh,

18:59

he didn't at caught, he confessed and

19:02

turned himself in, and he may have been from Seattle.

19:06

A lot of these details aren't

19:08

there, but I know I went

19:11

to see her in the New

19:13

Jersey prison after she was there, before

19:17

this escape attempt, because I

19:19

was back visiting my family and

19:22

it was just easy for me to do to

19:24

visit her. Uh.

19:26

And I wanted to visit her just because,

19:29

you know, um, mainly

19:31

to see what the New Jersey prison looks like. And

19:34

then when this escape attempt

19:36

happened, it was just

19:38

weird. You know, and that's when

19:41

she got sent to the California prison,

19:44

which is, as I understand it,

19:46

and I don't know that this is true, the worst

19:48

women's prison in the world for early in

19:50

the United States. I have to

19:52

do some reciss on that. I know that I

19:54

was talking to the infamous

19:57

Betty bow Eric and

20:00

and she's housed with Diane

20:02

when not they're not like cellmates or anything, but they

20:05

actually know each other in that prison, which

20:07

is interesting to me. But how you

20:09

know different inmates are connected.

20:13

Yeah, and um, as I

20:15

said, I went through some of these records

20:19

on ogin and some of

20:21

the things that she was claiming. Again,

20:24

I didn't go and say any of the details, but

20:26

she's claiming you know that

20:29

she was, you know, a cellmate of

20:31

hers and this potdirect

20:34

lady, you know, I

20:37

think dreaming up. Also, it's a conspiracy

20:39

theories concerning who

20:41

she's been selled with. Initially,

20:48

Steve reserved his opinions on Diane's guilt,

20:51

going solely off the court's verdict. His

20:53

principles as an attorney prevented him

20:55

from taking certain actions of a client directly

20:58

admitted guilt to him. Well, her

21:00

daughter said that she

21:03

was the perpetrator. Diane

21:06

always said, at least at that time, always

21:08

the bushy here and stranger. I

21:11

believe I'm an ethical attorney,

21:14

and an ethical

21:17

attorney can't have his

21:19

client get understand and lie.

21:22

So if your client tells you that they're guilty,

21:26

you can't put them on the stand and

21:30

have them say I'm not guilty. And

21:33

when I say guilty and not guilty, I'm talking about

21:35

the individual facts of the case. A

21:39

defendant has the absolute right to

21:41

take the stand and defend themselves in

21:43

a criminal case. So

21:46

if you get somebody who tells you,

21:49

I'll just use an example of a shilling.

21:51

If somebody tells you, yeah, I shot this person,

21:55

they can't get understand and say I didn't

21:57

shoot the person. If

21:59

they do get on this in and say I didn't shoot

22:01

the person, and they've already

22:03

told you and you believe that they did shoot

22:05

the person. While they have the absolute

22:08

right to get on the stand, you can

22:10

ask them only one question. What

22:12

that question question is what

22:15

happens. You

22:17

can't ask him any other questions, and

22:20

you have to be careful how you present

22:23

the case other than that. So

22:26

knowing that from the beginning of my

22:28

career, and knowing that I was

22:31

an ethical person. One

22:34

of the things I try not to

22:36

do when I first start

22:38

to represent somebody is say

22:40

are you guilty? A criminal

22:43

defense attorney's obligations are

22:47

to the clients that one

22:50

percent is to the court. That

22:52

you can't let your client lie to the court.

22:55

So I basically

22:57

tell them that up front, so they know the

23:00

ground rules of what they should be telling

23:02

me and what they shouldn't be telling me. You've

23:05

represented both Diane, Becky's

23:07

mom and then my dad. What

23:10

stands out to you about their personalities?

23:12

Are they similar? They would you say

23:14

that both narcissists or what? What would be your

23:16

assessment of the two? Well,

23:21

I would say Diane was a narcissist, and

23:23

I think your dad was too. You

23:26

know, it's hard to your

23:30

dad owned up to the crimes he did,

23:32

which took a lot of guts. I'll

23:35

say it this way. If Diane is guilty, which

23:38

you know likelihood she is, she never

23:41

owned up to the crime. The

23:54

main focus of Steve's post conviction relief

23:56

was the forensic evidence presented at trial

23:59

Christie's testament. It was difficult to disprove,

24:01

but Steve knew that blood spatter evidence was

24:03

controversial. Well, again you look at

24:05

the case and um,

24:08

it was a big case, so there's a lot of paperwork.

24:11

First of all, you have to, you know, read

24:13

the transcript of the trial to

24:16

understand how she got convicted

24:19

and the facts that led to her conviction.

24:22

What were those Do you remember what those were that

24:24

led to her conviction? Well, I think

24:26

her daughter testifying that she did it

24:29

was the biggest fact, if

24:32

I remember correctly. And then there

24:34

was forensic evidence that tried

24:37

to disprove her

24:39

theory of the case, and

24:41

one of the biggest parts of that was

24:45

where she said everybody was situated

24:48

at the time of the crime, uh

24:51

in or out of the car, and

24:54

blood spatter evidence

24:56

concerning that which

24:59

came int the trial. But again,

25:01

as I said earlier,

25:04

one of the main things you look at is

25:07

ineffective assistance of council, meaning

25:10

what did the original attorney do right

25:13

and what did he do wrong? And what would

25:15

you think he did. This would be

25:18

Jim Jagger, what would you say he did right

25:20

and what would you say he did wrong? Well,

25:22

I do remember looking into the

25:25

blood spatter and no I

25:28

remember at least somewhat concentrating

25:30

on the blood spatter that he

25:32

didn't do that right. I mean, over

25:34

the years, UH, there's

25:37

been some controversy over blood

25:39

spatter. Forensic people

25:42

UH prosecuting uh

25:45

quote unquote scientists believe

25:48

you can tell a lot about what goes

25:50

on from blood spatter. Some

25:52

people who don't believe it's very scientific

25:55

at all. But clearly the

25:57

state tried to prove that Diane

25:59

was not telling the truth based

26:03

on where the blood spatter

26:07

was and how it existed

26:10

in and around the car. Our

26:12

case was to try to show

26:14

that Jagger didn't do a

26:16

very good job in putting holes

26:19

in the blood spatter testimony

26:21

of the experts in the case.

26:24

What was ultimately her sentence

26:26

from the bio She

26:30

got life with

26:32

a minimum I think of fifty years.

26:35

So she's contested a lot of different things, and one

26:37

of the big issues that

26:39

was contested. I believe is that the

26:42

gun was never found. I believe

26:44

I have this feeling that uh,

26:48

either Diane said that the gun

26:50

was thrown in the river or

26:53

somehow that the gun got

26:55

in the river. Okay,

26:57

but I believe uh

27:00

police searched the river, but

27:05

I personally believe the guns in the river. I'm

27:08

not sure, I could tell you why I believe that, but

27:11

I think that's where it is. Then

27:17

came the letter. After her conviction,

27:19

Diane wrote a letter to her defense attorney, Jim

27:22

Jagger, and it Diane changes

27:24

her story about the night of the shooting. Well,

27:26

he's representing her, and he had in

27:28

his file and at

27:31

some point the

27:33

state asked him for this letter and

27:36

he had to tune it over to the

27:38

state. And this is the importance

27:40

of this letter to me. It may be not important

27:43

to anybody else, but to me. If

27:46

you remember, after the children

27:48

were shot and they were on the

27:52

road next to the Mackenzie Highway, she's

27:55

driving to the hospital in

27:57

Springfield very

27:59

slowly. And at

28:01

the trial, someone who followed

28:04

her, I think a man may

28:06

be in a pickup truck who was

28:08

following her said,

28:11

geez, she's driving this person. She didn't

28:13

know her from Adam. This person's

28:15

driving very slowly. Something's

28:18

going on, you know. So they used

28:21

the state argued, I think that she

28:25

was driving very slowly to the hospital

28:27

so the children would die. Um

28:31

yeah, um. I can't remember

28:34

how she explained it. Uh,

28:37

probably she just didn't know where she was

28:39

or whatever. And you know, the

28:42

trauma of it. This letter

28:45

basically says that

28:47

somebody in the pickup truck was following

28:50

her on the road. This is before the killing.

28:55

He passed her, then

28:57

he slowed down, she

29:01

passed him. I may not be right

29:03

about that part, and

29:05

then she stopped because

29:08

she was interested in this guy,

29:11

your children in danger in the middle of the night

29:13

to stop. But

29:16

I didn't get it. I

29:18

think I knew about this letter. But

29:20

if I didn't know about the letter, then I think her

29:24

change in her story. And this letter is

29:27

important in my mind because

29:29

it really describes the

29:32

slow driving before the crime,

29:36

and that she was interested in

29:38

just picking up this guy

29:40

who was in this pickup truck, and

29:43

she basically, you

29:45

know, since then after she stopped

29:47

and met this guy,

29:51

then he became the pushyhead stranger and

29:53

and he's the one who shot the kids. The

29:56

letter starts out with an almost confessional

29:58

tone. It begins November

30:00

seven, Salem

30:02

Oregan, Dear Jim, I'm not

30:04

really sure how to start this letter, but

30:07

I guess the best way to make an apology

30:09

is to say I'm sorry. Now

30:11

you're probably wondering what this is all about, and

30:13

when you're through reading, you'll probably drop

30:15

this letter and say damn you, Diane, like

30:17

you have so many times before, your

30:19

blood pressure will go up. And I'm sorry about that

30:22

too. I'm sorry about a lot of things. Really,

30:24

I only hope that you will forgive me for not being

30:27

totally honest with you. It's

30:29

just that it's so hard for me to put myself in someone

30:31

else's hands. I find it hard to fully

30:33

trust anyone not to hurt me. I needed

30:35

to control myself and the situation, and

30:38

I've been that way for a few years. It

30:40

has been a hard lesson to learn, and I can't guarantee

30:42

I'll be cured forever. But I know

30:44

now that I should have placed this whole problem

30:47

in your hands and let you deal with it.

30:49

But I was afraid. Silly, maybe, but

30:51

I was afraid you would lose respect for me, and

30:53

well, let me explain. The

30:59

letter goes on to retail Diane's version

31:01

of what took place the night of the shooting. She

31:03

states that the shaggy hair stranger was

31:05

actually a man who was driving behind her on

31:08

the road. According to her, he passed

31:10

her and slowed down. It was kind of a flirtatious

31:12

dance between the two cars. And she eventually

31:15

pulled over. She claims the man wanted

31:17

weed, and when she opened the trunk, he took

31:19

out the case containing Steve's gun. After

31:22

making advances on Diane, he proceeded

31:25

to shoot her and her children one by one

31:27

before fleeing. That's really interesting

31:29

reading the letter. That's really interesting to me.

31:32

Oh yeah, well, I mean to a

31:34

criminal defense attorney. It's a damning

31:36

letter. And

31:42

who knows what else she had told Jim

31:44

Jagger and he obviously

31:47

did his best in representing

31:49

her. Um. I

31:51

think some place in the letter she said she's told

31:53

them several stories or something like that.

31:57

It would have been hard for him,

32:00

so Steve tried to remain an ethical attorney

32:02

and go on the basis of Diane's proclamation of

32:05

innocence. The letter finally convinced

32:07

him of her guilt. The change in her

32:09

story from what she claimed multiple times and trial

32:11

and to the press showed Steve that

32:13

Diane most likely wasn't telling the truth

32:16

and potentially never had. He

32:18

doesn't believe she'll do well at her future parole

32:20

hearings. No, and I don't believe

32:23

she will have a chance. First of all, again,

32:25

the pro board over the years has been

32:27

very conservative. I wouldn't

32:29

say the parole board has ever been liberal

32:32

in the state of Oregon. So they

32:35

do look at I mean a

32:37

parole board should be looking at the person,

32:39

the individual. What you should

32:42

be looking at is, of course,

32:45

the crime, the effect of the

32:47

crime, especially these days,

32:49

on the victims. And you know, it used

32:51

to be the victims really didn't much matter, and

32:54

then we went through a phase

32:57

that still exists of victims rights. And

33:01

part of that is the pro board

33:03

wants you to come queen if

33:06

they believe that you're guilty of the crime.

33:08

They want you to say you're guilty

33:10

of the crime and show remorse

33:13

for your guilt. So

33:16

the fact that Diane has

33:19

yet to, you know, show

33:21

much remorse or so show

33:24

that she is guilty, it's going

33:26

to be hard for her to get out on parole

33:30

by any parole board. And

33:32

frankly, especially crimes

33:34

that have such publicity

33:38

uh concerning them, I don't

33:40

believe that she'll ever get out of parole.

33:51

Dianne Downs was denied pearl in two thousand

33:53

eight and again in two thousand Dan's

33:56

Pearl board hearing took place just recently

33:58

September. She was denied

34:00

parole. On

34:03

the next episode, Michelle presents Becky with

34:05

the conclusion of her efforts to trace Becky's

34:08

paternity and identify her biological

34:10

father. Also coming in a few days

34:12

a bonus episode, the bizarre letter

34:15

Diane Downs wrote to Jim Jagger read in

34:17

its entirety. Although we were unable

34:19

to present the entire letter in this episode

34:21

due to time constraints, we feel that

34:23

you, the listener, should hear this bizarre

34:26

retelling of the night of the crime in Diane's

34:28

own words. M