Thursday, January 8, 2004 (2PM) Karen, Ben, and I just returned to Naples after having traveled to Dade City Courthouse (Near St. Leo’s) for Gregory Capehart’s hearing before Judge Wayne L. Cobb in Courtroom B. Greg had been transported from Raiford and held in Dade City which he reported to be far worse than death row in terms of his cell, his guards’ treatment of him, and the 24-hour surveillance for the one week to ten days he was required to stay in Dade City. Diane Harrison (DC# 757023), an original witness for the prosecution, had been transported to Dade City from FL State Prison at Lawtey C.I. for the hearing. Two investigators, Ralph Rodriguez [(813) 740-3544]and Mr. Dale Cordova attended with attorneys James Viggiano and Richard Kiley. The four have been “working on the case since the year 2000.” We arrived at 8:25 AM. The hearing didn’t begin until 10:00. It lasted less than half an hour. We visited St. Leo’s Abbey and the bells rang out 11:00 as we were leaving. The ineptitude and disinterest of the attorneys and the judge were and are hard to bear. Mr. Rodriguez said there is a “motion pending on a DNA test.” Mr. Richard E. Kiley of Tampa introduced himself to me as Greg’s defense attorney and said the DNA test had not been performed nor had it been formally requested. The original Judge Swanson is now retired. Mr. Kiley said to me privately before that he believed Greg is innocent and wasn’t even in the room where the crime was committed, that Greg was too dumb to have done it, that he knew the two responsible for the crime of killing Mrs. Reeves, that one of the suspects was dead of aids, the other he knew but was not at liberty to name. Both before and during the hearing Mr. Kiley was obviously unprepared and nervous. He said there’d been “a glitch” in the case: Mr. A. J. (Jake) Ivie, the original trial defense attorney sixteen years ago, had been scheduled to testify but had a stroke. Mr. Kiley had no briefcase, no papers, and no prepared remarks. Mr. Kiley spoke to Judge Cobb extemporaneously in incomplete sentences; he swallowed words, had no notes, and slouched at the podium. Mr. Van Allen appeared in a dark suit with a cane on his elbow but with no briefcase nor notes and never approached the podium, speaking to Judge Cobb with not much more formality than Mr. Kiley and laughed gaily at a nothing Judge Cobb said to him. No one but we in the gallery at the rear of the courtroom acknowledged Greg’s presence. He, wearing glasses, handcuffs, and a blue coverall printed with “INMATE” on the back, waved at us twice and smiled. The attorneys together requested and were granted only a continuance of indeterminate time (started with 2 days then went to 10 and finally to 30 days) as well as informal permission to return Greg to Raiford as well as Ms. Harrison to Lowell: both at taxpayers’ expense. The guard standing near me said, “We’ll handle that” to the judge. The judge asked no pointed questions about why Mr. Van Allen and Mr. Kiley were unprepared to present the case and bought the explanation that Mr. Ivie’s stroke had incapacitated everyone present. Mr. Van Allen (the man with dark suit, cane, and demeanor of Huck Finn’s undertaker) of the prosecution agreed with Kiley to ask Cobb for the continuance because Mr. A. J. (Jake) Ivie, the original trial defense attorney sixteen years ago, had had a stroke and was unavailable to speak to Cobb. This was an outright lie. Mr. Ivie was sitting in the lobby and had spoken with me very intelligibly right before everyone entered the courtroom. Kiley and Van Allen claimed that Ivie was “unable to testify due to his bad health, a recent stroke,” “cannot recall the original case, nor can he remember the whereabouts of papers, documents, and many hand-written notes that were pertinent to the case but currently unavailable. Van Allen sat with Mr. Ivie after the hearing in the lobby and the two talked like good old friends. According to Mr. Rodriguez and Mr. Kiley, Greg’s printed confession that I have has been suppressed and may not be used in court. Kiley said that Greg had made another oral statement before the recorded confession saying that he was there, saw the crime committed by two others, but did not enter Mrs. Reeves’ bedroom. Three clinical psychologists were also present and ready to give depositions and make a “Brady Claim”: Dr. Mossman from West Palm, Dr. Grey Prichard from Tallahassee (whom I met), and a Dr. D whose home is unknown. I met Greg’s grandmother who raised him, Mrs. Martha Oneal who was driven to the hearing by her son, John Oneal (Greg’s uncle). John has cancer. They also came with Angela Oneal, (Greg’s cousin) who went to school with Greg and knew him all her life. Angela has a 16 year-old 6’2” daughter-athlete who may go to the University of Connecticut on a basketball scholarship. On the other side of the family, I met Angela Capehart Collins, Greg’s cousin with whom I spoke on the phone [and to her daughter]. I met Darrick Capehart of Dade City, a 1st cousin; Joe Capehart, a paternal uncle, Calvin Capehart of Dade City, a brother; and Raymond Capehart, a cousin. Neither Greg’s grandma, Martha Oneal, nor his cousin Angela Oneal who knew him were ever asked to testify or give depositions on Greg’s behalf and were initially contacted and questioned in the lobby right before today’s hearing. Mr. Kiley hustled about in the lobby before the hearing asking them if they would testify that Greg was retarded or brain damaged or at least slow as a child. He asked me repeatedly about the website which has been off the net for two months. He said I may be deposed to give testimony that Greg was not a poet, that I corrected and edited his poems. Ben told Angela Oneal that he did very little editing. Kiley was sweating and frequently went outside for cigarettes and spoke nervously to me twice and then interrupted my conversation with Mr. Ivie to take me aside and tell me that I was endangering his case by talking to everyone, putting things on the net, and talking to the newspapers. He said, “Do not ruin my case by saying anything in the courtroom.” He said Mr. Van Allen was “the enemy” and that I was simply assisting the enemy by what I was doing. I did not agree, nor did I agree to be silent. Afterwards I said to both the Capeharts and the Oneals as well as to the attorneys that I was very unhappy and dissatisfied with what went on today and that I wanted Greg out of prison. I also said that the truth should not be hidden; Greg wasn’t retarded nor even dumb and had beaten me, a Ph.D., repeatedly in Checkers; that the defense shouldn’t be a lie that he was too stupid or confused to give correct testimony sixteen years ago, shouldn’t be that time was our friend and that every delay was a good thing. I said that 16 years on death row was much too long a time to spend for a crime that one did not commit. As we left I repeated my earlier offer to Mrs. Martha Oneil to pick her up at her address at 625 Indiana Street, Orlando, FL 32805 {(407) 425-8797 and take her to visit Gregory in Raiford. Mr. Kiley interrupted and inquired if I was offering to take her to Tallahassee. I said I was ready to go to Tallahassee or anywhere to get Greg out of serving time in prison for a crime he did not do. Sixteen years is too long. The whole operation was obvious confirmation that Greg has had no legal representation and no one involved in the case has done any homework. All they are interested in is dragging it out to the crack of doom and so collect their tax-payer supplied wages from Greg and their other death row clients.