May god have mercy
...ll the other evidence they had, including the husband. Later on it shows in some forensic testimony that the husbands’ semen was also found in her but it was never followed up, this case was so incomplete. The DNA samples I believe weren’t used to the max that I believe the defense could have used to better defend Roger. He was so unlucky with the defense he was given, he had an ineffective legal counsel little experience with murder cases, as big as his case was in this town Roger should have been appointed lawyers that had the experience, but with no money it’s hard and I believe that without money and good representation it sometimes might be difficult to prove that innocent especially when the whole town turn against you. His counsel lacked the knowledge or ability on how to attack against the state's analysis and assessment of the physical evidence that was presented at trial. Another factor that affected this case was that it was tried in the same town as the crime. Roger smartened up by asking for a change of venue because he knew that if he was to be tried there he wasn’t going to get a fair trial. Even though some people didn’t know about it, it would have just been better for him to be moved to a different location where people would have a slimmer chance to have heard the story. Supposedly his lawyers tried as hard as they could to convince the judge to change the venue but they weren’t successful with it. Maybe because his defense just completely lacked so much evidence that could have landed him the change of venue, the judge I guess didn’t see a reason for the change of venue. His defense was very irresponsible and I don’t think they tried hard enough to help, this just makes me so mad because I know and I have a big feeling this man was innocent. In this case we see how a prisoner can get so overwhelmed with everything going so wrong for him that he falls into a depression which is very common for prisoners, guilty or not. But it must be worse when the person is innocent and the defense is no help whatsoever, you lose hope and you see no reason for living that you attempt to commit suicide like Roger did. Many prisoners turn to religion so it can comfort them and help them regain their strength and regain spirits and that’s just what Roger did. As I read the trial chapter I had a feeling that Roger would eventually be found guilty of this crime and that the prosecutor would seek the harshest punishment ever, which is the death penalty. All the evidence that the prosecution had I believe some of it could have been Roger but most of it I don’t think was related to him. Like all the forensic evidence. Like the other one that really gets to me is the soil, how they found soil on Wanda body, but what Roger had on his clothes was coal dust because he had just been at work, how could it have been him there is no way it was him if soil is what was found on her body. Another one is the wound in her neck that was four inches deep and the pocketknife that was found in Rogers pocket when he was arrested and taken into custody for being the prime suspect in the murder was three inches long. Also if Roger had used that knife to kill her why would he still have it, why would he keep any of the weapons he used in the murder. It’s ridiculous how the defense didn’t use this to their advantage. The last forensic testimony that was found and not used was the fingerprints that were taken, they were never analyzed and this would have helped out Roger if it would have been analyzed it would have helped identified the intruders. There was insufficient information/evidence to determine that Roger was the killer and the defense didn’t argue that to the fullest, the prosecution had this case the whole time because nothing was ever questioned by the defense. Prosecution had so much BS that lead people to believe that Roger committed the crime. I can’t express how much this makes me angry. In the end they forensic evidence show that there was two assailants but the other one was never identified, they just concentrated on Roger. Another element of the criminal justice system that we see is the use of informants/ snitches. Roger Matney, a convicted felon awaiting sentencing in Buchanan County Jail when Coleman was held there following his arrest, testified that Coleman had confessed to him that he has committed the crime. He supposedly told him that he and another man had actually committed the crime and they both raped Wanda. He supposedly also confessed that he had thrown the murder weapon under a bridge, but that was never followed up for verification. How can you bring up what this man said and then not at least try to find the murder weapon under the bridge so this man can at least look like he was telling the truth and Roger Coleman was really guilty. Coleman denied that he had told Matney anything and I believe it, ...