How the Media Locked Up Frank Wetzel and Threw Away the Key

Based on a wrongful conviction, an innocent man, 88-year old Frank Wetzel has been incarcerated for 52 years.

Why is Frank Wetzel in prison? There are compelling reasons to believe he is innocent of the charges – and to believe the conviction violates U.S. law:

• In 1958, Frank Wetzel was not represented by legal counsel during his first hearings.
• His court-appointed attorney (an ex-FBI agent) for the trials rendered ineffective counsel.
  • He did not question conflicting testimony, including glaring discrepancies in the color of the car involved (two-toned tan and brown vs. black)  and the physical description of the killer (dark-complexioned  vs. very fair).
  • He excluded exculpatory evidence:  He did not bring out the fact that there was a missing page in a hotel log that would have proved Frank Wetzel had been far from the site of both killings.  This was highly suspicious, and seemed to indicate Mr. Wetzel was being framed.
  • He advised Frank Wetzel not to appeal his convictions within the timeframe that would have given him recourse to later legal rulings protecting his rights as the accused.
• The only “eyewitness” later recanted, saying he had feared for his life and felt forced by police, while in custody,  to name Frank Wetzel as the killer
• Frank Wetzel was nowhere near the scene of either murder, but a Bible and gloves belonging to the sole eyewitness (who later recanted), were found between the two murder sites. No physical evidence linking Frank Wetzel to either murder was ever discovered.
• The press of the 1950′s was notorious for convicting suspects as soon as their names were made known.  This is what happened to Frank Wetzel.
• Why was he not given a life sentence?  … because members of the jury, when questioned, said they had “reasonable doubts” as to his guilt.

Quote from eyewitness, who later recanted his testimony:

“I was under a lot of pressure and felt as if I was being tried for my life. A Captain Welch pulled his blackjack on me…to make me accept the police’s version of the story.” (Recantation reported in the Roanoke Rapids Daily Herald, May13, 1987.)

In the news:

• “Murderer Known” (Rockingham Post-Dispatch, November 14, 1957 after November 5 incidents)
• “New Yorker Cries Foul” (Richmond County Journal, January 8, 1958)
• “Even Babies Come in Tide of People at Wetzel Trial” (The Charlotte News, January 10, 1958)
• “Hunting Bullet” (Rockingham Post-Dispatch, January 16, 1958)
• “Prisoner Got Life Sentence after Bitter Trial January 10″ (Rockingham Post-Dispatch, January 16, 1958)
• “I Was Just a Puppet” (star witness Robert Terry on recanting testimony) (Roanoke Rapids Daily Herald, March 14, 1986)
• “Parole Denied Again for Frank Wetzel” (Roanoke Rapids Daily Herald, May 13, 1987)

In perspective:  At the age of 37 in 1957, New Yorker Frank Wetzel was an ideal candidate to be framed for the murder of two North Carolina state troopers on November 5. His continued incarceration 52 two years after his conviction is a glaring testament to lapses in the American criminal justice system nationwide.

As a three-time felon in New York, Wetzel was facing a mandatory life-sentence after he maneuvered his way into a mental facility in a plan to escape and free his brother on death row in Mississippi. That brother was executed four days after the end of Wetzel’s second trial. He was posthumously exonerated a year later.

In New York, Wetzel would have been eligible for parole after serving the minimum years of his sentence. In North Carolina, he never had that chance, not because of the law but because of personal elements projected through the media.

The two troopers were shot within a twenty-minute span at a distance of 40 miles apart. If one person killed both, the driving speed would have been 120 miles an hour non-stop. Yet a Bible and gloves left in the first car by the sole eye-witness were found neatly arranged between the two locations.

A book by the late sportswriter Bill Currie entitled “Guilty with Reasonable Doubt” details allegations about in-fighting between local members of the North Carolina State Troopers at the time. Yet media license to sensationalize brought about the capture, conviction and permanent incarceration of Frank Wetzel.

Frank Wetzel was identified as the killer of both troopers by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on November 14 based on his New York history. His fingerprints were also found in a car he had stolen and abandoned in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The media ignored the fact that the black car did not match the two-tone car color described by the witness in the first incident. Other discrepancies were also ignored.

The killer was said to be dark-complexioned, perhaps Hispanic, while Wetzel was a blond of German descent. The killer’s height, weight and age were also at odds with Wetzel’s physical description.

Reporters did not investigate. Instead, they played up the drama of Wetzel’s capture and his two separate trials just three months apart.

North Carolina officials travelled to California to bring Wetzel back (Richmond County Journal, November 22, 1957). The story of his tame capture received wide local publicity (ibid).

The drama of the trials included the dismissal of a motion by a ruling judge to declare a mistrial based on the illegal taping of the courtroom by the local media (The Charlotte News, January 10, 1958). The article reporting on the decision identified Wetzel as a “four-time loser.”

On January 16, The Rockingham Post-Dispatch called Wetzel a “bad egg” while reporting on the hunt for a bullet in the second shooting – a bullet which was never found (Rockingham Post-Dispatch, January 16, 1958.   Among those searching were State Troopers and a boy scout troop.

Despite the lack of evidence linking the two killings, the image of a “four-time” loser and a “bad egg” no doubt played on the minds of jurors. For example, in the first trial they were chosen from a pool of 150 in an overtime session (Richmond County Journal, January 8, 1958).

Also undoubtedly influencing the decision to convict was the presentation of Wetzel’s defense. His court-appointed attorney was an ex-FBI agent who did not object to inconsistent testimony. He also advised Wetzel to not testify in his own defense and to not appeal the convictions within the legal time-frame that would have allowed him recourse to later legal rulings protecting the rights of the accused.

The 1963 Miranda law requiring defendants to be advised of their rights was one of those rulings. The Gideon vs. Wainright ruling of the same year was another.  That guaranteed defendants the right to be represented by counsel.  In 1958, Wetzel made his plea of not guilty without benefit of counsel (The Charlotte Observer, January 7, 1958).

The grounds for the court-appointed attorney’s advice to delay submitting an appeal were that the atmosphere was too hot  (The Charlotte News, January 13, 1958). Heeding that advice has kept Frank Wetzel incarcerated for 52 years.

Wetzel has repeatedly been denied the possibility of parole. The decision has been based on the parole board’s decision that he needs further rehabilitation (Daily Herald, May 1, 1986). A review of his case and original trials through a writ of certeriori petition has been repeatedly denied. No justification for that decision is required.

Given the fact that by contemporary standards Frank Wetzel obviously did not receive a fair trial 52 years ago, the repeated denial is a travesty of the principle that the rule of law evolves. Solely on the basis of improving American jurisprudence, Wetzel’s case and trials deserve review.

Yet as recently as 2009, Wetzel was again denied the right to have his case reconsidered. Families of the slain troopers were among those petitioning the denial of that right.

Media coverage from the perspective of those families no doubt played a role in the decision. That projected personal element washed away the fact that Wetzel had not had a fair trial 52 years ago.

The American judicial system calls for a higher standard of justice than personal sentiment, however.  Given the length of time that Frank Wetzel’s rights have been denied, he has earned the right to an immediate exercise of the privilege of Executive Clemency by North Carolina Governor Beverly Purdue.