Johnny Small
Johnny Small
Johnny Small was a convicted murderer serving a life-sentence since the age of 15.
He was charged for the first-degree murder of Pam Dreher, a 32-yeaer old shop owner of a shop called, Tropical Paradise, Wilmington, North Carolina.
[4]The incident happened in 1988, and an autopsy shows that she was shot in the head at point-blank rang.
[4] [8] He had a reputation for being a drug-taking, car stealing, juvenile delinquent.
Exoneration
On August 8th, 2016 a court hearing took place where after some time Superior Court Judge W. Douglas Parsons ruled there was not enough evidence to justify Small's conviction for the 1988 murder of Pam Dreher in Wilmington.
Parsons determined it was physically impossible for Nina Raiford, supposed eye witness, to be at the murder site at the time as she reported seeing Small leaving the shop.
Police also withheld key evidence, Parsons said.
[10]No gun, fingerprints or blood-spattered clothing were ever found to tie Small to the crime.
State attorneys expressed they did not think that Small deserves freedom nor a new trial.
[2] David Bollinger was the one who tied him to the murder, and Small became the only suspect in the investigation.
He had said that on the day of the incident, he drove Small to the shop.
He confessed that he lied because he was afraid that since he was an adult he could get the death penalty, and a Wilmington police detective told him Small could get out of prison after turning 18.
Bollinger said he confided to his grandfather, a former police officer and FBI agent, about the lie police told him to tell and was told he should stick to the story.