Several readers commented on the stories about Frank Wetzel that ran here and in the paper. Here are some follow-up stories from The News & Observer, as well as some letters and opinion pieces about the case that have run in more recent times.
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PAROLE PROBE IS SET FOR KILLER OF OFFICERS
EMOTIONS STILL HIGH ON '57 DUAL SLAYING
Page: A1
TRISH WILSON; Staff writer
12/20/1991
RALEIGH -- Frank Wetzel, one of the state's most notorious criminals, may walk the streets again 34 years after he killed two N.C. Highway Patrol officers. The state Parole Commission voted this week to start an investigation that could lead to Wetzel's release. The decision took Wetzel's family and supporters by surprise, and law enforcement officials warned that such a move would be tantamount to telling criminals that they can kill police officers and get away with it.
"I'm floored, " said Bianca Wetzel, who married the New York native in 1982 after reading news accounts about Wetzel's efforts to get paroled. "I'm just about expiring here."
Although family and friends hailed the move as Wetzel's first big break in years, law enforcement officials said they will do all it takes to make sure the 70-year-old man stays behind bars.
He's a cold-blooded killer, said Wayne A. Ballard, commander of the Highway Patrol. I have no doubt if released, he would kill again. He has no conscience and no remorse over this shooting. Wetzel received two life sentences in 1958 after he was found guilty of killing the two officers who stopped him for speeding as he drove south on the night of Nov. 5, 1957. Wetzel had just escaped from a New York mental hospital and was on his way to Mississippi to help break his brother out of prison. His brother was on death row and was executed a short time later.
In 1978, Wetzel was denied parole after the parole commission conducted an investigation similar to the one it intends to start now. Since then, his case has come up yearly. Lou Colombo, chairman of the five-member commission, said Wetzel's chances for parole improved in May when he was granted less-restrictive custody, making him eligible for release.
Colombo also said that new information surfaced that prompted the investigation, but he refused to elaborate.
An investigation would look at whether Wetzel is still considered a threat to the community, Colombo said. The commission would also weigh Wetzel's record in prison, which has been blemish-free for the past nine years.
This is historic and I think hopeful, said Tom Regan, a professor at N.C. State University who supports Wetzel's release.
Regan met Wetzel during the 1970s, when Wetzel volunteered to read texts for blind students. Although Wetzel committed multiple prison infractions in the 1960s and 1970s, he has since become a model prisoner who has won awards for community service, Regan said.
He's tried very, very hard to jump through the hoops that prison officials have put before him, Regan said.
The news prompted Lt. Gov. James C. Gardner to call a news conference blasting the move that might set Wetzel free.
"This will be a travesty of justice and an insult to anyone who wears a uniform in the state of North Carolina, " Gardner said.
At a news conference attended by more than a dozen Highway Patrol officers, Gardner vowed that he will try to get the General Assembly to pass legislation requiring the automatic death penalty for all killers of police officers.
In the past 20 years, he said, 52 North Carolina law enforcement officers have been killed in the line of duty.
Gov. James G. Martin, who appointed the commission's five members, said his hands are tied on this one.
"I can't direct the parole board what to do. I guess I can comment on it after they make a decision, " Martin said. "But I can't contact them and tell them what decision to make."
Martin said he thinks the commission will hold a public meeting to discuss Wetzel's possible parole.
Meanwhile, Wetzel's wife said she finds the entire experience nauseating.
"My husband is a pussycat, " said Mrs. Wetzel, who maintains her husband was framed. "This is another circus. There was a circus during the trial in 1958 and this is another."
Bill Krueger contributed to this report.
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WETZEL NOT GUILTY
Letter to the Editor
Page: J6
12/29/1991
The News & Observer's Dec. 20 front-page story about the Parole Commission's decision to investigate Frank Wetzel's prison status included a photograph with the following caption: "The six shells taken from Wetzel's .44 Magnum; the two empty shells were the shots that killed two state troopers."
In point of fact, because the two fatal bullets were never found; because no ballistic evidence established that either trooper was shot by a .44 Magnum; because no autopsy was performed in either case, there is no hard evidence that the two empty shells "were the shots that killed" the two officers.
Claims made in your lead editorial of the following day might seem to negate the need for such hard evidence. "There was an eyewitness to the (first) killing, a man whom Wetzel had picked up on the road." The editorial fails to mention that, in 1986, this "eyewitness" recanted his identification of Wetzel. This same editorial states: "Minutes after this (the first) murder, another trooper ... pulled Wetzel over and also was mortally wounded." However, because the scenes of the two murders were separated by more than 47 narrow, twisting miles of back roads, Wetzel could not have done what the state convicted him of doing -- namely, killing two state troopers, the second "minutes after" the first.
The preceding is only a small part of the largely untold story about Frank Wetzel's 1958 conviction. To attempt to tell part of this story is in no way to minimize the tragedy of the deaths of two valued public servants or the enduring loss experienced by their families and friends; it is only to attempt to get closer to the truth. One can only hope that future N&O coverage of this complicated and important case will help move your readers closer that to worthy goal.
TOM REGAN
Raleigh
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THE CASE FOR WETZEL'S PAROLE
Page: A13
1/21/2004
By Tom Regan
Point of View
RALEIGH -- In June 1992, the Criminal Justice Committee of the N.C. Council of Churches sent a letter to then-Gov. Jim Martin urging him to commute the sentence of a prisoner who was "being kept in prison for political reasons."
Today, more than a decade later, the identity of our governor has changed but not that of North Carolina's most abused political prisoner.
Frank Wetzel has been in North Carolina prisons since 1957 when, at separate trials, he was found guilty of the first-degree murder of two troopers of the State Highway Patrol, Wister Reece and James Brown.
The state's case against Wetzel rested almost entirely on the testimony of an itinerant preacher, Robert Terry Jr. Hitch-hiking his way south, Terry testified that he was picked up by a dark-complected man who spoke with a foreign accent. The car in which he was riding, Terry said, was a white-on-black two-toned late-model Chevrolet with Florida plates.
According to Terry's testimony, when the car was stopped by Reece, the driver shot the trooper. Terrified, Terry hid in a ditch as the car sped away.
Fifteen minutes later, according to the chronology of events presented by prosecution witnesses at Wetzel's two murder trials, Brown was shot in a similar fashion.
Although Terry was not at the scene of the second murder, he was the state's star witness at both trials. According to Terry, back then, Wetzel was a murderer twice over.
Terry's testimony never made sense. Wetzel was (and remains) light-complected. He never has (and does not now) speak with a foreign accent. The car that authorities traced to him at the time of the murders was a solid black Oldsmobile, not a two-tone Chevrolet. And no one, not even the much-demonized Wetzel, could murder two different people, separated by more than 45 miles, within 15 minutes.
In 1986, Terry recanted his testimony, swearing in his affidavit that the man who killed the patrolmen "was not Frank Wetzel." Stripped of its main witness, the state's case against Wetzel is nothing less than shameful. Lest anyone doubt this, consider the following:
* His court-appointed attorneys never had Wetzel testify at either trial.
* Despite the hysteria surrounding both trials, the attorneys requested no change of venue.
* They called not a single witness.
* They lodged not a single objection.
* They filed not a single appeal.
Some say Frank Wetzel's continued imprisonment symbolizes "the sacred compact" citizens have with law enforcement officers. People who know Wetzel's case better must respectfully disagree.
Since 1982, 16 prisoners convicted of murdering North Carolina law enforcement officers have been paroled after serving as few as five and as many as 26 years (10 years on average, about the national average).
Compare these figures with Wetzel's now more than 45 years in prison, nine years of which were spent in solitary confinement. More than 45 years, not counting 3,023 days, another eight-plus years of Gained Time and Merit Time earned towards parole. More than 45 years, not counting a prison record free of infractions since 1983. More than 45 years, with only four infractions against him, not one of a violent nature despite threats and physical attacks against him.
* * *
So, yes, Wetzel has become a symbol, all right. On this score, there is no dispute. Frank Wetzel is a symbol of how one man can be denied justice for political reasons. Having no other suspect in the dual murders of Troopers Reece and Brown, and under extraordinary pressure to find the murderer(s), the law enforcement community first zealously convicted (and has since resolutely demanded the continued incarceration of) one Frank Wetzel.
Which is why his release will do more than redress our law enforcement community's error. It will represent acceptance of our failure to uphold the requirements of simple justice.
We do not take cheaply the lives of the dedicated men and women who wear the uniform of the Highway Patrol when we ask, "Does this represent the best traditions of criminal justice in North Carolina?" No one of us, I am sure, takes the slightest satisfaction in the deaths of Troopers Reece and Brown, or in the lingering hurt and anguish of their families. To ask North Carolinians to reconsider fairness for Wetzel is not to ask anyone to lessen the sacred compact we have with any of those who wear the badge.
Frank Wetzel's case is scheduled to come before the Parole Commission today. He has served his time. His release poses no threat to anyone. His freedom will free us all.
(Tom Regan is emeritus professor of philosophy at N.C. State University.)
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OLD KILLER IS ADDLED FOR LIFE
Page: B1
Ruth Sheehan, Correspondent
4/22/2009
Back in the 1950s, Frank Wetzel became one of North Carolina's most notorious criminals.
But what to do with him now that he's old and gray?
In 1958, Wetzel was convicted of gunning down not one but two state troopers and prompting the state's largest manhunt.
His outlaw reputation followed him behind bars.
For decades, he was considered one of the baddest mothers in the state prison system. My former colleague, Dennis Rogers, liked to quote former Central Prison Warden Sam Garrison as saying, "During the daytime, I run this prison. At night, Frank Wetzel runs it."
Yep, Wetzel was quite the tough guy.
But guess what?
Frank Wetzel's not so tough anymore.
At 87, after a half-century in prison, Wetzel's losing his mind to Alzheimer's disease.
His much-younger brother Richard, who lives in South Carolina, said Frank doesn't really know he's in prison anymore.
"Most of the time, he doesn't know what's going on, " said Richard Wetzel. "He keeps asking me to remind him where I live."
According to prison sources, Frank Wetzel also has cancer.
But when Wetzel's case came up for review before the state parole commission last month, he was denied release - just as he has been every time since he first became eligible 30 years ago.
Since 1978, Wetzel, now the Department of Correction's longest-serving prisoner, has petitioned for release every five years or so. Every time, he claims he is innocent, the victim of a law-enforcement conspiracy. He points to 25 years without an infraction. And every time, the Highway Patrol argues that Wetzel needs to be kept locked up.
"The patrol hopes that Frank Wetzel will spend the rest of his life behind bars, " said Lt. Everett Clendenin, a patrol spokesman.
"You might ask, 'Well, he's 87, he's not all that healthy, what's the threat?' " Clendenin conceded. But that misses the point, in the patrol's view.
"Any murder is tragic, " Clendenin said. "But it's especially important to show that if you kill a law enforcement officer, you spend the rest of your life in jail. We believe he should serve the sentence handed down to him by a jury of his peers."
But here's the problem: How do you justify baby-sitting a man with Alzheimer's when the state is considering closing seven of its prisons?
At some point, if we have to choose between maintaining a cell for Wetzel or for a 20-something gangbanger who kills for fun and status, it seems like an easy choice.
Clendenin's right that we put people in jail not just to punish them but to send a message.But I dare say it's a meaningless distinction to insist on prison for life. Prison until your brain is so addled by Alzheimer's that you don't know where you are sends the message just as well.
What to do with Wetzel when we start closing prisons?
When we consolidate inmates, who's going to bunk with the 87-year-old tough guy whose crimes are twice as old as the guys who share his cell?
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BROTHER HELPING KILLER IN 18TH TRY TO WIN PAROLE
Page: A3
The Associated Press
1/27/1997
CHARLOTTE - Eighteen times, convicted murderer Frank Wetzel has asked for parole. Eighteen times, the state Parole Commission has refused to release the man convicted in 1958 of killing two state Highway Patrol troopers.
Wetzel's brother, Richard, says enough is enough.
Richard Wetzel was only 2 when Frank, his 36-year-old half-brother, shot two troopers in Lee and Richmond counties and left them dying in the road. The manhunt, the trials and the funerals were over before he was 3.
But for nearly 30 years, Richard has fought unsuccessfully to free his brother, saying no one has ever proved that he killed troopers W.L. Reece and James T. Brown, 48 miles apart, on Nov. 5, 1957.
Frank Wetzel, 75, who is serving two life sentences, is up for parole again on Saturday.
"Even if he dies in prison, the truth will still be there, and I won't let that die, " said Richard, 41.
Wetzel has been willing to do almost anything to clear his brother's name.
He once called key prosecution witness Ed Guy, the former head of the Highway Patrol, and suggested he had committed perjury and needed to cleanse his soul before dying. A newspaper story later referred to the "mystery caller" as a potential murderer.
Other tactics have included: sending U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno a manuscript linking the case to gun smuggling for Cuban revolutionaries; marching outside the Susan Smith murder trial in Union, S.C., with fliers asserting the media were covering the wrong story; and publicizing a $1 million reward for anyone who can duplicate the murder route, which he says involved going 48 miles in 20 minutes.
Then there was the jail break plot he concocted, unbeknownst to his brother, who was a prison escapee when the murders were committed.
"How serious was I? About $10,000 worth of serious. That's what a buddy with the helicopter wanted, " said Wetzel, who planned to yank Frank out of the prison yard and whisk him to South America. "What changed my mind was that it wouldn't exonerate Frank. It would only make things worse."
But anything else seems fair game, and that worries those connected with the two trials held in 1958.
"His brother is a diagnosed psychopath, " said Guy, 79. "If he's like his brother, he's a psychopath."
Richard Wetzel admits the call was a little crazy, but it may pale in comparison with the invitation he extended for the victims' families to come to his house in Fort Mill, S.C., for Sunday dinner. He planned to give a lecture on evidence proving Frank's innocence.
"It's so sad. They've held all this hatred and animosity for the wrong man all these years, " he said. "I pray for them as much as they pray for us."
Lee Brown Jr., the 74-year-old brother of Brown, is among those who continue to oppose Wetzel's parole.
"Richard just cannot accept that his brother is guilty, " said Brown, "and I feel sorry for him."
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A MATTER OF TIME
Letter to the Editor
Page: A18
2/7/1997
Regarding the Jan. 18 Associated Press article "Brother helping killer in 18th try to win parole":
I was first reviewed for parole in 1968; and annually denied since then. Twenty-nine years of denial; not 18 as the story indicated. Here at Creswell they admit to April 1972 as my first parole eligibility. That is 25 years - one quarter of a century of being eligible for parole.
Also, the story [in describing the 1957 murders of two state troopers for which the letter-writer was convicted in 1958] cited a time of 20 minutes between the two murders [that figure was attributed to the letter-writer's brother, who says the letter-writer could not have committed the crimes]. The Highway Patrol and other witnesses testified as to Trooper W.L. Reece being shot at 8 p.m. In Lee County, six witnesses testified as to 8:15 p.m. when Trooper James T. Brown was shot. That is not 20 minutes. But even at 20 minutes, to drive 47.43 miles, that is averaging 142 mph. Think about it!
Also, ask yourself, would a trained officer, in a "man down" situation, approach a strange vehicle as Trooper Brown did - or did he know who was in that car?
FRANK WETZEL
Creswell
(The writer, 75, is serving two life sentences at East Work Farm.)
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