QueenVee
Jedi
I just finished watching an A&E documentary on psychopathic killer Roger Keith Coleman. An overview of this extraordinary case can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Keith_Coleman
Talk about a study of a psychopath at work -- this guy was incredible. Despite being convicted of a brutal murder-rape on the basis of overwhelming evidence, and having previously been accused and convicted of sexual assaults, he managed to convince masses of gullible people that he was in fact an innocent man of admirable character -- to the point that he was featured on the cover of Time magazine as a poster boy for the cause of innocent people sitting on death row. The lengths he went to to not only escape the death penalty, but also be freed from prison as an innocent man, were incredible, including painstakingly writing a daily diary in which he repeatedly protested his innocence, over the course of more than 10 years -- knowing that it could eventually be used to convince people of his sincerity.
His many passionate supporters (including the inevitable "girlfriend" that he met while in prison) fought to get a DNA test done on the evidence two years before his death. The test concluded that Coleman was among 2% of the population who could have committed the crime. His supporters were undeterred. Coleman himself repeatedly begged for a polygraph test, obviously believing that he could beat it, and finally received one on the morning of his execution. He failed. His supporters remained undeterred, and they continued to fight to prove his innocence for a decade after he was executed (that's right, he managed to continue manipulating them from beyond the grave). These people fought to have a better DNA test done in 1992, convinced that it was exonerate him. It in fact concluded that there was only a 1-in-19-million chance that the blood and semen found at the crime scene could have belonged to someone other than Coleman.
Most of his supporters realized at that point that they had been duped by an extremely skilled and manipulative psychopath. But there are STILL two women who refuse to believe that such a loving, sincere, and gentle man could have committed the crime -- his girlfriend, and one of his appeal lawyers.
Only a hard-core psychopath could manage to brutally rape and murder someone, and then succeed in making HIMSELF the victim in so many people's eyes, for so many years....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Keith_Coleman
Talk about a study of a psychopath at work -- this guy was incredible. Despite being convicted of a brutal murder-rape on the basis of overwhelming evidence, and having previously been accused and convicted of sexual assaults, he managed to convince masses of gullible people that he was in fact an innocent man of admirable character -- to the point that he was featured on the cover of Time magazine as a poster boy for the cause of innocent people sitting on death row. The lengths he went to to not only escape the death penalty, but also be freed from prison as an innocent man, were incredible, including painstakingly writing a daily diary in which he repeatedly protested his innocence, over the course of more than 10 years -- knowing that it could eventually be used to convince people of his sincerity.
His many passionate supporters (including the inevitable "girlfriend" that he met while in prison) fought to get a DNA test done on the evidence two years before his death. The test concluded that Coleman was among 2% of the population who could have committed the crime. His supporters were undeterred. Coleman himself repeatedly begged for a polygraph test, obviously believing that he could beat it, and finally received one on the morning of his execution. He failed. His supporters remained undeterred, and they continued to fight to prove his innocence for a decade after he was executed (that's right, he managed to continue manipulating them from beyond the grave). These people fought to have a better DNA test done in 1992, convinced that it was exonerate him. It in fact concluded that there was only a 1-in-19-million chance that the blood and semen found at the crime scene could have belonged to someone other than Coleman.
Most of his supporters realized at that point that they had been duped by an extremely skilled and manipulative psychopath. But there are STILL two women who refuse to believe that such a loving, sincere, and gentle man could have committed the crime -- his girlfriend, and one of his appeal lawyers.
Only a hard-core psychopath could manage to brutally rape and murder someone, and then succeed in making HIMSELF the victim in so many people's eyes, for so many years....