DIANE DOWNS: MURDERER OR VICTIM
YOU BE THE JURY
MURDER ON OLD MOHAWK ROAD
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If you have comments or questions, send them to: Wes or to Truth
For deep
personal insight into Diane’s case check out www.midnightmeditations.com
I think it
is important for everyone to know why I believe Diane Downs didn't shoot her
children. Following is a list of reasons:
1
James Jagger, Attorney for the defense, said 383 leads that might
have proved Diane's innocence, were withheld by the prosecution. Go to: James Jagger
affidavit.pdf
10
years later The Federal Public Defenders were
told by Detective Doug Welch the records had been destroyed. On March 4, 1998, The Federal Public
Defenders returned to the Lane County Sheriff's Office and spent a full day
copying the material from the three boxes, amounting to about 4700
pages of Withheld documents...
Read the affidavit of William Teesdale: Teesdale affidavit.pdf
2
Trace metal tests were performed on Diane the night of the
shooting. They were negative:
Go to: ANTIMONY AND BARIUM
3
The shooter (according to the state) was well within the car and
would therefore be covered with gun shot residue.
Diane was not. Go
to: ANTIMONY AND BARIUM
4
The shooter was covered with blood spatter and the ceiling of the
car was . Diane was not. Go to: BLOOD
SPATTER
5
The gun, Ruger #14-76187 that Diane was
convicted with was subsequently found in a drug raid in Perris,
California. Tests were run to determine if the ballistics matched the
casings from the shooting site. They didn't!!!
6
Why
do you think the prosecuting attorney would adopt the children and then have
another attorney send a letter to their grandparents instructing them to not to
visit them? Go to: Hugi.letter1.pdf
7
In 1993 we found people who were willing to swear that
someone had confessed that he was the one who shot the Downs children.
Their affidavits are listed below. Do you think the composite that was
drawn on the night of the shooting looks like the confessed murderer? His
friends thought it looked just like him. Look at him and decide for
yourself and then read the affidavits.
A CONFESSED MURDERER
Just two days after Diane
and her children were shot, James Claire Haynes
began confessing to
his friends and family that he was the one who killed Cheryl Downs and
critically wounded Christie and Danny Downs. Sworn affidavits attest to
Jim Haynes confessions. On November 10, 1993 Jim Haynes partner, Clayton Nysten told me on page three of his sworn affidavit: "Two
days after the shooting, Mr. Haynes told me that he was the one who shot the
Downs woman and her kids." See: Clayton Nysten. pdf On February 24, 1998, Mr. Nysten
told the Federal Public Defenders
on page three of a sworn affidavit: "The day after that, I saw
Haynes again, and then he told me he was the one who had shot the Downs
family." Go to: Clayton Nysten.2.pdf
The wife of James Haynes
had this to say about him: "During our marriage, Haynes
physically assaulted me many times. Haynes has held a loaded 9 mm pistol in my
mouth and a .357 magnum to my temple, threatening to shoot me. Haynes attacked
me and broke my nose. On one occasion, during another argument, Haynes threw my
newborn baby down the stairs. Haynes attacked me so many times it is difficult
to remember them all, but I can/will never forget the violence and horrible
crimes he has committed, nor the confessions he has made to me of brutal
murders in the Willamette Valley area. Mr. Haynes has told me he is the
stranger who shot the Downs family...." To read her
affidavit, go to: Phyllis Haynes.pdf or listen to what Phyllis had to say in a recorded conversation: ..."He
has beat me bloody many times...." Listen
to it by going to: Phyllis Haynes(128Kbs).mp3
Do you still have
doubts? Listen to what Dan Newby had to
say: Dan Newby(128Kbps).mp3 Or just read his affidavit: Dan Newby.pdf
Now compare the photograph of Jim Haynes taken in early 1983 with the composite
given to Detective Dick Tracy on the night of the shooting.
Look at the eyes, the nose
and the shag haircut. Do you see the cheekbones? The similarities
are there for you to see.
Teresa Nyjordet
said: I was
riding with Haynes in his red Corvette. We were on our way to Creswell when he
suddenly told me he was the stranger who shot the Downs family.
Go to: Teresa
Nyjordet.pdf if you want the whole story.
Janet Rexroad
said: When I asked him if he had
shot the Downs family, he admitted it said it was a hired hit. I told him the
picture looked just like him, and he replied, "Yea, but they'll never
catch me." Read the
affidavit Janet Rexroad.pdf
Cecilia Nysten, Clayton Nysten's ex-wife,
makes a few very interesting comments in her affidavit about both Jim Haynes
and Clayton Nysten:
Clayton
and I then went to Jim Haynes' house. Haynes was sitting on the bed
reading the paper about the case. Clayton asked Haynes whether he was the one
who had done it. Haynes confessed that he had committed the crime. Go to: Cecilia Nysten.pdf
Quote by Wesley
Frederickson: "I've seen the
place Cecilia Nysten spoke about. It's a pond
on Clayton Nysten's property and I was told they
disposed of weapons in that pond if they didn't want anyone to find them.
I was told they covered the weapons with cosmoline
and placed them in plastic bags to prevent rust."
When I interviewed Sandy
Capps in 1993, her name was Sandy Stichler. She
was baby sitting Jim Haynes' children when I met with
her. She shared a lot of very pertinent information, but was afraid to
make an affidavit so I never included it in any of my writings. When the
Federal Public Defenders interviewed Sandy Stichler
in 1998, her name was Sandy Capps she agreed to
sign an affidavit then changed her mind because she was afraid. In the
affidavit the Federal Public Defenders made of their conversation with Sandy
Capps, she said: "Haynes then asked me what I would think if he had shot kids. When he said that I got really nervous. Jim Haynes then told
me he had shot Diane Downs' kids and that it really changed his life". To read more, go to: Sandy Capps.pdf
On August 28, 1993,
the first person to share with me about James Haynes' confessions of guilt, was Fran Wirta.
Listen to what Fran had to say: Fran Wirta (128Kbs).mp3
Now read what she had to say: Fran Wirta.pdf Roxie Haynes was afraid to give
an affidavit: Roxie Ann Haynes.pdf
If you are going to shoot
someone, it's very important to hold a gun. Sounds silly doesn't
it? The night of the shooting, they did a trace metal test to see if
Diane had held a gun. Diane remarked that the police sprayed her hands
with a substance on the night of the shooting. She said she had a small cut
on her hand and the spray burned a little bit. She said they sprayed her
hands until the substance dripped onto the floor. This is called a Trace
Metal Test and the purpose is to determine whether or not you have held a gun.
The Trace Metal Tests came back negative. Diane did not hold the murder weapon. She did not shoot her
children. Go to: ANTIMONY AND BARIUM
There's more, but by now
you must be wondering what about the evidence? Isn't the evidence weighted
heavily against Diane? A few years after she was convicted, the Federal
Public Defenders decided to get the evidence files and were shocked at the lies
of Detective Douglas Welch. He insisted that all records had been
destroyed when they weren't. The Sheriff's Office said they were
following leads during the trial, when they weren't. In court, they told
the attorney for the defense there were no more leads. Roy Pond testified
there were only 30 to 35 leads. Judge Gregory Foote said he had a problem
with that detective's testimony. In 1998, the Federal Public Defenders
requested all the records that were held regarding this
investigation and any possible leads that might still be available. They were told by Detective Doug Welch the records had
been destroyed. The Federal Public Defenders pursued this
issue even further and found, according to William Teesdale
of the Federal Public Defenders Office: "On March 4, 1998, Ms. Willis and I returned to the Lane County
Sheriff's Office and spent a full day copying the material from the three
boxes, amounting to about 4700 pages of documents..." Read the affidavit of William Teesdale:
Teesdale affidavit.pdf
When Diane filed an appeal,
Judge Malcolm Marsh made many decisions that could have easily have been
decided in Diane's favor.
Judge Marsh writes:
The "miscarriage of justice" exception to procedural default is
limited to habeas petitioners who can show that "a constitutional violation
has probably resulted in the conviction of one who is actually innocent." Schlup v. Delo, 513 U.S. 298, 327
(1995) (citing Murray v. Carrier, 477 U.S. 478, 496 (1986)).
To demonstrate actual innocence petitioner must show "that it is more
likely than not that no 'reasonable juror' would have convicted [her]" of
the offense she was found guilty of had they been appraised of the new
evidence. Schlup, 513 U.S. at 329; Van Buskirk v. Baldwin, 265 F.3d 1080, 1084 (9th Cir.2001),
cert. denied, 535 U.S. 950 (2002).
Petitioner argues that she is "actually innocent of any 'dangerous
offender' determination," as evidenced by the above referenced attachments
to her original petition. However, neither the Ninth Circuit nor this court has
expanded the actual innocence exception to permit a petitioner to attack a
noncapital sentence. See Gandarela v. Johnson, 286
F.3d 1080, 1085 (9^th Cir. 2001); Dockery v. Thompson,
No. CV-00-1022-GMK (D.Or., Sep.9, 2002), aff'd, 82 Fed. Appx.
552, 2003 WL 22783243 (9th Cir.2003); Jenkins v. Johnson, 2006 WL 1185666 at 5
(D. Or., Jan. 13, 2006). In any event, petitioner's
evidence does not rise to the level necessary under Schlup.
Accordingly, her procedural default is not excused.
Now
you must wonder what 'reasonable juror' wouldn't have wondered at the reason
the sheriff's office withheld 4700 pages of documents and then lied by saying
there were only 30 to 35 leads. That same 'reasonable juror' might also
wonder about the "constitutional violation" that was overlooked by
the courts to gain a conviction.
I know, it must just be her father talking, or is it?
Read Dr. Debra
Frisch's comments about Judge Malcolm Marsh's decision: Judge
Malcolm Marsh\Document.rtf
The Murder Weapon.
Diane moved from Arizona to
Oregon in early April 1983 and the shooting was on May 19, 1983. The
State said Diane used Steve Downs' gun to shoot her children. Diane said
the gun was in Arizona with her ex-husband. She said she didn't have the
gun, so I ran an ad in the Arizona Republic newspaper for a week in 1984,
offering a reward for Ruger #14-76187. This ad
resulted in a letter from Prescott, Arizona from a man saying he had the
gun: Gun
Response.pdf It
was learned later that the man who sent the letter worked as a security guard
at Fort Whipple, just outside of Prescott. The Sheriff's Office in Oregon
eventually gave a press release that the report was a hoax. The newspaper article said that Detective Diffendaffer of the Prescott, Arizona police department had
conducted the investigation.
A few
years later I contacted Detective Diffendaffer to
discuss his investigation. According to Detective Diffendaffer, Detective Dick Tracy, from Oregon conducted the
investigation alone.
He did not go with Detective Tracy on the investigation. A few months
later the gun was found in a drug raid in Perris, California. This is the
area where Detective Tracy had been employed before moving to Oregon.
Lane County, Oregon recovered the weapon and ran tests to determine if it was
the gun used in the shooting. The ballistics from the shooting site
didn't match Ruger #14-76187. The gun Diane had been convicted of using to shoot
her children was not the murder weapon. The State's
theory that Diane had used that pistol in the shooting of her children was in
jeopardy, so the State then decided she must have used another gun.
Go to: DEVIANT SOCIOPATH
ANTIMONY AND BARIUM
BALLISTICS BLOOD SPATTER MURDER WEAPON