The first died after eating a stew she had prepared in 1955. She shot the second one because, she said, he came after her. She was sentenced to 20 years but served only four and was out on parole.
Just before the poisoning of the Richardson children, Reese had had a falling out with their dad. The story was that Richardson and Eddie King, Reese’s latest hubby, had gone off to Jacksonville. King never came back, and word had it that he was shacking up with one of Richardson’s cousins.
Despite all of this, no one explored the possibility that Reese had been the poisoner.
After Reese started talking to her nurses, Lane and the media started to lobby hard for a fresh look at the evidence.
In 1989, Janet Reno, who was appointed special prosecutor by Florida’s governor, declared that the trial had been a farce, that important evidence had been suppressed, and that Richardson was “probably wrongfully accused.”
On April 25, 1989, a judge set the conviction aside. A few days later, Richardson walked out of prison, a free man.
Another 25 years would pass before Richardson was awarded compensation, about $1.2 million, for the years that were taken from him.
Within a week, James Richardson was arrested. Evidence and motive were both lacking, but that did not stop Sheriff Frank Cline, wrote activist lawyer and author Mark Lane in his book on the case, “Arcadia Revisited.” Cline made up his mind that Richardson had wiped out his kids for insurance money. The sheriff based his opinion on a visit, the night before, from an insurance salesman named Gerald Purvis. Purvis had tried to persuade Richardson to take out a family group plan. Richardson was interested, but couldn’t scrape up cash enough — $1.40 — for the premium.
Other than that weak motive (there was no policy in place because he couldn’t pay for the insurance), there was nothing to suggest that Richardson had murdered his children.
The case against him was built on the bag of parathion and the testimony of some unreliable witnesses, including a couple of jailhouse snitches who swore that Richardson had confessed.
His five-day trial for the murder of one of the children ended on May 31, 1968, when an all-white jury found him guilty in about 90 minutes. He was sentenced to the electric chair.
Richardson sat on Death Row until 1972, when the U.S. Supreme Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional and his sentence was commuted to 25 to life.
Then in the mid-1980s, a surprising event revived the case. The baby-sitter, Bessie Reese, by that time an Alzheimer’s patient in a nursing home, started babbling to her caretakers.
“I killed the children,” she said not once but at least 100 times between 1985 and 1987, according to an affidavit signed by one of her nurses.
Her confession added fuel to the long-held belief that this father did not murder his kids. Lane, who wrote his first book on the case — “Arcadia” — in 1970, had followed it ever since. He argued that the investigation had been sloppy and tainted by the bigotry that was a fact of life in Arcadia.
At the time of the initial investigation, no one bothered to consider that someone else, like the baby-sitter, may have doled out the poison.
Reese, who served the children their lunches that day, had a violent history, which had been suppressed during the trial. “Big Mama,” as she was called, was known for her red-hot temper. She also had two dead husbands in her past.
The first died after eating a stew she had prepared in 1955. She shot the second one because, she said, he came after her. She was sentenced to 20 years but served only four and was out on parole.
Just before the poisoning of the Richardson children, Reese had had a falling out with their dad. The story was that Richardson and Eddie King, Reese’s latest hubby, had gone off to Jacksonville. King never came back, and word had it that he was shacking up with one of Richardson’s cousins.
Despite all of this, no one explored the possibility that Reese had been the poisoner.
After Reese started talking to her nurses, Lane and the media started to lobby hard for a fresh look at the evidence.
In 1989, Janet Reno, who was appointed special prosecutor by Florida’s governor, declared that the trial had been a farce, that important evidence had been suppressed, and that Richardson was “probably wrongfully accused.”
On April 25, 1989, a judge set the conviction aside. A few days later, Richardson walked out of prison, a free man.
Another 25 years would pass before Richardson was awarded compensation, about $1.2 million, for the years that were taken from him.
Just before the poisoning of the Richardson children, Reese had had a falling out with their dad. The story was that Richardson and Eddie King, Reese’s latest hubby, had gone off to Jacksonville. King never came back, and word had it that he was shacking up with one of Richardson’s cousins.
Despite all of this, no one explored the possibility that Reese had been the poisoner.
After Reese started talking to her nurses, Lane and the media started to lobby hard for a fresh look at the evidence.
In 1989, Janet Reno, who was appointed special prosecutor by Florida’s governor, declared that the trial had been a farce, that important evidence had been suppressed, and that Richardson was “probably wrongfully accused.”
On April 25, 1989, a judge set the conviction aside. A few days later, Richardson walked out of prison, a free man.
Another 25 years would pass before Richardson was awarded compensation, about $1.2 million, for the years that were taken from him.
Within a week, James Richardson was arrested. Evidence and motive were both lacking, but that did not stop Sheriff Frank Cline, wrote activist lawyer and author Mark Lane in his book on the case, “Arcadia Revisited.” Cline made up his mind that Richardson had wiped out his kids for insurance money. The sheriff based his opinion on a visit, the night before, from an insurance salesman named Gerald Purvis. Purvis had tried to persuade Richardson to take out a family group plan. Richardson was interested, but couldn’t scrape up cash enough — $1.40 — for the premium.
Other than that weak motive (there was no policy in place because he couldn’t pay for the insurance), there was nothing to suggest that Richardson had murdered his children.
The case against him was built on the bag of parathion and the testimony of some unreliable witnesses, including a couple of jailhouse snitches who swore that Richardson had confessed.
His five-day trial for the murder of one of the children ended on May 31, 1968, when an all-white jury found him guilty in about 90 minutes. He was sentenced to the electric chair.
Richardson sat on Death Row until 1972, when the U.S. Supreme Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional and his sentence was commuted to 25 to life.
Then in the mid-1980s, a surprising event revived the case. The baby-sitter, Bessie Reese, by that time an Alzheimer’s patient in a nursing home, started babbling to her caretakers.
“I killed the children,” she said not once but at least 100 times between 1985 and 1987, according to an affidavit signed by one of her nurses.
Her confession added fuel to the long-held belief that this father did not murder his kids. Lane, who wrote his first book on the case — “Arcadia” — in 1970, had followed it ever since. He argued that the investigation had been sloppy and tainted by the bigotry that was a fact of life in Arcadia.
At the time of the initial investigation, no one bothered to consider that someone else, like the baby-sitter, may have doled out the poison.
Reese, who served the children their lunches that day, had a violent history, which had been suppressed during the trial. “Big Mama,” as she was called, was known for her red-hot temper. She also had two dead husbands in her past.
The first died after eating a stew she had prepared in 1955. She shot the second one because, she said, he came after her. She was sentenced to 20 years but served only four and was out on parole.
Just before the poisoning of the Richardson children, Reese had had a falling out with their dad. The story was that Richardson and Eddie King, Reese’s latest hubby, had gone off to Jacksonville. King never came back, and word had it that he was shacking up with one of Richardson’s cousins.
Despite all of this, no one explored the possibility that Reese had been the poisoner.
After Reese started talking to her nurses, Lane and the media started to lobby hard for a fresh look at the evidence.
In 1989, Janet Reno, who was appointed special prosecutor by Florida’s governor, declared that the trial had been a farce, that important evidence had been suppressed, and that Richardson was “probably wrongfully accused.”
On April 25, 1989, a judge set the conviction aside. A few days later, Richardson walked out of prison, a free man.
Another 25 years would pass before Richardson was awarded compensation, about $1.2 million, for the years that were taken from him.
