Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
Welcome to Georgia Focus. I'm John Clark on the Georgia
News Network. Michael Chappell is a former Gwenett County police
officer who was convicted in nineteen ninety three in the
murder of fifty three year old Emma Jean Thompson. But
he may not have done it. We'll find out on
November seventh. He has a habeas hearing that could release him.
Henry Ball is the author of Michael Chappell, the book
(00:34):
that started all of this. Henry Ball is my guest
today with an update. First of all, let's talk about
the update on the Chapel case. First of all, talk
about the update itself and why the habis has taken
so long.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Well, that's two very different questions, and I think I'll
take the first or the second question first, it's taken so.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Long, and then we'll talk about the habeast itself.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
To make a long story short, there was some drama
that kind of broke out within the around the family
and around the exoneration effort where Hollywood essentially green lid
a scripted series and people felt like there was you know,
(01:23):
money on the table, if you will, and some of
the people involved in that both from the Hollywood side
and from unfortunately, Mike's family decided that they would be
better off without me, and they tried to excommunicate me
(01:44):
from the Michael Chapel effort. The problem that they ran
into was not only.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Did I have the receipts and.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Did I already have a contract with Michael Chappell, because
I certainly did.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
I was also what Mike's attorney.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Referred to as his foundation witness, since I was the
investigator that found all of the evidence and brought forward
all the witnesses that have been deemed admissible by the
judge to be heard at this upcoming habeas. I was
his foundation witness and therefore inexpendable to the case. And
(02:31):
so really my fight was to defend my own good
name and to defend my credibility, because without my credibility,
Mike would have had no case. And so I can
just report that that has been adjudicated through Long County
(02:54):
and the judge ruled in my favor completely and uh
and hopefully is behind us, and we are moving forward
to the habeas which is scheduled for November seventh.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Here in just a few weeks.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
A few days now, what do you think will happen
at the habeas What do you believe will happen.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
So I actually feel really good about the habeasts at
this point. I don't want to get into too many details,
but as you know from our previous conversations, we found
a lot of material and a lot of information that
we believed should be admissible based on the grounds that
it was you know, Brady violation or something of the sort.
(03:42):
One of the things that you know we brought forward
was an eye witness who actually witnessed the murder and
even though it's not admissible in court, that witness did
pass a polygraph as to what he witness that night.
(04:02):
And then the judge found that witness credible in the
hearing back in March, where he considered the motions are
the state's motion to dismiss in that he allowed that
to move forward to the full habas to the evidential hearing.
(04:25):
And so what's going to happen here in a couple
of weeks is we are going to be vigorously making
the case that corroborates his eyewitness account. And we have
a couple of very distinguished and very credible, very accomplished
(04:47):
and very well educated forensics experts. I'm not going to
go into who they are and what their names are
at this point and into the specifics.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Of what they are going to be testifying to. But
we feel really good that Mike is going to have
his full day in.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Court, and we believe we have the information and the
evidence that proves he is.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Innocent, and hearing that day is just before a judge,
not a jury. It's just a judge, right, correct.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
It's it's a habeas judge.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
But this is in fact the evidentiary hearing, and the judge,
the judge can essentially do one of three things.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
He could He could, you know, rule.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
On some technicality and UH and decline Mike's habeas, which
means Mike remains convicted UH and remains in prison. The
second option is that he can vacate UH the sentence
(05:58):
without prejudice, which would mean that when that county would
have an opportunity to retry Mike to bring new charges.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
The judge would likely set some time.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Limit with Gennett County as to how much time they
would have to be able to bring those new charges.
Thirty days, sixty days, ninety whatever the judge decides. But
if when that county declines to bring charges, then Mike
would be set free and exonerated because his conviction would
(06:38):
have been vacated. The third option is that he can
vacate Mike's sentence with prejudice, which means he deems Mike
exonerated and Mike would be free to go.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Well, what do you think will well, I know, I
don't know what will happen, But what do you think
he will exonerate him? I mean let him go free
with meaning that he will get out that day.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
So I believe in my heart, and it might not
be that day, you know, there might be some administrative stuff,
but I believe in my heart that it would be
one of.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
One or two of those options.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Either he would vacate with prejudice or vacate without prejudice.
I think the easiest thing for the judge to do
would be to vacate without prejudice, allowing Gwinnett County to
retry him if they want to. I think that would
be the easiest thing for the judge to do, and
(07:41):
I think it would ultimately have the same effect. It
would take longer, of course, however long the judge.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Gives Gwinnett County.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
But in my humble opinion, I do not believe that
Gwinnett County would bring new charges. So I believe if
the judge vacates his sentence under either one of those scenarios,
he will eventually be exonerated.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
And what day, What day is this going to happen?
Speaker 2 (08:12):
So the hearing is on November seventh, and then it's
totally up to the judge how long it takes him
to make his ruling. He doesn't have to rule that day.
He may have enough information to rule that day, but
he may take it under advisement, and so you know,
(08:34):
who knows how long it would take him to make
his ruling. But that is the day that both sides
will be heard in full.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Now who is he up against that day in court?
Is he up against Gurnec County or the State of Georgia.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
It's the State of Georgia.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
There's an attorney and it's the same attorney that appeared
in the March hearing, I believe it.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
His name is Clint Malcolm, and he, you know, he.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Is presenting his case vigorously on behalf of the state
and opposing us vigorously. I think he's a capable attorney.
And as I said, I feel good about our information.
I feel good about where our attorney is.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
I think Billy was.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Billy, Mike's attorney was a little bit undermanned for the
previous hearing because.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
It wound up being on Zoom.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
And he really didn't have anyone to help him locate
files and materials and things like that, and.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
So he kind of he kind of had a couple of.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Places where he wasn't able to put forward as much
information as he wanted to.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
But we have all of that from on the record,
and I feel like he will.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
I feel like he I feel like he's ready to
really defend Mike in the most vigorous way possible, and
I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
If this happens the way you want, You say, Mike,
what then happens to the prosecutors who prosecuted him initially?
What happens then they go back? What happens with them?
Did they go back after them and look at them
and say, hey, you got some explaining dude? What happens here?
Speaker 3 (10:36):
You know?
Speaker 2 (10:37):
I don't know, and I really don't want to speculate,
and that's not that's not my right.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
You know, I'm not part of law enforcement.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
I'm not part of the judicial system. I could certainly
tell you what I think should happen, but but but
I have no idea.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
What would happen.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
I will tell you that I know of personally a handful,
if not a very large handful of cases that believe
they were similarly uh misprosecuted Mike Winnett County during the
(11:18):
reign of Danny Porter, and so will will all of
those people.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Being bolden uh if Michael chappel.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Is is exonerated, and could you see a rush to
the courthouse by numerous people who feel like they've been
wrongfully prosecuted by Danny Porter and and his reign.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
Possibly? Yeah, But but you know what would be the
outcome of that. I can't really speculate.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
What happens to you, Henry Ball, when this happens, it's
all over, if if, if, if it is all over,
what do you do?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Then? Well, you know, I don't know that I really
thought about that question too much.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
John. I can tell you that this case was something
that I really believe in, and I.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Can tell you that I really wasn't prepared for what
was going to happen and how I was going to
be attacked and by whom I was going to be attacked.
But you know, at the end of the day, my
mom and Dad raised a fighter, and you know, I
(12:38):
hung in there, and I just let the truth speak
for itself. And as as usual, I had the receipts.
And at the end of the day, as I've said
from the beginning of this case, in at least in
my case, the truth has prevailed, and I believe the
(12:59):
truth will prevail in Mike's case as well.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
You know, I read about the things I keep up
with on Facebook and I look at all of the
people and this may has to have a lot of
people have picked up the book Michael Chappell, A lot.
I mean, I mean, you sold a lot of copies
of that book.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
I really don't know what the grand total is. I
gave away a.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Lot of copies of that book too, But you know,
it's it's done its job. It certainly was the inspiration
for the podcast in the Land of Lies, which you
know has you know, ten digits of downloads.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
I mean, it's last I knew it was like twelve
to fifteen million, and that was probably a year ago.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
So there's been a lot of people that have heard
the podcast, which was based on and inspired.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
By my book. I have written another.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Book, book, which I'm going to tell you a little
bit about when we close up. Yeah, and and uh,
I am I'm cautiously optimistic that that that book will
do well because I know there are a lot of
people that have expressed interest in wanting to know the
(14:24):
whole story and wanting to know the backstory, kind of
as you led let off this interview.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Like hey, you know what what caused this drama? What
caused this play? And uh. And so I've written a
book called Killing Henry. That's gonna tell you. It's gonna
tell you all the gory details.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
And and the name Killing Henry isn't just metaphorical. And
that's all I can tell you is, uh, it's it's
not just a metaphorical name. I think it's once you
read the book, you'll understand the appropriateness of it. And
it's just a battle that I never never would have.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Dreamed I would have had to fight, but I did.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
And you know, I feel like we pulled through it
and the truth prevailed and we came out standing strong.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
So what's next? We'll see states.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
What I've noticed, you've been writing a lot on Southern Voice.
Talk about some of the articles you've written there.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
So the Southern Voice is a great platform.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
You know, it's it's all things Southern's.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
It's supposed to be.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Light reading, you know, historical stuff. You know, it's not
intended to get into religion or politics, although you know,
sometimes inevitably, as life does here in the South, it's
intertwined with religion and politics. So those topics come up,
(16:10):
even though they're not the focus of the Southern Voice.
But I've written about you know, like the Hatfields and McCoy's.
I've written about my ancestor Daniel Boone.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
I've written about the.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Cold Wars, which I called America's Second Civil War.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Which you know, was a really popular series on the
Southern Voice.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
And you know, really, I don't know if you've ever
seen the movie mate One about the mate Wan massacre
and the Cold Wars back in the nineteen twenties, I believe,
twenties or thirties. It's just fascinating stuff, man. And so
I understand that that kind of thing happened, uh here
(17:00):
in America. Is is fascinating and and so that's the
kind of stuff that I write about at the Southern Voice.
Jim Harris, who is the petitor in chief of the
Southern Voice, does allow me to, uh, you know, occasionally
write articles that are connected to Michael Chappell or bring
(17:23):
up things that relate to Michael Chapel. For instance, I
did an article about Befor Pusser when the new information
came out about him, and and there was some things
about the forensics, uh that led to them saying.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
That he would be indicted for his wife's.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Murder that are similar to the forensics that we're looking
at in the imaging Thompson case.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
And and you know, in the view for Pusser case,
those facts and evidence led to.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Suspicion against Puster, but in Mike's case, those similar or
saying facts and evidence really leads to Mike's exoneration. And
and he's been kind enough to let me, you know,
let me write about that kind of stuff as well.
So I enjoy writing for The Southern Boy. It's it's
(18:24):
one of the many things that keeps me busy aside
from my full time job and you know, raising a family,
and one of the things that I probably don't have
as much time for but.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
I do enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
One thing you mentioned the Beauford Pusser story. Okle Dean Baldwin,
who is related to Missus Pusser, has written a book
Murder of Pauline Pusser and Murder of Pauline Pusser Solved.
And I had him on this show way back when,
and he came about and he told about it. Now
(19:00):
has been you know, determined that yes, PF. Pusser may
have killed her, and I'm going to have it back
on this show. Talked about talk about that story, and
it's a fascinating story.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
So men, yeah, absolutely check out my article about it.
He probably went into a lot more detail if he
if he's wrote the t in I actually know which
two books you're talking about, and uh there, Yeah, there's
a lot of information out there. It had been, there
(19:33):
had been a lot of information out there.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
I had considered writing about it some time ago because
you know, there was enough information to cause serious doubt.
But then once they exhumed her body and the you know,
forensic people were able to you know, really look at
the forensics of the case.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
There's there there's there's there's no doubt out that it
did not happen the way you for Pussers said it happened.
You know, does that mean.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Definitively that they proved he killed her. No, they haven't
proved that he killed her, but there is enough evidence,
according to the current district attorney, to indict him for murder.
He was alive, and there certainly is enough evidence to
prove that the story he told back then was not true.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Yeah, it's been very interesting in talking with Oakley Dean.
He is a former deputy sheriff and so he's got
some background in this and he's retired now, but he
has he's part of the family, missus Pusser's family. He's
written extensively about it, and it got the TBI to
look at it. That's that's that's a good case. It's
(20:54):
gonna be fun. This show is going to be coming
up on this this this show pretty soon. Where you
where is your stuff available on The Southern Voice?
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Uh So, it's just The Southern Voice, which is a
Facebook page. It's by Jim Harris, but you can find
it on Facebook, the Southern Voice.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
And then of course our Facebook group is still active.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
The Michael Chapel is Innocent project, and we'll soon have
henryball dot com up and running, which we'll have all
of my links and all of my information.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
And that's just henryball dot Com.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
The Michael Michael Chapel cases is really it's really been
a part of your life for so long. I hope
it comes to an end on the seventh of November,
I really do. I hope they hope they let Michael
Chapel off. I don't believe he did it. I don't
believe he did it, and I think you're the one
who should get get credit for that for him if
(22:02):
he gets off, and I hope he does get off.
I hope he really does. Where's it going to be held?
The court going to be held? Where's court gonna be held?
Speaker 3 (22:10):
Today?
Speaker 2 (22:11):
So the court room is down in Long County, but
it's actually going to be on zoom okay, And if
you go to Michael Chapel is Innocent on Facebook.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
We will have the link.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
I would you know, I would check on November sixth
or November seventh, early November seventh, but we'll hopefully we'll
be able to post it on November sixth, where you'll
just be able to log in and watch watch it
live and then, and I believe it'll be available afterwards,
(22:46):
which it was in March, so I believe it'll be
available afterwards.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
But the entire hearing will be on Zoom.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
And you'll be down there for the trial that.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
I'll be at the attorney's office with Billy Renning. So
I'm we're not one hundred percent sure if I'm going
to need to testify again, but.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
I will be available. I have been.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Continuing to work with Billy and the defense team, and
we We've actually got a lot of really cool stuff
going on behind the scenes, and I wish I could.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
Tell you more about it.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
If you want to schedule an interview for right after
the maybe I'll be able to tell you a lot
more about that stuff.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
But for right now, we need to kind of keep
it quiet.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
But there's a lot of really cool stuff going on
behind the scenes.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
I understand. I certainly understand the need to keep it
quiet until the seven after the seventh. So that's I
don't want to I don't want to depress you and
giving us anything you don't want you have to give us.
I want to thank you to hear me. I thank
you for talking to many and I want people to
go check it out if you haven't got the book yet.
The book is called Michael Chapel. It is a great
book and Henry Ball is the author of it. And
(24:05):
where can they get information, hey about you?
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Well, the book is available at storied Press dot store.
That's storied Press dot store. And again we are building
Henriyball dot com as my website, which we'll have links
to all of our platforms and we'll have that up
(24:32):
and running really soon. So keep an eye on Henryball
dot com. And if you want the book, please go
to storied Press dot store. And we are announcing I
believe this week, so by the time you air, we
are announcing pre sales for Killing Henry. So Killing Henry
(24:53):
is going on sale next week.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Henry, thank you for taking time and talk to me today.
I appreciate it very much.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Thank you, John, always a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
That's Henry Ball, author of Michael Chapel. You find copies
of that at Storiedpress dot press Storedpress dot press. You
can also find out about them at the Michael Chaplin's
Innocent project on Facebook. And his latest book is coming
up soon. It's called Killing Henry that'll be released a
little bit later on. If you have questions or comments
(25:23):
on today's program, you can email me, John Clark at
Georgianewsnetwork dot com. Thanks for listening. I'll talk to you
next week right here on your favorite local radio station
on Georgia Focus
Welcome to Georgia Focus. I'm John Clark on the Georgia
News Network. Michael Chappell is a former Gwenett County police
officer who was convicted in nineteen ninety three in the
murder of fifty three year old Emma Jean Thompson. But
he may not have done it. We'll find out on
November seventh. He has a habeas hearing that could release him.
Henry Ball is the author of Michael Chappell, the book
(00:34):
that started all of this. Henry Ball is my guest
today with an update. First of all, let's talk about
the update on the Chapel case. First of all, talk
about the update itself and why the habis has taken
so long.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Well, that's two very different questions, and I think I'll
take the first or the second question first, it's taken so.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Long, and then we'll talk about the habeast itself.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
To make a long story short, there was some drama
that kind of broke out within the around the family
and around the exoneration effort where Hollywood essentially green lid
a scripted series and people felt like there was you know,
(01:23):
money on the table, if you will, and some of
the people involved in that both from the Hollywood side
and from unfortunately, Mike's family decided that they would be
better off without me, and they tried to excommunicate me
(01:44):
from the Michael Chapel effort. The problem that they ran
into was not only.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Did I have the receipts and.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Did I already have a contract with Michael Chappell, because
I certainly did.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
I was also what Mike's attorney.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Referred to as his foundation witness, since I was the
investigator that found all of the evidence and brought forward
all the witnesses that have been deemed admissible by the
judge to be heard at this upcoming habeas. I was
his foundation witness and therefore inexpendable to the case. And
(02:31):
so really my fight was to defend my own good
name and to defend my credibility, because without my credibility,
Mike would have had no case. And so I can
just report that that has been adjudicated through Long County
(02:54):
and the judge ruled in my favor completely and uh
and hopefully is behind us, and we are moving forward
to the habeas which is scheduled for November seventh.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Here in just a few weeks.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
A few days now, what do you think will happen
at the habeas What do you believe will happen.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
So I actually feel really good about the habeasts at
this point. I don't want to get into too many details,
but as you know from our previous conversations, we found
a lot of material and a lot of information that
we believed should be admissible based on the grounds that
it was you know, Brady violation or something of the sort.
(03:42):
One of the things that you know we brought forward
was an eye witness who actually witnessed the murder and
even though it's not admissible in court, that witness did
pass a polygraph as to what he witness that night.
(04:02):
And then the judge found that witness credible in the
hearing back in March, where he considered the motions are
the state's motion to dismiss in that he allowed that
to move forward to the full habas to the evidential hearing.
(04:25):
And so what's going to happen here in a couple
of weeks is we are going to be vigorously making
the case that corroborates his eyewitness account. And we have
a couple of very distinguished and very credible, very accomplished
(04:47):
and very well educated forensics experts. I'm not going to
go into who they are and what their names are
at this point and into the specifics.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Of what they are going to be testifying to. But
we feel really good that Mike is going to have
his full day in.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Court, and we believe we have the information and the
evidence that proves he is.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Innocent, and hearing that day is just before a judge,
not a jury. It's just a judge, right, correct.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
It's it's a habeas judge.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
But this is in fact the evidentiary hearing, and the judge,
the judge can essentially do one of three things.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
He could He could, you know, rule.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
On some technicality and UH and decline Mike's habeas, which
means Mike remains convicted UH and remains in prison. The
second option is that he can vacate UH the sentence
(05:58):
without prejudice, which would mean that when that county would
have an opportunity to retry Mike to bring new charges.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
The judge would likely set some time.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Limit with Gennett County as to how much time they
would have to be able to bring those new charges.
Thirty days, sixty days, ninety whatever the judge decides. But
if when that county declines to bring charges, then Mike
would be set free and exonerated because his conviction would
(06:38):
have been vacated. The third option is that he can
vacate Mike's sentence with prejudice, which means he deems Mike
exonerated and Mike would be free to go.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Well, what do you think will well, I know, I
don't know what will happen, But what do you think
he will exonerate him? I mean let him go free
with meaning that he will get out that day.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
So I believe in my heart, and it might not
be that day, you know, there might be some administrative stuff,
but I believe in my heart that it would be
one of.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
One or two of those options.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Either he would vacate with prejudice or vacate without prejudice.
I think the easiest thing for the judge to do
would be to vacate without prejudice, allowing Gwinnett County to
retry him if they want to. I think that would
be the easiest thing for the judge to do, and
(07:41):
I think it would ultimately have the same effect. It
would take longer, of course, however long the judge.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Gives Gwinnett County.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
But in my humble opinion, I do not believe that
Gwinnett County would bring new charges. So I believe if
the judge vacates his sentence under either one of those scenarios,
he will eventually be exonerated.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
And what day, What day is this going to happen?
Speaker 2 (08:12):
So the hearing is on November seventh, and then it's
totally up to the judge how long it takes him
to make his ruling. He doesn't have to rule that day.
He may have enough information to rule that day, but
he may take it under advisement, and so you know,
(08:34):
who knows how long it would take him to make
his ruling. But that is the day that both sides
will be heard in full.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Now who is he up against that day in court?
Is he up against Gurnec County or the State of Georgia.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
It's the State of Georgia.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
There's an attorney and it's the same attorney that appeared
in the March hearing, I believe it.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
His name is Clint Malcolm, and he, you know, he.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Is presenting his case vigorously on behalf of the state
and opposing us vigorously. I think he's a capable attorney.
And as I said, I feel good about our information.
I feel good about where our attorney is.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
I think Billy was.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Billy, Mike's attorney was a little bit undermanned for the
previous hearing because.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
It wound up being on Zoom.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
And he really didn't have anyone to help him locate
files and materials and things like that, and.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
So he kind of he kind of had a couple of.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Places where he wasn't able to put forward as much
information as he wanted to.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
But we have all of that from on the record,
and I feel like he will.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
I feel like he I feel like he's ready to
really defend Mike in the most vigorous way possible, and
I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
If this happens the way you want, You say, Mike,
what then happens to the prosecutors who prosecuted him initially?
What happens then they go back? What happens with them?
Did they go back after them and look at them
and say, hey, you got some explaining dude? What happens here?
Speaker 3 (10:36):
You know?
Speaker 2 (10:37):
I don't know, and I really don't want to speculate,
and that's not that's not my right.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
You know, I'm not part of law enforcement.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
I'm not part of the judicial system. I could certainly
tell you what I think should happen, but but but
I have no idea.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
What would happen.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
I will tell you that I know of personally a handful,
if not a very large handful of cases that believe
they were similarly uh misprosecuted Mike Winnett County during the
(11:18):
reign of Danny Porter, and so will will all of
those people.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Being bolden uh if Michael chappel.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Is is exonerated, and could you see a rush to
the courthouse by numerous people who feel like they've been
wrongfully prosecuted by Danny Porter and and his reign.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
Possibly? Yeah, But but you know what would be the
outcome of that. I can't really speculate.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
What happens to you, Henry Ball, when this happens, it's
all over, if if, if, if it is all over,
what do you do?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Then? Well, you know, I don't know that I really
thought about that question too much.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
John. I can tell you that this case was something
that I really believe in, and I.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Can tell you that I really wasn't prepared for what
was going to happen and how I was going to
be attacked and by whom I was going to be attacked.
But you know, at the end of the day, my
mom and Dad raised a fighter, and you know, I
(12:38):
hung in there, and I just let the truth speak
for itself. And as as usual, I had the receipts.
And at the end of the day, as I've said
from the beginning of this case, in at least in
my case, the truth has prevailed, and I believe the
(12:59):
truth will prevail in Mike's case as well.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
You know, I read about the things I keep up
with on Facebook and I look at all of the
people and this may has to have a lot of
people have picked up the book Michael Chappell, A lot.
I mean, I mean, you sold a lot of copies
of that book.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
I really don't know what the grand total is. I
gave away a.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Lot of copies of that book too, But you know,
it's it's done its job. It certainly was the inspiration
for the podcast in the Land of Lies, which you
know has you know, ten digits of downloads.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
I mean, it's last I knew it was like twelve
to fifteen million, and that was probably a year ago.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
So there's been a lot of people that have heard
the podcast, which was based on and inspired.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
By my book. I have written another.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Book, book, which I'm going to tell you a little
bit about when we close up. Yeah, and and uh,
I am I'm cautiously optimistic that that that book will
do well because I know there are a lot of
people that have expressed interest in wanting to know the
(14:24):
whole story and wanting to know the backstory, kind of
as you led let off this interview.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Like hey, you know what what caused this drama? What
caused this play? And uh. And so I've written a
book called Killing Henry. That's gonna tell you. It's gonna
tell you all the gory details.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
And and the name Killing Henry isn't just metaphorical. And
that's all I can tell you is, uh, it's it's
not just a metaphorical name. I think it's once you
read the book, you'll understand the appropriateness of it. And
it's just a battle that I never never would have.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Dreamed I would have had to fight, but I did.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
And you know, I feel like we pulled through it
and the truth prevailed and we came out standing strong.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
So what's next? We'll see states.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
What I've noticed, you've been writing a lot on Southern Voice.
Talk about some of the articles you've written there.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
So the Southern Voice is a great platform.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
You know, it's it's all things Southern's.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
It's supposed to be.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Light reading, you know, historical stuff. You know, it's not
intended to get into religion or politics, although you know,
sometimes inevitably, as life does here in the South, it's
intertwined with religion and politics. So those topics come up,
(16:10):
even though they're not the focus of the Southern Voice.
But I've written about you know, like the Hatfields and McCoy's.
I've written about my ancestor Daniel Boone.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
I've written about the.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Cold Wars, which I called America's Second Civil War.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Which you know, was a really popular series on the
Southern Voice.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
And you know, really, I don't know if you've ever
seen the movie mate One about the mate Wan massacre
and the Cold Wars back in the nineteen twenties, I believe,
twenties or thirties. It's just fascinating stuff, man. And so
I understand that that kind of thing happened, uh here
(17:00):
in America. Is is fascinating and and so that's the
kind of stuff that I write about at the Southern Voice.
Jim Harris, who is the petitor in chief of the
Southern Voice, does allow me to, uh, you know, occasionally
write articles that are connected to Michael Chappell or bring
(17:23):
up things that relate to Michael Chapel. For instance, I
did an article about Befor Pusser when the new information
came out about him, and and there was some things
about the forensics, uh that led to them saying.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
That he would be indicted for his wife's.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Murder that are similar to the forensics that we're looking
at in the imaging Thompson case.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
And and you know, in the view for Pusser case,
those facts and evidence led to.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Suspicion against Puster, but in Mike's case, those similar or
saying facts and evidence really leads to Mike's exoneration. And
and he's been kind enough to let me, you know,
let me write about that kind of stuff as well.
So I enjoy writing for The Southern Boy. It's it's
(18:24):
one of the many things that keeps me busy aside
from my full time job and you know, raising a family,
and one of the things that I probably don't have
as much time for but.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
I do enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
One thing you mentioned the Beauford Pusser story. Okle Dean Baldwin,
who is related to Missus Pusser, has written a book
Murder of Pauline Pusser and Murder of Pauline Pusser Solved.
And I had him on this show way back when,
and he came about and he told about it. Now
(19:00):
has been you know, determined that yes, PF. Pusser may
have killed her, and I'm going to have it back
on this show. Talked about talk about that story, and
it's a fascinating story.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
So men, yeah, absolutely check out my article about it.
He probably went into a lot more detail if he
if he's wrote the t in I actually know which
two books you're talking about, and uh there, Yeah, there's
a lot of information out there. It had been, there
(19:33):
had been a lot of information out there.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
I had considered writing about it some time ago because
you know, there was enough information to cause serious doubt.
But then once they exhumed her body and the you know,
forensic people were able to you know, really look at
the forensics of the case.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
There's there there's there's there's no doubt out that it
did not happen the way you for Pussers said it happened.
You know, does that mean.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Definitively that they proved he killed her. No, they haven't
proved that he killed her, but there is enough evidence,
according to the current district attorney, to indict him for murder.
He was alive, and there certainly is enough evidence to
prove that the story he told back then was not true.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Yeah, it's been very interesting in talking with Oakley Dean.
He is a former deputy sheriff and so he's got
some background in this and he's retired now, but he
has he's part of the family, missus Pusser's family. He's
written extensively about it, and it got the TBI to
look at it. That's that's that's a good case. It's
(20:54):
gonna be fun. This show is going to be coming
up on this this this show pretty soon. Where you
where is your stuff available on The Southern Voice?
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Uh So, it's just The Southern Voice, which is a
Facebook page. It's by Jim Harris, but you can find
it on Facebook, the Southern Voice.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
And then of course our Facebook group is still active.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
The Michael Chapel is Innocent project, and we'll soon have
henryball dot com up and running, which we'll have all
of my links and all of my information.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
And that's just henryball dot Com.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
The Michael Michael Chapel cases is really it's really been
a part of your life for so long. I hope
it comes to an end on the seventh of November,
I really do. I hope they hope they let Michael
Chapel off. I don't believe he did it. I don't
believe he did it, and I think you're the one
who should get get credit for that for him if
(22:02):
he gets off, and I hope he does get off.
I hope he really does. Where's it going to be held?
The court going to be held? Where's court gonna be held?
Speaker 3 (22:10):
Today?
Speaker 2 (22:11):
So the court room is down in Long County, but
it's actually going to be on zoom okay, And if
you go to Michael Chapel is Innocent on Facebook.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
We will have the link.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
I would you know, I would check on November sixth
or November seventh, early November seventh, but we'll hopefully we'll
be able to post it on November sixth, where you'll
just be able to log in and watch watch it
live and then, and I believe it'll be available afterwards,
(22:46):
which it was in March, so I believe it'll be
available afterwards.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
But the entire hearing will be on Zoom.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
And you'll be down there for the trial that.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
I'll be at the attorney's office with Billy Renning. So
I'm we're not one hundred percent sure if I'm going
to need to testify again, but.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
I will be available. I have been.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Continuing to work with Billy and the defense team, and
we We've actually got a lot of really cool stuff
going on behind the scenes, and I wish I could.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
Tell you more about it.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
If you want to schedule an interview for right after
the maybe I'll be able to tell you a lot
more about that stuff.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
But for right now, we need to kind of keep
it quiet.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
But there's a lot of really cool stuff going on
behind the scenes.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
I understand. I certainly understand the need to keep it
quiet until the seven after the seventh. So that's I
don't want to I don't want to depress you and
giving us anything you don't want you have to give us.
I want to thank you to hear me. I thank
you for talking to many and I want people to
go check it out if you haven't got the book yet.
The book is called Michael Chapel. It is a great
book and Henry Ball is the author of it. And
(24:05):
where can they get information, hey about you?
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Well, the book is available at storied Press dot store.
That's storied Press dot store. And again we are building
Henriyball dot com as my website, which we'll have links
to all of our platforms and we'll have that up
(24:32):
and running really soon. So keep an eye on Henryball
dot com. And if you want the book, please go
to storied Press dot store. And we are announcing I
believe this week, so by the time you air, we
are announcing pre sales for Killing Henry. So Killing Henry
(24:53):
is going on sale next week.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Henry, thank you for taking time and talk to me today.
I appreciate it very much.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Thank you, John, always a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
That's Henry Ball, author of Michael Chapel. You find copies
of that at Storiedpress dot press Storedpress dot press. You
can also find out about them at the Michael Chaplin's
Innocent project on Facebook. And his latest book is coming
up soon. It's called Killing Henry that'll be released a
little bit later on. If you have questions or comments
(25:23):
on today's program, you can email me, John Clark at
Georgianewsnetwork dot com. Thanks for listening. I'll talk to you
next week right here on your favorite local radio station
on Georgia Focus
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