Johnny Frank Garrett// Wrongful Conviction? (part 2)

In 1982, 18-year-old Johnny Frank Garrett is given the death sentence for the rape and murder

of Sister Tadea Benz. With little hope for an appeal, and with declining mental health, Johnny

Garrett awaits his execution.  However, the truth has a way of outing and in time many facts

surrounding this case will be brought to light. Potential coverups, shoddy investigative

techniques, inadequate defense, and questionable expert testimonies are all called into

question. The most important question though is what value is given to a life that may have

been wrongfully taken by the State? 

GALLERY

“Perhaps the most troubling part of the

story was when the sisters had told Bishop

Mathieson that Johnny Garrett had helped

them to move furniture in and out of the

convent and onto a moving truck. In the

process he was in all of the Sister’s

bedrooms, touching multiple pieces of

furniture. This occurred just before Sister

Tadea’s murder. Bishop Leroy Matthison

claimed that neither he nor any of the nuns

were ever questioned about Johnny’s visits to

the convent. One of Garrett's lawyers was

asked about his knowledge of these events.

Not surprisingly neither he nor his

counterpart had discovered this

information before the original trial. It was

information that could have been easily

uncovered if the defence team had bothered

to conduct routine interviews.”

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