Narrative
Example:
Jane A. Student
Factual Synopsis –The Wholaver Case
August 20,
2004
Resource Citation:
Sheffield, Reggie; “Judge rejects statement in Wholaver
case”; The Patriot-News, August 20, 2004,;page B3.
Judge John F. Cherry ruled that the prosecution
couldn’t submit a statement from a co-worker of victim Mrs. Wholaver as
evidence because the defense attorney Spero T. Lappas submitted it too late for
review. Ernest Wholaver, the
suspect charged with the triple murder of his wife and 2 daughters, is set to
appear in Dauphin County court next week on first-degree murder charges. The
prosecution charge that Earnest Wholaver, 44, planned the murders as an attempt
to silence his 2 daughters, Victoria, 20, and Elizabeth, 15, who had pending
charges of sexual molestation against their father in 2002. The evidence in
question is a statement from a co-worker of Jean Wholaver. The co-worker claims
that just days before the murders, Ernest Wholaver admitted having molested his
daughters to Jean Wholaver. The prosecution submitted the new evidence to Judge
Cherry only one week before the trail set to start new week. The Judge ruled the
statement from the co-worker was inadmissible because of insufficient time to
turn over to the defense. Judge Cherry did however rule in favor of the District
Attorney Francis T. Chardo when the Judge allowed an informant from the jail to
recount conversations the informant had with Wholaver while they were sharing a
jail cell. The informant will recount Wholaver’s claims to have hired a
hit-man to kill Victoria Wholaver’s ex-boyfriend. The prosecution believes
that Wholaver was attempting to cover up the murders by staging a suicide,
including a written admission of guilt from the ex-boyfriend.