In Herman's Own Words

Following are excerpts from a letter I received from Herman. It was his intention to let me know of his innocence and to give a bit of background on his case. It has been retyped here, but has not been edited.



Dear Mr. Wollenberg,

By the time this letter reaches you, may it find you well and listening to God's messages and winks to you as you go through your journey in life.

Neal, if you don't mind, to begin this letter, I would like to state for your thoughts and record that I didn't kill this person or know who did. I am sorry, but I wasn't no goody two shoes, and was lost in this world, where I was blind, foolish and wasn't trying to listen to God. I got pick up on this murder cause this meth and cocaine person told the police that me, her and this other guy named Bethwith went to rob Denise Stawokoski, which whit cocaine person named Goldie Fisher told the police that Bethwith shot and killed this person and this is how my name got involved in this murder case.

Well, I went to trial where the two lawyer I had told me I had nothing to worry about because this person had sex within an hour before she died and more than likely maybe this was the person who killed her, so they called no witnesses for me, checked none of the people who could have verified a lot of the things I could have explained, so I went to trial believing in them and the jury found me guilty. Now being as foolish and stupid, I cry, and thought my life was over. How could I get out? The jury had said (guilty) and I really thought, yes it was it, my life over!!!

So, I lay around in this place feeling sorry for myself, then finally a "Angel" came into my life... and told me I need to take this law class on how to research law... So after I finally passed the class, I filed a motion to the court acting pro-se and the judge granted me every request I asked for which included a DNA Testing Act, Conflict of Interest and mishandling of evidence.

Now let me explain, the prosecutor told the jury that I had blood on my clothes which wasn't mine, so it must have been the victim's blood. Also the prosecutor told the jury that a cigarette butt was found in the back seat of the victim's car and I was the only person who smoked this cigarette. So I asked the prosecutor to send me all of the paperwork so we know what is going to be tested, someone in the prosecutor's office, sent me the paperwork and (it was noted that) the police officer had taken all of the evidence home to his house for three days. WHY? Why would this officer go to the crime lab and sign out all this evidence when that was the proper place for it to be kept properly?

So, I file another motion in court and tell the judge what this officer had done and the judge granted me a new hearing to challenge why this officer had taken the evidence home which is a no-no concerning the handling of evidence (ed. note: Possibly breaking the chain of evidence).

The conflict of interest matter was that my lawyer was representing a client that was going to testify against me (in return for making a deal that would get his sentence reduced). So my lawyer came to me and said, I know someone who is going to testify against you, I need $2500 to make this person go away. So, I gave him $2500 (two diamand rings and a gold watch) to make this witness go away and he gave me a receipt for this. Now I know you have a lot of common sense, but why would God expose all this information to me 15 years later? The prosecutor never told the jury that the police had took the evidence home for three days. The attorney client privilege was violated when he took money from me and the State of Nebraska was also paying his fee to represent me. The prosecutor never turned over the report to the police actions so we could have challenged where this officer tampered with this evidence. Nobody got up on the stand and pointed and said, "Herman Buckman killed this person. The police and the prosecutor wanted me off the streets because I was breaking into drug stores back then and they knew this but couldn't catch me, but to accuse me of murder, no way and I've been here for eighteen years and still say, I didn't do it and if it's God's will for me to stay here, the so be it." Because as much as I hate this place, God has touched my life where I'm serving a purpose.

If I'd had a different lawyer back then, I wouldn't be in prison because the DNA showed there was never no blood on my clothes when the state expert testified for the state. The cigarette butt showed three other people's DNA on it, but the prosecutor told the jury that I alone smoked the cigarette and my lawyer never challenged none of this evidence. If I had just half a lawyer who might have cared about me, I wouldn't be here, because Neal, I didn't kill this person and no matter how things may look, their are explenations for all the things the prosecutor accused me of and can be explained now.

I have God behind me now, Amen...

Sincerely,

Herman Buckman