Murder or Suicide?
48 Hours detailed a very interesting story this past weekend about a police officer from Wisconsin whose wife was found dead during the final stages of their divorce.
John Maloney’s wife, Sandy, was found charred to death on her living room sofa. She had what appeared strangulation marks on her neck and blunt trauma injury to her head. The case clearly pointed to murder.
The police didn’t have enough evidence however to convict Maloney so they convinced his then girlfriend at the time to try to get Maloney to confess. They wired a room and recorded Maloney interact with his girlfriend.
On the video tape you see a tense stand off between Maloney and his girlfriend. She starts questioning him — asking out right — if he killed his wife. Maloney’s adamantly denies it and his words become abusive. You feel an undeniable anger that is raging inside him. Maloney gets in his girlfriend’s face — too close for comfort — on multiple occasions. He makes you feel like he could tip over-the-brink-of-sanity several times though he never lays on finger on his girlfriend. In the last bit of tape shown on 48 hours, Maloney says that he was at his wife’s house the night of the crime. He says nothing else nor does he admit he killed his wife.
It was this tape that was the biggest blow for Maloney’s case. This is what the Special Prosecutor used to arrest and convict him.
Yet when Maloney is interviewed on 48 hours, and speaks of the crime — he stands firmly by his innocence. He swears he had nothing to do with the crime, and I truly believe him. His facial expressions are genuine and real. He shows emotions appropriately. I think this is an innocent man who has a raging temper.
The case goes to court and Maloney is found guilty of strangulation and setting his wife’s body on fire. Six years go by and then Special Prosecutor Joe Paulus, the prosecutor who tried Maloney’s case was charged and convicted of bribery and income tax evasion. That’s right, Paulus was taking money to fix cases. Cases that were fixed when Maloney was charged and convicted.
At the same time, “Sheila Berry, who had never even met Maloney, took up his cause. Berry is a part-time novelist, part-time investigator, and part-time head of Truth in Justice, a non-profit group that tries to help people it feels are wrongly imprisoned. ” (48 hours)
She uncovered a lot of evidence that Special Prosecutor Paulus never brought up in court. Not only does Berry believe that Sandy Maloney wasn’t murdered, she believed she killed herself.
“She says the evidence was in the basement of the Maloney house, where police
recorded a bizarre scene: two VCRs on top of a coffee table. And from the ceiling, there appeared to be a ligature hanging from a conduit pipe, right down in front of the coffee table.The autopsy showed that Sandy was very drunk the night she died. Berry thinks Sandy tried to hang herself with the electrical cord: “She made a suicide attempt, at least a gesture, but enough of a gesture to jump off that coffee table and hit her — back of her head.”
Then, as Berry’s theory goes, Sandy tried to clean up in the basement shower. But ultimately, she ended up on the first floor, where she collapsed into unconsciousness on the couch while smoking. It was that lit cigarette, Berry believes, that caused the fire. “There certainly was a big death wish going on,” says Berry. “She did want to die.” (48 hours)
In support of this theory, Berry finds that police discovered multiple suicide notes written by Sandy in the garbage. Suicide notes that were never brought up at Maloney’s trial. The jury never even heard the theory that Maloney’s wife tried to commit suicide.
Berry goes on to find blood evidence to support her story. She also notes that the police were unable to find any blood evidence that linked Maloney to this crime scene. Berry believes that Sandy Maloney drank herself to death and died of alcohol poisoning. It was well known that Sandy had serious alcohol and drug problems.
Sandy Maloney had lost custody of her kids, had lost her marriage and had nothing left to live for. The following day her divorce was to be made final.
The twists and turns in this case are astonishing.
Even worse is what the defense attorney for Maloney did in this case. It was another tragedy for Maloney. He didn’t defend Maloney’s innocence with Sandy’s suicide notes. Oh no. He instead argued Maloney’s girlfriend killed Sandy. Absolute absurdity. Absurdity that helped convict Maloney if you ask me. It makes you wonder where his allegiances were at the time of this trial.
There are so many facts to this case, you can only wonder what the truth is. But when I watch John Maloney speak about this case, I believe he is telling the truth. His facial expressions are consistent with what he is saying. I get a deep sense he didn’t kill his wife.
I believe John Maloney truly deserves another trial but the current Special Prosecutor doesn’t believe John Maloney. He still believes Maloney killed his wife regardless of the new facts– and Maloney continues live out his life-sentence.
I think this a big injustice. A tragedy.
