DeniseJ
08-31-2004, 12:31 PM
Hit man in '92 death denied parole
By Samira Jafari
The Associated Press
James Dennison White, who confessed to being the hit man who killed a prominent Huntsville ophthalmologist in 1992, was denied parole Monday.
White, 53, an unemployed handyman, was accused of murdering Dr. James Wilson after accepting money from the doctor's wife and her twin sister.
Wilson's two sons attended Monday's hearing, and told the parole board that White's life sentence with possibility of parole was enough leniency. They described their father as a community servant who would often treat patients who couldn't afford medical help.
"I have a son and two daughters who will never know what a wonderful man my father -- their grandfather -- was," said John Scott Wilson, who showed the board photographs of his father before and after he was beaten and stabbed to death.
White's girlfriend, Sherry Smith, said she corresponds with White through phone calls and letters and has noticed positive changes in him.
"He is a totally different person since he's been in there," she said.
White, who is eligible for parole again in August 2009, confessed to killing the doctor and testified against the women in exchange for a plea bargain. White admitted getting $5,000 from the sisters to kill the doctor, but later recanted. In 1993, the widow, Betty Wilson, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life without parole -- but in a separate trial her twin sister, school teacher Peggy Lowe of Shelby County, was found innocent.
Wayne Sharp, a Huntsville police homicide investigator, told the board that releasing White would be dangerous. He described the brutal nature of the murder, saying Wilson died from nine lacerations to his skull from an aluminum baseball bat and two stab wounds to his stomach. "If he would do this for $5,000, what would he do to someone he was mad at?" Sharp said.
By Samira Jafari
The Associated Press
James Dennison White, who confessed to being the hit man who killed a prominent Huntsville ophthalmologist in 1992, was denied parole Monday.
White, 53, an unemployed handyman, was accused of murdering Dr. James Wilson after accepting money from the doctor's wife and her twin sister.
Wilson's two sons attended Monday's hearing, and told the parole board that White's life sentence with possibility of parole was enough leniency. They described their father as a community servant who would often treat patients who couldn't afford medical help.
"I have a son and two daughters who will never know what a wonderful man my father -- their grandfather -- was," said John Scott Wilson, who showed the board photographs of his father before and after he was beaten and stabbed to death.
White's girlfriend, Sherry Smith, said she corresponds with White through phone calls and letters and has noticed positive changes in him.
"He is a totally different person since he's been in there," she said.
White, who is eligible for parole again in August 2009, confessed to killing the doctor and testified against the women in exchange for a plea bargain. White admitted getting $5,000 from the sisters to kill the doctor, but later recanted. In 1993, the widow, Betty Wilson, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life without parole -- but in a separate trial her twin sister, school teacher Peggy Lowe of Shelby County, was found innocent.
Wayne Sharp, a Huntsville police homicide investigator, told the board that releasing White would be dangerous. He described the brutal nature of the murder, saying Wilson died from nine lacerations to his skull from an aluminum baseball bat and two stab wounds to his stomach. "If he would do this for $5,000, what would he do to someone he was mad at?" Sharp said.