Johnny Small was just 15 when police came to arrest him in 1988 — so young he assumed he was in trouble for a curfew violation. Instead, police charged him with the first-degree murder of a woman who owned a tropical-fish store — a place Small said he had never even visited.
He was convicted and sentenced to life behind bars, mainly on the testimony of a co-defendant — a friend who once lived with Small’s family. That man, David Bollinger, has since recanted.
Bollinger said he testified only because prosecutors promised his charge would be dropped in exchange, and threatened the death penalty if he did not cooperate.
Now, 43-year-old Small has a chance of freedom. A hearing was scheduled to begin yesterday for Small, who has always maintained his innocence. The judge could vacate the conviction, order a new trial or uphold the conviction.
Small “has spent his entire adult life and part of his childhood in prison for a crime he did not commit,” a defense motion said.
Now, he is grateful his one-time friend, Bollinger, came forward, even though it took decades, he told reporters in an interview at New Hanover County Correctional Center.
“He is doing what he thinks is right, what he knows is right,’’ Small said. “And I’m happy for that. But am I going to jump for joy? No. Because he should have.”
If Small is released, it will be into a world that he has only seen on television. Before prison, he listened to music on cassette tapes. He has never used a cellphone or Facebook.
He has driven a car, but not legally, he said, breaking into one of his few smiles during the interview.
He has made no big plans if he is released other than seeking therapy, leaving Wilmington and getting a job.
Defense attorney Chris Mumma is hopeful Small will go free — no physical evidence tied him to the death of Pam Dreher at her fish shop — and she said in court filings that there is “absolutely no remaining evidence of guilt in the case.”
Prosecutors declined to comment, but in response to defense motions said the latest evidence “does little other than discredit or impeach witness testimony, making it insufficient to support a claim for a new trial and certainly does not support outright dismissal of the case.”
A record 149 people falsely convicted of crimes were exonerated last year, according to the National Registry of Exonerations. The registry is a project of the University of Michigan Law School and has documented more than 1,850 such cases in the US.
Bollinger called the North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence in 2012, saying his testimony was false. Small’s defense motion lays out other discrepancies, including problems with the Crimestoppers call that lead police to Small and Bollinger.
At trial, Bollinger testified that he had no deal with prosecutors. After the North Carolina Court of Appeals upheld Small’s conviction in 1991, the charge against Bollinger was dropped. Bollinger’s attorney declined to comment to reporters.
Small said he does not blame Bollinger anymore.
“I just let it go because it was hurting me more than it was doing anything,” Small said. “I was hurting myself. Carrying around all that hate, what’s it going to do? It’s going to destroy you.”
Tropical Paradise owner Dreher was 32 when she died of a single gunshot wound to the head.
Reports at the time of Dreher’s death said police believed robbery was the motive — US$173 was missing from the register — but her purse and jewelry were left behind.
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