Unjust conviction?
I am writing to express my disgust at the way this newspaper handled the trial of Franklin Weimer. The articles were all extremely one sided. The things that actually went on and the things that were actually said were not printed. Frank Weimer was convicted before the trial even began. He knew that he would never get a fair trial in this county. And that was proven on Nov. 8, when it took less than two hours to decide his fate. An innocent baby is dead. That itself is tragic. But that baby was not murdered. That was proven by the defense in court. It was proven by the medical expert. The medical expert showed exactly how the injuries occurred. The defense showed exactly how this trial was fixed from the very beginning.
They showed the incomplete police report where Frank did tell them back in 1996 exactly what happened that night, but they say that the tape ran out. So no one thought to put in a new one? That right there shows that something is not right.
Why was the testimony from the two paramedics who were on the scene so completely different? Two paramedics arriving together, they are led into court separately. The first one states that Frank acted like it was a big inconvenience. Then the second paramedic says that Frank was the one running down the road with a flashlight to flag them down because it took so long to get there. How can you have two completely different versions of the same event? Someone obviously wasn’t telling the truth.
I sat in the front row of that courtroom during the sentencing. I heard everything that was said about Frank. I saw how Zachary’s mother and grandmothers got on the stand to talk about him.
I saw that when Julie Johnson Marinelli was asked to tell how her son’s death had impacted her life she asked, “Can I read what I wrote down?” You can’t tell how something like that has affected you in your own words? You have to read from a prepared statement?
Not one of those three women shed a tear for Zachary. Yet, Channel 11 News and Stuart Brown say they were crying. The media are supposedly here to report the truth, but apparently that only happens if you know the right people or have the right amount of money to lay down.
Frank Weimer is not a murderer. He would never intentionally harm anyone. He is a sweet, warm and loving man. He has the biggest heart of anyone that I have ever known. And the fact that he has been sentenced to 22 1/2 to 45 year in prison is the biggest injustice of them all.
Shannon Beck
Masontown
Hit-and-run accident
At 1:15 p.m. on Oct. 22, a brown truck hit our 1992 Taurus in the parking lot of 20 Highland Park Drive. State police arrived at 3:30 p.m.
They showed up too late to ask anyone if they saw anything. So I am asking that if anyone could identify anyone or description of person in truck or license plate number, call the state police.
Also, while I’m at it, I would like to say to the person that said “crash” while the state police were writing down information, that was wrong.
Robert Warner
Smithfield