The Crime

In 1994, Anthony Wainwright and Richard Hamilton escaped from a prison in Newport, North Carolina, before stealing a Cadillac and burglarizing a home, where they stole two rifles. Upon arrival in Florida, the two men decided to steal another vehicle due to problems with the Cadillac. In Lake City, they pulled into a Winn-Dixie parking lot. They spotted Carmen Gayheart loading groceries into a Ford Bronco. Hamilton forced her into the Bronco at gunpoint and drove off, with Wainwright following in the Cadillac. They later abandoned the Cadillac and turned into a wooded area, where Richard Hamilton raped and murdered Carmen Gayheart.

The Man

For over three years, I have worked with Anthony Wainwright, as both his spiritual advisor and friend. One of the things he has always insisted is that he never raped Carmen Gayheart. Truth be told, I didn’t believe him at first. Since I do this work all over the country, I am used to guys on death row trying to minimize their involvement in heinous crimes. Then, his attorneys shared a document with me about the DNA evidence in the case. This document was ultimately part of his appeals. I was left with no question that Wainwright did not rape anyone and his involvement in the actual murder was nonexistent.

The DNA

At Wainwright’s trial, the expert testimony regarding DNA samples was unreliable, inaccurate, and misleading. The attorneys for both parties then repeated inaccuracies in their arguments to the jury. Scientific testimony is complicated and sophisticated, and Mr. Wainwright’s jury did not have the information necessary to sift through the experts’ testimony and identify the errors.

There is no reliable scientific or DNA evidence that Mr. Wainwright participated in a sexual assault of the victim; further there is no reliable scientific or DNA evidence that ties Mr. Wainwright intimately to the victim in this case. The analysts, Pollock and DeGuglielmo specifically, inappropriately consulted with one another about their initial analyses, testified to matters that were not contained in their reports or notes, offered opinions that were not supported by statistics, and offered opinions that were not supported by reliable and verifiable testing. The attorneys then confused statistics that applied to Mr. Hamilton and argued to the jury that the statistics applied to Mr. Wainwright when there was no support for such.

Candy Zuleger*

Trinity DNA Solutions

*Former DNA Analyst for the State of Florida

The Atrocity

On June 10, Florida is trying to execute Anthony Wainwright to hold him responsible for the rape and murder of Carmen Gayheart. How can this be when there is absolutely nothing connecting him to the rape and murder of Carmen Gayheart? Before his own death, Richard Hamilton even signed an affidavit saying he was the main perpetrator. What’s going on? Florida is rushing to atrocity based on partial evidence.