When Reasonable Doubt was first published, Steve was hosting a talk show on Bloomington radio station WJBC, regularly interviewing special guests. So the tables were turned when Steve became the interviewee on his own show with local radio icon Don Munson posing the questions and fielding the phone calls.
The interview was timely–and not only because the book had just reached local bookstores. Just days before, the Illinois Supreme Court announced it would again review the conviction of David Hendricks in the murders of his wife and children after upholding the conviction only 10 months earlier.
Click below for some “flashback” radio.
Hi Steve. I was at the McLean county museum of history. I had a question, but didn’t get to ask. My question is why did Hendricks tell Crowe the night the bodies were found that he had left his home at midnight. However, he testified under oath at trial that he left at 11:00pm. It seems after the scientific testing of the gastric contents came out that he had tailored his testimony to get himself out of that home earlier than he originally said based on the scientific evidence. I was wondering your thoughts? Thank you for your presentation this evening at the courthouse.
Beth Brent (10 years old at time of murders)
A good question, Beth. It’s true Hendricks originally told investigators he left the house at around midnight and that in the trial he said it was closer to 11 p.m. (“About 11 o’clock, maybe slightly after. Not before 11,” were his exact words under oath.) Like you, prosecutors remarked that Hendricks had the benefit of hearing the entire prosecution case against him before he testified in his own defense, allowing him to tailor his testimony in a way that would bolster his defense. The time of his departure, of course, was critical. The later he left, the more likely he was at home when his wife and children were killed. Prosecutors claimed that a police road test of how long it took to drive the 300 miles from Bloomington to Stevens Point, Wis., showed it took six and a half hours if you built in three 15-minute stops along the way. A fast food restaurant receipt showed Hendricks was in Stevens Point at 7:12 a.m. That means, prosecutors said, that Hendricks left his house at about 12:45 a.m. My memory is that Hendricks stopped at a Perkins Restaurant for coffee on his way out of Bloomington and that a hand-written receipt he retained didn’t have an exact time on it but it did say Nov. 8. That would tend to indicate that he bought the coffee sometime after midnight. One could claim that under the stressed circumstances, in an early information-providing stage, a person who left at 11:15 p.m. or maybe even 12:45 a.m. might say “around midnight.” But it is true Hendricks had the opportunity to tailor his testimony at the trial. He says the police road test must have been at a high rate of speed. He correctly points out that the road was under heavy construction in 1983, but the same can be said about 1984 when the police test probably took place. For the record: Google Maps says with I-39 fully open, it now takes 4 hours and 38 minutes to drive from Bloomington to Stevens Point. The first stretch of the new four-lane highway opened in 1984, and I-39 was completed on Oct. 31, 1992. Thanks for attending tonight’s presentation, Beth. I hope you find the material in this “clippings” section both helpful and interesting.