BIGGEST DRAMA BEGINS TO UNFOLD

As it happened, the confrontation between Dalzell and Kenneff was neither
the most dramatic nor revealing sequence to occur on this 12th day of
Lisa's habeas hearing. The event that would eclipse it began only after
Kenneff left the witness stand, and court adjourned for lunch.

Madenspacher, walking toward his hotel, bumped into Hazel Show's brother,
who reported that his sister needed to talk to him. Back at the Holiday Inn
in downtown Philadelphia, where both were staying, Madenspacher walked up
to Show's room.

Sobbing as she talked, the murder victim's mother told him her story.

During the hearing that morning, she'd suddenly recalled the morning of the
murder: As she drove up Black Oak Road to her condo, on her way to find
Laurie's body, a brownishcolored car passed, heading out of the condo
complex. It was Butch's car. She looked at Butch. There was recognition on
his face. He pushed down someone with blond hair. There was also a third
person in the back seat, with black hair.

She'd told this to Det. Ron Savage back then. Savage had come to her house
saying one of her neighbors had seen Butch's car leave the complex. She'd
started to say she had too. Savage had stopped her, told her not to dwell
on that. They had so many witnesses saying Butch wasn't there. Besides,
this neighbor lady was kind of disturbed anyhow. Probably wouldn't be a
reliable witness. We were better to go with Butch not being there.

Hazel was sobbing harder now. She'd forgotten about it, she told
Madenspacher. She'd put it aside. Until now.

Madenspacher was reeling. Hazel's story fit exactly with testimony given by
that "neighbor lady," Kathleen Bayan, on the hearing's fourth day.
Testimony that Hazel hadn't heard because she'd left the courtroom early
that day. Testimony that had never been produced at Lisa's murder trial.
Testimony that Kenneff knew about back then but had never shared with
Lambert's attorney. Testimony that Savage had tried to water down while
taking Bayan's initial statement, then dismissed as coming from a woman
with "an emotional problem."

Hazel's story also fit perfectly with something else: Lisa Lambert's
testimony at her trial. There she'd told of driving by Hazel Show, of Butch
saying, "Oh . . . it's Hazel," of Butch pushing her head down.

Madenspacher pondered. If true, it seemed to him that this story knocked
out the underlying theory of the trial, which was that Butch wasn't at the
condo. It didn't mean Butch was actually inside; it didn't clear Lisa; it
could be explained. But it was a new story. It changed the theory of the
case. Madenspacher felt as if he were slipping into shock.

"You sure?" he asked. "Let's hear it again."

Hazel repeated her story.

Madenspacher had no choice: He had to get this to the judge. He couldn't
suppress it. The only question was, when and how? It was going to come out
anyway, Madenspacher figured. So let's get the bad news over with.

The conference in Dalzell's chambers began at 1:40 p.m. that day. Present
were the judge, the lawyers for all sides, Hazel Show and Lisa Lambert.

Hazel Show told her story again, this time before a court reporter: Well,
when I was sitting in the courtroom today, I realized that I had seen
Lawrence's [Butch's] car with passengers drive out of our condominium
complex. . . . Det. Savage said that I wasn't to dwell on it. . . . I never
thought anymore about it until I was sitting in there. . . . It all just
came back.

By now, Lisa was sobbing along with Hazel.

"It's OK, Miss Lambert," Dalzell said. "It's OK."

To Dalzell, this revelation was the final straw. Throughout Lisa's trial
the state had been at pains to keep Butch as far from the Show condo as
possible. No doubt that was why the state had never disclosed anything
about Hazel's report or Bayan.

To Dalzell, it wasn't just that Hazel's and Bayan's accounts were
consistent with Lisa's testimony at trial five years ago: Just about
everything being revealed at this hearing was consistent with Lisa's
testimony back then.

>From all he'd heard, Dalzell now believed that the commonwealth's
misconduct had been so substantive, it had undermined the state court's
ability to find the truth. He believed the commonwealth had committed at
least 25 separate instances of prosecutorial misconductall constitutional
violations, all violations of the norms of a civilized society.

It seemed clear to him that Laurie Show did not say "Michelle did it." It
seemed clear that Butch, in the 29 Questions Letter, confessed to the
murder. It seemed clear Lisa didn't wear Butch's sweatpants on the morning
of the murder. It seemed clear the police had fabricated Lisa's initial
statement.

Worse yet, in Dalzell's view, the commonwealth still hadn't stopped its
treachery. At this habeas hearing the state had produced not the
extralarge sweatpants of Butch's from the original trial, but a smaller
girl's pair. The commonwealth, Dalzell believed, had perpetrated a fraud on
the federal court; the commonwealth had swapped evidence.

At least six state witnesses, by Dalzell's count, had perjured themselves
before him. One, Ron Savagenow an elected district justice in Lancaster
Countylikely obstructed justice. And now this: now Hazel's revelation,
right before his eyes. Hazel had every reason to want Lisa's petition
denied; Hazel sincerely believed Lambert did it. Yet still she'd felt
compelled to tell this story. Dalzell had never seen a more courageous act.

"Well," the judge told those gathered in his chambers. "Now we come to the
question of relief. Does the commonwealth intend to defend this case?"

All eyes turned to Madenspacher.

The Lancaster County district attorney had been looking uncomfortable in
recent days. Nothing he'd heard rose to the level of conscious misconduct
or obstruction, he kept insisting. But he had to admit, it hadn't been a
perfect trial or investigation. He wished certain things had been done
differently.

In Lancaster County, then as now, there were many who wanted their district
attorney to fight ferociously. There were many who wanted their district
attorney to defend their honor, to insist they'd done nothing wrong, to
match Lisa's lawyers blow for blow. Yet, Madenspacher, at this moment,
wasn't sure what should be done. Everything, he would say later, was
"spinning in my mind." It was "awful tough" operating away from the office.
It "would have been nice" to have known everything from the start.

"Now, obviously . . . " he finally told the judge. "There is some relief
that is justified in this particular case. . . ."

That was all Dalzell needed; he now had the commonwealth's assent. The
state hadn't even put on its case yet, but he meant to get Lisa out of
prison. He also meant to get Savage off the bench forever; he didn't see
how Savage could hear cases anymore, and he planned to tell the
Pennsylvania Supreme Court just that.

"You can make a choice overnight," Dalzell advised the district attorney,
"whether you want to defend this case, put on your own witnesses. In the
meantime, I'm going to release Ms. Lambert into some agreedupon custody. .
. . Because it's quite clear now that the petitioner is entitled to relief,
the only question is how much."

Off to one side, a dismayed Hazel Show tried to interject: "Laurie told me
she did it. . . . "

Madenspacher's voice overrode hers. "Yes, I agree relief is warranted, and
I think we're talking now. . . . "

"About what relief," the judge said.

"What relief, your honor . . . "

"I can tell you, Mr. Madenspacher, that I've thought about nothing else but
this case for over three weeks, and in my experience, sir, and I invite you
to disabuse me of this at oral argument, I want you and I want the Schnader
firm to look for any case in any jurisdiction in the Englishspeaking world
where there has been as much prosecutorial misconduct, because I haven't
found it. . . . So are we agreed that the petitioner will tonight be
released into the custody of Ms. Rainville?"

Madenspacher nodded. "I don't see how I can object to that, your honor."

[continued]

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