Pod Insights Dark Downeast The Murder of Penny Anderson (Massachusetts) About this episode When a woman was found murdered in her Springfield, Massachusetts apartment during the spring of 1984, it only took a matter of days to zero in on a suspect and secure an arrest. And then at trial, a jury decided Edward Wright was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
The New England Innocence Project has since taken up his case. So, who really killed Penny Anderson? Was it the man serving a life sentence for her death or someone else?
Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
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1:05 Kylie Low? When a woman was found murdered in her Springfield, Massachusetts apartment during the spring of 1984, it only took a matter of days to zero in on a suspect and secure an arrest. And then, at trial, a jury decided Edward Wright was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The New England Innocence Project has since taken up his case. So who really killed Penny Anderson? Was it the man serving a life sentence for her death? Or someone else? I'm Kylie Low, and this is the case of Penny Anderson on Dark Down East.
1:48 Kylie Low? A resident of an apartment building in Springfield, Massachusetts, was in a deep sleep when something cut through the quiet of his slumber just before 4:00 a.m. on May 14, 1984. Blinking into the dark, it took a moment for him to register what he was hearing. A woman was screaming, and it sounded like it was coming from the building next door. The man rose and crossed the room to his window, his eyes tilted upward to lights on inside a neighboring apartment in the same direction of the noise. He could just barely make out the words, "Please, don't do it," she was yelling. The woman was calling out for someone to call the police, but the neighbor stood there helpless.
2:31 Kylie Low? He didn't have a phone. For fifteen long minutes, the screams continued before the night went quiet again. Then all he heard was the distant sound of a car's engine turning over and driving off. Hours later, around 2:00 PM that afternoon, a woman pressed her ear up against the door of her daughter's second-floor apartment at 306 Dwight Street Extension in Springfield. She could hear a baby, her grandson, crying on the other side. But when she knocked and called out to her daughter, no one came to the door. The woman soon returned with her husband and an official from the Springfield Housing Authority who owned the apartment building.
3:15 Kylie Low? It was just after 3:00 PM when they stepped inside the unit to a terrible scene. Twenty-four-year-old Penny Anderson was lifeless on the living-room floor, lying in a pool of blood. In the next room, still crying but thankfully unharmed in his crib, was Penny's eight-month-old son. The baby was safe in the arms of his grandmother as Springfield police were called to the address. Court records show that Penny was fully clothed when her body was found, but her hands were bound with a blood-soaked length of pink ribbon. According to reporting by Cynthia Semison for The Republican, an autopsy revealed that she'd been stabbed sixty times and died from a fatal wound to her jugular vein and one
4:00 Kylie Low? to the carotid artery. Tests also indicated the presence of seminal fluid and sperm cells in Penny's body. She likely died the same day she was found, between midnight and 6:15 AM, but the medical examiner could not determine a more precise time of death. What was clear, though, was that this was a violent homicide. At Penny's apartment detectives could see no signs of forced entry, or any indication that it had been ransacked. Helene Lightstone reports for the Morning Union that there was no weapon at the scene, and no foreign fingerprints to speak of either. However, police collected at least fifteen pieces of evidence from the scene,
4:44 Kylie Low? including blood samples. They found a bloody shoe print in the kitchen, and photographed the visible tread pattern. Conversations with witnesses helped to piece together the final hours of Penny's life. Pamela H. Metaxas reports for The Republican that Penny was last seen alive on Sunday night at the Club 418 Lounge a few blocks down from her apartment building. Penny previously worked at the lounge as a dancer, but was reportedly between jobs at the time of her death. A dancer at the club who knew Penny told police that she saw Penny there around 11:30 PM on May 13. She watched as Penny screamed at a man, and hurried out of the bar.
5:28 Kylie Low? Penny was pointing at the guy as she yelled, and dropped her purse in the process spilling the contents all over the floor. She left soon after. The man Penny was reportedly yelling at that night was a former boyfriend, Alan Smalls. When police tracked him down for a conversation, Alan confirmed that he was at Club 418 Lounge on Sunday night. He explained that he'd known Penny for about six years, and yes, they dated for a time, but he ended things with her in the summer of 1982. According to his signed but not sworn statement, Alan saw Penny at the club several times over the course of that evening. At one point, he said he saw a man whispering in Penny's ear,
6:13 Kylie Low? and then Penny left with that same man around 11:00 PM. As for the heated exchange that the other witness saw, Alan's version was that Penny was on her way out the door, and he asked her where she was going, and she told him she was going to pick up her son and then was going to bring the guy back to her apartment to have sex. Alan told her, quote, "Don't go home because I'll be there when you get there," end quote. Penny reminded Alan that they weren't together anymore, and then she left. He said that was the last time he saw Penny that night. Alan told police he left the nightclub soon after and drove home on his moped. He said he was pulled over and ticketed for a motor vehicle violation on the way,
6:58 Kylie Low? and by the time he finally made it back around 3:30 in the morning, everyone he lived with was already asleep. Back at Penny's apartment building, police spoke with that neighbor who'd heard screaming coming from Penny's apartment, and then a car driving away. This narrowed the estimated time of her death to a little after 4:00 a.m. Detectives also interviewed another neighbor, who said she saw Penny drive up to the apartment building in a car with a man, and they both went into Penny's apartment around 12:45 a.m. So who was that man? Police believed he could have answers about what happened to Penny, so tracking him down was top priority.
7:42 Kylie Low? As interviews with witnesses continued in Penny's case, across town, a man named Arthur Turner was recovering from a long night. He'd been traveling home from a trip on the night of May 13, when he got into a car accident. According to court documents, Arthur finally made it home to Springfield around 1 o'clock that afternoon. A few hours later, the phone rang, and a tired Arthur picked up. The caller said it was Ed. Arthur only knew one person named Ed who might be calling, his mother Thelma's boyfriend, Edward Wright. But Ed and Thelma weren't on good terms at the time. Thelma had recently filed for a protective order against Ed,
8:27 Kylie Low? and Arthur and Ed weren't exactly best buds either. They'd known each other for about three years and had lived in the same house at one point, but they hadn't talked on the phone before. Court records describe Ed and Arthur's relationship as hostile. Still, Arthur listened as the caller explained that he'd done something wrong. He killed someone, a white woman in Springfield. Ed gave Arthur the address, 306 Dwight Street Extension.
8:57 Kylie Low? During the 36-minute-long conversation, the caller went on to say that he had sex with the woman before stabbing her with a 14-inch knife. He claimed he did this because she fired a gun at him. The caller said the victim was possibly under the influence of drugs, which he referred to as "tik", and he called the woman "a pejorative term often directed at individuals engaged in sex work". He told Arthur to watch the news or read the paper to learn the victim's name. Arthur did read about the murder in the paper the next day, and that phone call from the night before was fresh in his mind. Arthur told his sister about it, who told their brother, and the brother decided to go to police.
9:41 Kylie Low? Arthur spoke with investigators on May 16th and told them everything the caller said about the murder. He then signed a statement prepared by police without making any changes. Edward G. Wright Jr. was on the case radar before Arthur even signed that statement. In fact, on May 15th, police showed Penny's former boyfriend Alan Smalls a photo array to see if he could identify the man she left the club with on the night of her murder. Alan pointed to Ed's picture.
10:16 Kylie Low? When the warrant was issued for Ed's arrest in connection with the murder of Penny Anderson, he was already being held by Wilmington, Delaware authorities for an unrelated charge. An hour after his arrest on the murder charges, Ed gave a statement to a Delaware police officer, and he admitted to being with Penny on the night she was killed. He said that they went to pick up her son and then went back to Penny's apartment together where they drank beer and had sex. But Ed insisted that she was alive and asleep when he left her apartment around 1:00 a.m.
10:52 Kylie Low? During this interview with Delaware Police, Ed reportedly made comments about Penny being under the influence of drugs that night, using the term "tick", and he called her a derogatory word for sex worker. It was the same language and terminology that the caller used during that phone call to Arthur, but Ed denied having that conversation with Arthur. He maintained that he was not responsible for Penny's death. Police seized Ed's shoes as evidence and processed the vehicle he was driving on the night of May 13, into the early hours of May 14. In the meantime, Ed was held in Delaware for about five months until he was extradited in October.
11:36 Kylie Low? Officials from Massachusetts traveled with him back to the Northeast, where he would appear in Springfield District Court to be arraigned. Ed was charged with first-degree murder, accused of the deliberate, premeditated homicide with extreme atrocity and cruelty. Ed entered a not guilty plea in Hampton County Superior Court, and was held without bail at the county jail.
12:03 Kylie Low? The investigation of Penny's murder had uncovered enough evidence for an arrest and indictment, but the case was not entirely without doubt. When the analysis of Ed's shoes came back, the grid pattern on the sole of the sneakers appeared to match the bloody footprints in Penny's apartment. But that wasn't necessarily conclusive evidence that Ed had been in the apartment at the time of Penny's murder, because the shoes were a common style at the time, and it didn't point exclusively to his sneakers as the contributor of those footprints. There was actually no trace of blood found on the sneakers themselves.
12:43 Kylie Low? However, investigators did find traces of blood on the floor of the car Ed was driving, as well as the steering wheel, turn signal, gas pedal, and headlight switch. But again, this didn't conclusively link Ed to the murder. Court records show that a chemist was unable to determine if the blood was even human, or how long the blood had been in the car. Interestingly, police interviewed the owner of that car, and he told them that a few weeks earlier, Ed himself had been attacked and stabbed. Court records show that on May 7, 1984, Ed sustained injuries in a knife attack, and was bleeding pretty badly when his friend gave Ed a ride to the hospital in that same
13:28 Kylie Low? vehicle. Hospital records and photos of Ed's injuries backed up this story. So it's possible that the blood in the car was from Ed's injuries weeks earlier. But it didn't explain away the location of the blood on the steering wheel and other controls in the car, presumably only touched by the driver. But what the case lacked in conclusive physical evidence? The witness statements seemed to make up for. There was that phone call from someone who said their name was Ed, admitting to the murder, Penny's former boyfriend who saw her leave the club with Ed, and the neighbor who saw Penny drive up to her apartment building and go into her unit with a man.
14:12 Kylie Low? That neighbor later identified Ed as the man she saw with Penny, and identified the vehicle he'd borrowed from a friend, as the one Penny drove up in on the night of her murder.
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15:00 Kylie Low? I've been trying to get a head start on holiday shopping this year, and I've realized that some of the best gifts are just really nice versions of things people already use every day, which is why I always turn to my BFF, Quince. I got my daughter the cutest lightweight puffer jacket, which is perfect for layering during these colder months. And don't worry, she doesn't know how to find the podcast app yet, so she won't hear this and spoil her gift. As a New Englander, high-quality outerwear is key, but I can't justify paying triple digits for a jacket that'll fit her for, like, two snowstorms. Quince is high-quality, everyday essentials, not high prices, because they work directly with factories and cut out the middleman. I know you can find what you're looking for from Quince:
15:44 Kylie Low? cashmere sweaters, organic cotton basics, bedding, luggage, a gift for everyone, and hey, pal, you deserve to treat yourself too. Gold hoop earrings, add to cart. Give the gift of quality this holiday season. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers, or go to quince.com. Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns, now available in Canada and the UK, too. And when Quince asks where you heard about them, let them know it was Dark Down East. It's the best way to support the show.
16:21 Kylie Low? The case proceeded to trial with jury selection beginning in April of 1985. Judge William W. Simons questioned potential jurors about many issues, including racial bias. Ed is a black man, and the judge had cautioned Ed and his attorney that asking these questions about racial bias could, quote, "activate a latent racial bias and may not uncover the true feelings of jurors so prejudiced that they may not admit they are," end quote. Edward still wanted the questions asked.
16:56 Kylie Low? And when the jury was finally seated, all but one member was white. There was one black woman on the panel and no black men. One of the jurors was an auxiliary Springfield police officer. During the murder trial of Edward Wright, the jury heard from a number of witnesses, including the neighbor who said he heard a woman screaming for help in her apartment next door, but that he couldn't call police because he didn't have a phone. The Delaware police officer who interviewed Ed following his arrest testified to the statement Ed made, admitting he was with Penny on the night of the murder, but that she was alive when he left. Testimony from Arthur Turner would be a big part of the case the Commonwealth was building
17:41 Kylie Low? against Ed. Arthur had previously signed a statement and testified before a grand jury that Ed admitted to killing a woman who lived at Penny's address during a phone conversation the day after the murder. But when Arthur was called to testify during Ed's trial, his story changed. He said that he could not positively identify Ed as the person he talked to on the phone that day. Arthur said he received the phone call, but couldn't be sure Ed was the caller. Now, phone company records showed that the phone number used to call Arthur traced back to Ed's sister's address in Delaware where Ed was staying at the time.
18:25 Kylie Low? The call connected at 4:41 PM on May 14th and lasted 36 minutes. Just before that was a four-minute phone call to Arthur's aunt. Arthur's aunt also testified at trial, saying she got a call from someone she believed was Ed that day, asking for Arthur's phone number. However, Ed's sister, Mary Wright, testified that she actually placed all the phone calls on May 14th, including that call to Arthur.
18:59 Kylie Low? Arthur was so sure about the identification of that caller before, so why was Arthur wavering now at trial? The prosecution believed it was because Ed and Arthur's mother, Ed's girlfriend, had since reconciled. As for Ed and the defense, he wanted his lawyer to request a jury instruction that Arthur could have misidentified the caller. After all, Arthur had gotten into a car accident hours before the call, and he was up most of the night. Perhaps exhaustion had influenced his memory as Arthur signed that statement saying that the caller was indeed Ed Wright.
19:40 Kylie Low? Ultimately, though, Ed's lawyer did not request this misidentification instruction. One of many issues Ed would point to when he asked the judge mid-trial to have his court-appointed lawyer dismissed. Ed felt the lawyer wasn't handling the case how he thought it should be handled. However, the judge denied his request, saying the attorney was a highly regarded, experienced counsel. In a move you don't see often in a murder trial, Ed decided to testify in his own defense. On the stand and under oath, Ed admitted to being with Penny on the night she was killed. They'd known each other since 1982, and he had seen her at Club 418 many times since then.
20:26 Kylie Low? On the night of May 13, 1984, he said he met up with Penny at the club around 10:00 p.m. He said they left together and got into the car he was borrowing at the time and started to drive off, but then turned around in a parking lot so Penny could run back into the club. Ed testified that he saw Penny's old boyfriend, Alan, who was standing outside the club, walk inside as Penny was crossing the street. Ed went to get gas and then returned to the club to find Penny. As they were leaving together again, Ed said that Alan grabbed Penny's arm, which made her drop her purse. As Penny gathered all her things that were now scattered around the floor, Ed said that Alan took a few of the items and tucked them into his pocket.
21:11 Kylie Low? That's when Penny and Alan got into a loud argument.
21:16 Kylie Low? Ed testified that Allen followed him and Penny to the exit, and then watched as they pulled off in the car together. He said that he drove Penny to pick up her baby from her mother's house, and then drove them both back to Penny's apartment. Ed claimed they parked the car, moved the baby to the front seat, and had sex in the back of the car before going inside her apartment for a beer. He said they talked for an hour or so, and then he left by 1:00 or 1:30 a.m. Ed's testimony differed here from his original statement made to the Delaware police officer. Ed previously said or implied that they had sex in her apartment, not the car.
21:58 Kylie Low? Ed repeated during his testimony what he'd said many times before. Penny was still alive when he left. However, in contrast to the statement he made to the Delaware officer after his arrest, Ed said that Penny let him out of her apartment between 1:00 and 1:30 a.m. Previously, Ed said that Penny was asleep when he left at 1:00 a.m. Ed went on to testify that after he left, he went to a friend's house, the same friend whose car he was borrowing, but fell asleep in the car. When he woke up the next morning, Ed's friend drove him to Delaware for a pre-planned visit to his sister's house. And that's where police would find him and arrest him two days later.
22:43 Kylie Low? The defense argued that despite blood evidence, witness testimony placing Ed at the scene, and Ed's own admission that he was with Penny on the night she was killed, he had no motive to kill Penny. But a motive is not necessary to find someone guilty. And on April 10, 1985, after a four-day trial and six hours of deliberation, the jury found Edward Wright guilty of first-degree murder in the killing of Penny Anderson. The judge immediately sentenced him to a mandatory life term in state prison with no chance of parole. During the next three and a half decades following his conviction, Ed firmly defended his innocence.
23:28 Kylie Low? He'd returned to court time and time again, appeal after appeal, hoping for a new trial. Because Ed believed he knew who was really responsible for Penny's death, and police had been face to face with the man within hours of discovering her body.
23:47 Kylie Low? In Ed Wright's sworn statement, he said Penny got into an altercation with a different man on the night she was killed. A dancer at the club saw Penny get into this heated exchange with the same man. That was Alan Smalls, a former boyfriend of Penny's. And Alan Smalls' mother, Lee Britt, had sat in on Ed's trial. She knew Penny's mother and was there to support the family. But the more she learned about the case, the more Lee began to question if her son might be the true killer. In a sworn statement from Alan Smalls' mother, Lee Britt, Lee said that after Penny was murdered, Alan was acting strange.
24:31 Kylie Low? He lied about what time he got home the night of the murder, saying he returned much earlier than he actually did, and he had tried to sell a hunting knife to his sister's boyfriend. Lee said she asked her other daughter to buy the knife off Alan out of suspicion, and then Lee gave it to Ed's lawyer. Several days after the murder, Alan's mother said that Alan turned up with some vinyl records and a small gold purse that supposedly belonged to Penny. When asked about it, Alan told his mother he broke into Penny's apartment and stole the stuff. According to this statement, Lee said that Alan's girlfriend at the time,
25:13 Kylie Low? Maria Rivera, told her that Alan had threatened her, saying, "I will kill you just like I did Penny." Maria also told Lee that on the night of the murder, Alan wore gloves to drive his moped down Main Street in Springfield. She felt this was a potentially significant detail because police hadn't found any fingerprints at the scene of Penny's murder. Lee said she was coming forward, now, after Ed was already convicted, quote, "out of the interest of justice." She was concerned that an innocent man might be serving time for a murder that he did not commit. Lee was willing to testify under oath if given the opportunity to do so.
25:56 Kylie Low? Now, Ed says that he had wanted to introduce Alan Smalls as a potential alternate suspect as part of his defense at trial, but there just wasn't enough evidence to support accusing another person of the crime. But with Alan's mother's statement, that changed things. A year after Ed was convicted, his new attorney filed a motion with the State Supreme Court for a new trial, in light of all this newly discovered evidence from Lee Britt. That court sent it back to the Hampton County Superior Court where it was originally tried. In October of 1986, a judge heard testimony from Lee Britt, as well as Lee's daughter,
26:38 Kylie Low? who testified to Alan trying to sell her boyfriend a knife in the days after Penny was murdered. Two new pieces of physical evidence were presented as part of the hearing, too. A sneaker that reportedly belonged to Alan and matched the footprints that were left in blood at Penny's apartment, as well as the very knife Alan allegedly tried to sell. The judge ruled the following month, denying Edward's motion for a new trial, stating that the testimony of Lee Britt was, quote, "without credibility and not worthy of careful consideration", end quote. You see, much of what Lee testified to and stated in the affidavit was hearsay, meaning
27:21 Kylie Low? the evidence was largely secondhand statements she heard from her son's girlfriend, Maria. Maria hadn't been located to put her own words into a statement prior to the appeal. This denied appeal marked the start of a long journey through the court system for Ed Wright. He would go on to file six direct appeals and several petitions for writ of habeas corpus. And just to demystify some of these key terms for you, a direct appeal is a legal process where a defendant challenges their conviction or sentence by appealing to a higher court, arguing that legal errors occurred during the trial such as improper procedure, incorrect rulings, or violations of rights. It is based on the trial record
28:06 Kylie Low? and is the standard method for seeking review right after a conviction. A writ of habeas corpus, on the other hand, is a legal petition that allows a prisoner to challenge the legality of their detention or imprisonment. It can raise issues outside of the trial record, such as newly discovered evidence, ineffective assistance of counsel, or constitutional violations that were not addressed during the trial or appeal. So Ed's numerous appeals and petitions over the years raised new details, new evidence, or new allegations that he believes played a role in his wrongful conviction for Penny Anderson's murder. And in the process,
28:48 Kylie Low? he did eventually track down Alan Small's former girlfriend Maria Rivera, who testified under oath to the threats Alan made against her.
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29:34 Speaker 04 You know that thing where you're scrolling the internet and suddenly you're three hours deep into a celebrity lawsuit?
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30:11 Kylie Low? In 1998, after more denied appeals, Ed Wright filed another petition for a writ of habeas corpus in federal district court. It was also denied. And the court specifically called out the fact that Ed hadn't presented an affidavit from Alan's girlfriend and that he hadn't pursued forensic testing on the knife that Alan's mother claimed Alan sold after the murder. So Ed went after both pieces of evidence in his next attempt at a new trial. Ed's attorney contacted Alan's mother, Lee, who informed them that his former girlfriend, Maria, was living out of state and she had since gotten married, so she had a new last name.
30:55 Kylie Low? Within weeks, a private investigator tracked Maria down and was able to get a statement on tape. She later put the statement down on paper in an affidavit. With that, Ed filed another appeal for a new trial and requested an evidentiary hearing. The court allowed the request for a hearing, and on October 26, 2007, Maria told her story to a judge. Maria testified that she started dating Alan in 1981 or 1982, but she saw signs that he was probably still interested in his ex-girlfriend, Penny Anderson.
31:35 Kylie Low? Maria said she saw nude photos of Penny in Alan's bedroom, and he referred to Penny as his first love. She claimed that Alan spoke of Penny as, quote, "mine and only mine," end quote.
31:50 Kylie Low? Maria also stated that Alan had an evil streak, and he physically assaulted her throughout their relationship. Maria and Alan broke up about six months before Penny's murder, but then started dating again sometime after Penny was killed, and they were together while Ed was on trial for Penny's murder. Maria testified that one day, after she and Alan had gotten back together, Alan drove them out to a wooded area and physically and sexually assaulted her. When she tried to get away, he threatened to kill her, quote, "just like he killed Penny," end quote. Maria said he confronted Alan and asked him point-blank if he really did kill Penny.
32:32 Kylie Low? Maria said he responded, "Yeah, but nobody's going to find out." A few days later, Alan told her not to repeat what he'd said. Maria left the state not long after, moving to Florida away from Alan. She said she was afraid of him and was too scared to report the abuse or the threat to police.
32:54 Kylie Low? After hearing Maria's testimony, the federal district court judge deemed the evidence credible and enough that a jury was likely to have reasonable doubt as to whether Ed Wright was Penny's killer. But it didn't get him a new trial. Ed's next two appeals were denied. While Maria's testimony could be perceived as progress in Ed's attempts at a new trial, the other piece of evidence that Ed had sought at the time, the forensic analysis on the knife, came back inconclusive. Testing did detect the presence of blood on the hunting knife that Alan reportedly tried to sell to his sister's boyfriend after the murder,
33:36 Kylie Low? but testing did not determine whose blood it was, or if it was even human. But Ed pushed forward with his efforts to get a new trial. He argued ineffectiveness of counsel and pointed to the inconsistencies in Arthur Turner's testimony versus his sworn statement. In April of 2012, Ed filed another appeal, which was his fifth attempt at getting a new trial. That was also denied.
34:04 Kylie Low? The court ruling for that one reads in part, quote, "Having carefully considered the admissible evidence that the jury did not hear, and the evidence that they did, we conclude that in light of the strength of the evidence against the defendant at trial, and the meager probative weight of the newly discovered evidence, the new evidence does not cast real doubt on the justice of the defendant's conviction, because there is not a substantial risk that the jury would have reached a different conclusion had this evidence been admitted at trial," end quote. But even after five failed attempts, Ed still isn't done trying to prove his innocence.
34:46 Kylie Low? And now, his efforts have the legal support of the New England Innocence Project. Ivy Scott reports for the Boston Globe that on International Wrongful Conviction Day, October 2, 2023, Edward Wright filed another appeal to have his conviction thrown out and be granted a new trial. Ed's sixth appeal cites new DNA evidence found on Penny Anderson's clothing that she wore on the night she was killed, as well as on a bloody washcloth. The DNA on these items, according to Ed's appeal, does not match his DNA profile, and rather, belongs to an unknown male.
35:30 Kylie Low? The motion also states that Ed's attorneys from the New England Innocence Project, alongside counsel from two international law firms also working on the case, only recently received police reports from Springfield P D that showed investigators were aware of other suspects with motive to kill Penny. Yet these individuals were not fully explored, and the reports concerning the suspects were allegedly withheld from the defense for decades. Further, Ed's appeal raises the issue of witnesses, particularly law enforcement officers, who allegedly perjured themselves on the stand during Ed's trial. The appeal also argues that the analysis of the bloody shoe print and blood found
36:15 Kylie Low? in the car Ed was driving that night was faulty, and now contradicted by updated forensic analysis. According to the New England Innocence Project, police and prosecutorial misconduct, flawed or misleading forensic evidence, racial bias, ineffective counsel, and the unavailability of DNA testing at trial are the top contributors to wrongful convictions. All of these elements, according to his defense team's argument, are present in Ed Wright's case. In a statement that accompanies this latest appeal, Ed Wright said, "Since I was first arrested at age 22 and this nightmare began, I've lost not only my freedom,
36:58 Kylie Low? but also many family members and friends. These are people that I'll never see again. When you're incarcerated, it's an endless battle to be the person you want to be instead of the person they try to make you to be inside the prison walls. I've tried to preserve some semblance of my humanity, have tried to learn the law, to help fix the wrongs in prison, to help not just myself, but others. And I've never stopped trying to prove my innocence. But after so many denials, I am hopeful that a judge will finally look at all the evidence in my case, not just the horrific facts of the murder. I just want the truth to finally come out so a court can do the right thing and I can live out the rest of my life in freedom."
37:46 Kylie Low? Since Ed's trial for the murder of Penny Anderson back in 1985, key witnesses have died, including Alan Smalls' former girlfriend Maria. Alan Smalls himself is deceased. Ed Wright continues to be held accountable for Penny Anderson's murder amidst his decades-long endeavor to prove he was wrongfully convicted. On September 24, 2024, just a few weeks before I sat down to record this episode, Ed was back in court for a hearing. According to an email statement I received from the New England Innocence Project, the appearance was a non-evidentiary hearing on the sixth motion for a new trial. They say the courtroom was packed with loved ones,
38:29 Kylie Low? exonary network members, advocates, and legal team members. Ed is awaiting the judge's decision on the matter. This case continues to develop, and I'll share any updates as I hear them. Now let me just say, justice is not simply about assigning blame, but about uncovering the truth and holding the right person accountable. While new evidence has brought this case back under review for the sixth time, it remains to be seen whether the original verdict was the truth about what happened that night, or if a miscarriage of justice needs to be corrected. If a mistake was made, correcting it not only seeks justice for Ed,
39:12 Kylie Low? but also honors Penny by ensuring accountability lies with the right person. As this appeal unfolds, it's a reminder that justice is a process, not a final declaration.
39:27 Kylie Low? Penny Lee Anderson celebrated her 24th birthday just a month before she died. On what should have been her 36th birthday in April of 1996, Penny's mother, Marlene, ran a special in memoriam message to her daughter in the Republican newspaper. Penny's mother passed away in 2002 at the age of 59. "I hope that somewhere, she and Penny are together again." I want Penny's mom to have the last word in this story. As she wrote in 1996, quote, "Though you have been taken away from me, there is not one moment of the year that you are not in my heart.
40:09 Kylie Low? Your spirit was as fresh as a morning breeze on a spring day. Your zest for life was as intense as a bolt of lightning from a summer storm. Your personality was as bright and colorful as the fall foliage across the mountains. Your quiet side was like the first snow on a winter's eve, calming and beautiful in a mysterious way. For the rest of this life, I will never be able to hug you and tell you that I love you, but through all my sadness, I find comfort for my heart. Because I know that when God wills it, the day will come when we will never be separated again. Until then, my darling daughter, you will be in my heart through all the seasons, and my love for you will never fade.
40:54 Kylie Low? Love, Mom." End quote.
41:06 Kylie Low? Thank you for listening to Dark Down East. You can find all source material for this case at darkdowneast.com. Be sure to follow the show on Instagram @darkdowneast. This platform is for the families and friends who have lost their loved ones and for those who are still searching for answers. I'm not about to let those names or their stories get lost with time. I'm Kylie Low and this is Dark Down East. Dark Down East is a production of Kylie Media and Audio Check. So what do you think Chuck? Do you approve? [roar]
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