Teresa Fargason case summary:
This case involves the wrongful conviction of Teresa Fargason, who was
convicted
on September 17, 1993 for the malice murder of her daughter,Taylor
Fargason.Teresa
Fargason was given a life sentence and is currently incarcerated at
Washington
State Correctional Facility in Davisboro, Georgia.
We seek not only justice for Teresa but also Justice for Taylor. The
motive
the prosecution sought was that Teresa killed Taylor to be with her
then
boyfriend, Jordan Michael, who had claimed he didn't want anymore
children
and in the event of an alleged argument over the phone. Teresa
allegedly
killed Taylor in a moment of desperation. Jordan Michaels testified
that
they didn't argue on the phone.
In the evening hours of June 9, 1991, in Macon, Georgia. Teresa and
Taylor
Fargason went to a Kroger store to get ready made sauce for a Mexican
dish
she was preparing for a dinner party the next day at work. Earlier that
day,Teresa
had went to the same store with Taylor to buy the home made ingredients
to
prepare the dish from scratch but after it got to late, she decided to
go
and buy the sauce already made. Upon entering the Kroger that night,
Teresa
proceeded to go to the Deli section, Teresa turned around and Taylor
was
missing. Teresa didn't panic at first thinking Taylor had gone to the
book
section. After looking in the book section and finding Taylor was not
there,
Teresa's panic began and she cried for help.
Several Kroger employee's assisted
Teresa in looking for Taylor without success. The police were called to
the
Kroger and
a little over an hour after the report was made, Taylor Fargason
was found on a semi deserted road called the interstate parkway. Her
death was presumed to be asphyxia by the result of smothering.
When they found Taylor's body by the sheriff's dept., an ambulance was
called
to the scene and two deputy sheriff's attempted CPR and compressions.
They
had called on the radio and said that there was ' life '. Although,
this
radio traffic call was requested at the trial by the defense attorney.
It
was never submitted to be heard by the jury. We've not been able to
attain
this tape to date but believe there may be relevant information
pertaining
to this case. There are so many factors that come into
play that resulted
in Teresa becoming the prime suspect in Taylor's death. One of which
was
the Deputy Coroner at the scene. He derived that Taylor had died
between
the hours of 7 and 8 pm. This would eventually become an inaccurate
statement
from him since a passing neighbor had seen Taylor alive at 8:45pm that
night.
After Teresa had learned of Taylor's death, she was taken to a hospital
ER
for her grief stricken state and given sedatives. Teresa was taken home
by
a friend and shortly thereafter was called by the Police dept. to come
down
for questioning. She voluntarily went, thinking she was trying to help
find
who had killed Taylor. It was the actions of the police dept. and
investigators
that also come into question at that time.Teresa was interrogated
between
the hours of 3am to 8am. During her interrogation,Teresa couldn't
remember
Taylor's exact location where she had last seen Taylor. Also, Kroger
employees
stated that no one saw Taylor in the Kroger that night. It was these
pieces
of information coupled along with the inaccurate time of death that led
the
police to make Teresa their prime suspect and neglect any other
possible
suspects that would eventually
surface during the trial but the jury would never know about it.
After being accused of her daughter's death and tormented for several
hours.
Teresa still claimed her innocence and voluntarily
gave a hair sample to compare with hair that was found on Taylor's
body.
Teresa's Miranda rights were not read to her and after the
interrogation,
she was escorted by police to her home where she consented for a search
of
the premises. Investigators didn't acquire any evidence from her home
other
than a picture of Taylor's bed after investigator's searched her room.
During
the trial the picture was submitted by the prosecution and asked the
question,
" Doesn't this look like a bed where a child has been murdered?" Teresa
contends
the bed was not messed up when investigators went in there. Also, there
are
documents
that contain information from Gary Ussery, Director of the Macon
Crime lab who states that the bed covers were turned down and no blood
or
hairs were found on the bed.
From that terrible night a criminal investigation would last a year and
a
half . While police were investigating Teresa and trying
to compile evidence to convict her.Teresa herself was trying to prove
her innocence
but these actions would come against her during the trial. She at one
point
called the phone company to find out if calls could be traced from the
police
dept. because investigators accused her of calling her parents to
notify
them of Taylor's death before she reported her missing.This was
brought out
in the trial and a representative from the phone company testified.
Wiretaps
were authorized on Teresa's home
and Jordan Michaels and even on Taylor's
grave by the trial judge. These were title 3 wiretaps that have to be
reviewed
and continued on a regular basis. Teresa was eventually arrested on
Dec.
29, 1992 and later a trial date would be set for Sept. 13, 1993.
Since the prosecution contended that Teresa had killed Taylor to be
with
her boyfriend, the prosecution presented
circumstantial evidence that can
easily be disputed. One piece of evidence was a phone record from a
wiretap
taken in May
of 1992 where Teresa had allegedly confessed to Mr. Michaels.
The prosecution asked Teresa on the stand ' Did you say I suffocated
her?
'. The transcripts and all reports say that the statement made is '
inaudible'.
If Teresa had confessed, my
question is, why didn't they arrest her in May
instead of waiting 6 months later? They claimed to the media that they
had
new evidence of a taped confession.
Another piece of evidence used was an alleged tire mark found on
Taylor's
body after black fingerprint dust had been applied
to the site. The prosecution
contended that Teresa killed Taylor in her bed, wrapped her up in her
security
blanket and
disposed of her body on the interstate parkway road and as Teresa
was leaving the scene, she ran over Taylor's arm. Now, I must say that
relevant
witnesses weren't called to testify on Teresa's behalf. One of which
was
Dr. Joseph Burton, a
well-known forensic expert, who was hired by the defense
to examine Taylor's body. Dr. Burton as well as the pathology reports
state
that there was no abrasions or bruising to suggest a car had run over
Taylor's
arm. Tire experts were called to
the stand on both the defense and for the
prosecution. The prosecution's expert witness testified that the mark
had
similar designs as found on Teresa's car but another witness for the
defense
said that it was only a 10% possibility that it could be
from the tire found
on Teresa's car.
Alot of Taylor's hair was found on her body and on her blanket. One
hair
found belonged to Teresa. The prosecution
contended that the hairs were traumatically
pulled. As Dr. Burton would have testified that traumatically pulled
hairs
can come from brushing someone's hair and it useless evidence to
connect
the mother to the child and make her the murderer. Also, Taylor's
security
blanket had a stain on it. Teresa's aunt claims that stain got on there
after
Taylor had a tooth pulled but she
was never called as a witness to testify.
The biological reports say the stain, that was no bigger than a dime,
was
pink in nature and had blood and saliva mixed. There was no age
determination
of the stain and the report supports our claim that the stain resulted
from
the tooth and not from Taylor's death.
The time of death was a big issue that also remains questionable.The
Coroner,
John Parker, who had later examined Taylor's body in the early morning
hours
of June 10, 1991 said that the time of death was presumed to be between
the
hours of 9 and 11pm. The Deputy Coroner testified during the trial and
said
that lividity or livor mortis, settling of the blood, was fixed at 12
am
and that rigor mortis had begun. Dr. Parker, who stated in his
testimony
that livor mortis was not fixed until 7am and there was only moderate
rigor
mortis. These two testimonies severely conflict. Livor mortis sets in
at
a time frame of 8 to 12 hrs in
an average adult but the fact that we are
dealing with a small child who was involved in a struggle during her
death
would definitely shorten the time to about 8 hrs which could put the
time
of death around 11pm or shortly after.
Charles Fargason, Teresa's ex-husband and Taylor's father once stood by
Teresa
and said she was innocent but later would take the side of the
prosecution
and testify against Teresa. Charles claimed in his testimony that
Teresa
told him near the
grave site that she failed a series of polygraph tests.
Teresa claims she never spoke to him at the grave site. Teresa had
voluntarily
taken one polygraph test on the day that she was to view Taylor's body
for
the first time. The test results were inconclusive and we have not seen
any
final results of this test. The prosecution also used Charles statement
of
the polygraph tests in their closing statement.
The most compelling information that I can provide is evidence of
information
that was not introduced at the trial. Teresa as
well as her family had no
knowledge of it. There was a judge's chambers meeting held on the 3rd
day
of the trial in which an Attorney came forth with exculpatory
information
that could clear Teresa Fargason. The Attorney implicated a
former
police officer and his involvement in the death of Taylor Fargason. The
Attorney
had represented the police officer, James Glover,
in a prior plea bargain
in which he shot himself into a bullet proof vest to gain attention
from
his estranged wife. After the plea bargain settled, the police officer
approached
the Attorney to represent him when he thought he was being investigated
in
the death of Taylor Fargason. The Attorney told the police officer that
he
would need to retain her for her services before she
could represent him.
In a meeting in the Attorney's office, the police officer was present
with
his mother. From what the Attorney states, the police officer was
engaged
in a conversation with his mother in her presence. The police officer
then
confessed of his involvement. Although, the Attorney was not retained
and
she was considered third party to the conversation held. The judge
ruled
the information the Attorney learned as Attorney/Client privilege. The
jury
would never hear it. It is also important to note that Mr. Glover seen
Taylor
4hrs before her death. He had approached Taylor while Teresa was
washing
her car at a car wash. Mr. Glover had given Taylor a teddy bear. We
have also learned that
Mr. Glover had several license checks done on Teresa.
These issues are the key issues that convicted Teresa Fargason and put
her
in prison for life. I can honestly say that I believe
in Teresa and in her innocence and the facts and circumstances that
surround
the case are just what they are - Circumstances.
I don't believe Teresa had
motive to kill her daughter as the prosecution contends. She was a good
mother
by most accounts.
I am not saying she was a ' perfect ' mother. Teresa has
made her mistakes as all mothers do at times. However, I feel that
she sincerely
loved her daughter and would not have harmed her in anyway. If you read
about
this case, you will surely see
the desperation in the prosecution and the
investigators who only sought to win a case and not find the justice
that
Taylor and Teresa so deeply deserve.
I have been involved for almost two years. I feel justice was not
served
in this case and the truth can only come from
presenting the facts that are
in black and white and not what the prosecution has distorted and
fabricated
to get their
conviction. We have had media interests from local television
stations. One of which is WMAZ 13 in Macon, Georgia. A reporter
listened
to our allegations and investigated the case. The end result of her
investigation
produced a 5-part series. I'm providing the web address for anyone to
see.
http://www.13wmaz.com/news/doubt_1.shtm.
We need help for Teresa and would like any assistance possible to free
her
from her wrongful incarceration. You can contact me at my email: megieboman@yahoo.com
With Best Regards,
Margret Bowman