Death Row Inmates Claim Jailhouse Snitch Testimony Got Them the Death Sentence

I have recently been contacted by mail by four Texas inmates. Three are on death row, and one is serving a life sentence. They all allege being the victim of jail house snitching. Two were snitched on by the same informant, and the same prosecutor is involved in all four of these cases. All four claim the case they were convicted of was an old case or "cold case" as some people refer to it. They claim their innocence and feel a great injustice has been done.

Ronald Pribble, sits on death row in Texas waiting to die for a crime he says he did not commit. Pribble was convicted for the homicide of a young couple he knew, and their three children. The crime occurred in 1999. The two adults were shot, and the house set on fire to cover up the crime scene. The three children died of smoke inhalation. Because he was the last person to be seen with the victim, he was questioned at the time of the crime, but released, since there was not enough evidence against him Pribble claims.

Pribble claims he was the victim of a jailhouse snitch. Pribble alleges he was set up, and railroaded to death row years later. He has proof of his innocence and a witness that places him in his parents home the time of the murders. There was no murder weapon, bad DNA testing, false testimony, missing evidence, perjured testimony and other shoddy misdoing in his trial according to Pribble. While serving time in a Federal Texas prison for bank robbery, years after the crime occurred, Pribble was then given a bench warrant for Capital murder just months before he was about to be released. He phoned an agent from the FBI who was familiar with the murder case, and was also aware that he was innocent to see if he could get any information. He was told "A prosecutor must be trying to make a case, and they think you will cooperate since your about to be released" according to Pribble.

He was then sent to a medium facility in Texas, Beaumont. While there he was approached by two inmates, Nathan Foreman and Michael Beckcom. Pribble claims when they approached him they said "Jeff, we heard you got a bench warrant for Capital murder, do you need some help"? Pribble sais he knew something was wrong when he was called by his middle name Jeff, since only his friends called him that.

According to Pribble, Kelley Siegler, prosecutor in Harris County instructed Beckcom and other jailhouse informants to befriend Pribble, and get information that could be used against him in court. Pribble claims the information was fabricated, and he was falsely convicted on the testimony of a man who received a reduction in his sentence for snitching. Pribble alleges at his Capital murder trial Beckcum lied and said the two were good friends and that Pribble "bragged about the shootings." Pribble said his attorney referred to Beckoms testimony as "a dime store novel".

Approximately one month earlier, in the same facility the same jailhouse snitch was instructed once again by Harris County Prosecutor Seigler, and "set up" another inmate Hermilo Herrerro for a conviction on a crime he also alleges he did not commit, according to both Pribble and Herrero. Herrero is serving a life sentence for a murder someone else has confessed to.

Herrero claims in his letter to me that an inmate Jesse G. Moreno and three other inmates named Rafael Dominguez, Nathan Foreman and Eddie Gomez conspired with D.A Kelly Siegler to charge him for murder. Herrero claims Moreno had an interview with Kelly Sigler in 2002, and made a recorded a statement as to a "so called" confession that he had made to him and two other inmates. Herrero has documents of the recorded interview as well as the trial transcripts.

Herrero says what ties his case to that of Pribbles is jail house informant Nathan Foreman and prosecutor Kelly Seigler. At the time Moreno claims Herrero confessed to him Foreman and Dominguez, in 1999, Herrero claims Foreman was not at Beaumont at the time in question. He did not arrive there until March of 2000. Herrero claims the statement from both Moreno and Dominquez was changed when they realised their mistake. He says Foreman never testified on either him or Pribble. Herrero can prove this testimony with documents, and can prove that Formen was lying, as well as the other two informants.

Herrero claims the first time he ever met Pribble was when they were both placed in a holding tank waiting to be picked up by the Sheriffs department. Upon his return about ten months later he was made aware of how his and Pribble's case were connected. He then took it upon himself to contact Pribble's lawyer, Mr. Gaiser. Herrero's wife contacted Mr. Gaiser to get his address, and explained the similarities of both men's cases, and mentioned how Herrero could possibly help in Pribble's case. Gaiser told her he would visit Herrero but never did according to Herrero.

Herrero also claims that his own trial lawyer Dan Cogdell was informed that a man named James Elizade Jr. had called the Herrero's and told them Herrero was innocent and that he would testify on his behalf. Cogdell waited five months and it wasn't until one day before Herrero's trial that Cogdell decided the jury wouldn't believe Elizade, although he never even visited him to hear what he had to say. Herrero wrote to me and said "I feel that Cogdell, Gaiser and Seigler were all working together to hang me and Pribble out to dry".

Herrero claims the main reason Prible was brought back to the medium facility was so that Pribble could meet Nathan Foreman, the man Herrero calls "The invisible man", because he claims he never knew him. Herrero closed his letter with the question, "How can Pribble and I confess to a man that we don't even know and on top of that did not exist on the facility at the time they claim they both confessed"?

Another inmate William Irvan sits on Texas death row, claiming to be a victim of jailhouse snitch testimony. Irvan alleges he was charged fourteen years after the crime, by the same prosecutor as Herrero and Pribble, D.A. Kelley Seigler. Irvan was charged for the murder and rape of Michelle Shadbolt, which occured on or about February 14, 1987, by stabbing her with a knife.

Irvan claims they knew who committed this murder but could not get him, so they came after him. He admits to having a relationship with Shadbolt, but he had consensual sex with her, and that he did not rape her. His semen was found in the woman, but was 72 hours old. The prosecution claimed she was raped, but Irvan says the Homicide detective told the jury that she was not raped and there was no trauma, no pubic hairs under her nails, and no fingerprint matches. He claims the other suspect was never tested.

Irvan told me after he was charged a girl named Tamara, he knew years before saw the article in the paper about him. According to Irvan the girl wrote the homicide detective and told him that I admitted to her I did this crime. She is in Federal prison serving four life sentences. Irvan claims the girl and Seigler told the jury she was telling the truth and that she was not getting a deal for her testimony.

Irvan claims after he was convicted the girls sisters came forward and told his attorneys that Tamara told them that she had lied, and was getting a deal. Also, another girl who said she was Tamara's cellie, contacted Irvan's attorney and told him that after Tamara came back from the trial she told her that Tamara said she had lied and got a deal for it. Irvan also received a letter from Tamara's sister and she told her that after her husband gets out, she will come forward and tell the truth.

Irvan has a website set up by "Innocent In Prison Project" showing all court document about this case, and other information..
http://www.iippi.org/inmates/texas/williamirvan.html
Irvan closed his letter saying "You will not believe how the Judge, Seigler, and my attorneys worked together to get me to plead, and when I would not they seeked the death penalty, took my attorneys and forced me to represent myself".

A forth inmate, Taurus Sales also sits on Texas death row, convicted of murder. Sales claims he was convicted because of jailhouse snitch testimony, and by the same prosecutor as the other three inmates, Seigler. He claims to have written numerous letters to Washington, nonprofit organizations, attorneys, etc., but never received any assistance.

He claims Seigler prosecuted and convicted Herrero October-November 2003, Pribble, November to December 2003, himself January 2003, all of Capital murder, one after the other, using the same pattern, no physical evidence, and all allegedly confiding in fellow inmates, not as cellies, but snitches whom have testified favorably for the State on several or more occasions. Sales claims jailhouse snitches work out in the open with a room full of inmates sharing a squared space. "They gain our trust within a few months of being housed, and just before our trials begin he claims."

Sales claims he is innocent and can prove his innocence. He also alleges his amendments were violated. He is looking for someone to investigate his case, and claims he has information that would prove his innocence.

Kelly Siegler is featured on Law.com as one of the top 40 women at the top.
http://www.law.com/special/professionals/nlj/women_on_top/40_litigators.html#Siegler

According to the site, she is known as the "Giant-Killer" in Texas, and has won 12 out of 13 death sentence convictions. She only handles big cases. I did not speak to Siegler about any of these claims.

According to the Northwestern University school of law, center of wrongful convictions, the number one reason for wrongful convictions of death row inmates is jail house snitch testimony. Almost half the exoneration's from death row inmates were accounted by jail house snitch testimony. Prosecutors use this method to gain convictions, that otherwise would not stand up in court.
http://www.law.northwestern.edu/wrongfulconvictions/documents/SnitchSystemBooklet.pdf

If a defendant is to receive the death sentence, all testimony used should be truthful, and all measures should be made to enforce this. Jailhouse snitches receive both monetary rewards and leniency in their own sentences, and sometimes snitch to put the blame on someone. These reasons alone should put a ban on all jailhouse snitching. Their testimony is unreliable and sometimes fabricated.

All four inmates are hoping someone will help them prove their innocence.

All four inmates can be contacted.
Ronald J. Pribble #999433
Taurus Sales #999446
William Irvan #999472
all at The Polunsky Unit
3872 FM 350 S
Livingston, Tx. 77351

Hermilo Herrero #70135-079
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O.Box 26040
Beaumont, Tx. 77720

Sources:
Letters recieved in the mail
http://www.law.northwestern.edu/wrongfulconvictions/documents/SnitchSystemBooklet.pdf
http://www.law.com/special/professionals/nlj/women_on_top/40_litigators.html#Siegler