DBT Tracks week 82 - Preacher killin' and killin' preachers

Talk about the songs, the shows, and anything else DBT related here.

Moderators: Jonicont, mark lynn, Maluca3, Tequila Cowboy, BigTom, CooleyGirl, olwiggum

User avatar
Clams
Posts: 14850
Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2010 1:16 pm
Location: City of Brotherly Love

DBT Tracks week 82 - Preacher killin' and killin' preachers

Post by Clams »

Always a highlight when we knock out three songs in one week...

Wig He Made Her Wear
Go Go Boots
Fireplace Poker

Patterson seems to have an obsession with preachers who kill and get killed. Lots of great guitar noodling in these songs, especially in Wig He made Her Wear. That songs was always a highlight of those Big To Do shows. As for the two on the Go Go Boots record, I liked Go Go Boots from the start, but Fireplace Poker is a grower. They might even be equals at this point.


Wig:
It was as open and shut as anything I have seen
He was a pillar of town his reputation was clean
It was right before Easter in the first week of spring
He didn't show up for service that Wednesday night
The congregation knew something weren't right
Blood on the bed when they opened the door
The preacher was dead on the bedroom floor

Everyone knew there had to be some outside thing that made this happen
Because they seemed like the perfect family

He'd been shot in the back, a day before he was found
His wife and three kids were nowhere around
An Amber Alert was issued in town
Everyone was shocked at the scene of the crime
She'd taken the kids across two state lines
Found her in Orange Beach with the kids in the car
Sent back to Selmer to await her trial for first-degree murder

Was she crazy or just plain old mean to have gone and done it?
She said she heard the bang and was afraid he'd be mad and made a run for it

Said, they were having a fight and the gun was a bluff
She didn't pull the trigger it just went off
Said that he berated her about everything
Make her do things that made her feel so ashamed
Nobody at church would ever suspect
Made her dress up slutty before they had sex
In the courtroom that day there was an audible gasp
What they put up on display the locals couldn't quite grasp

There was an audible gasp in the courtroom that day
When the defense pulled out and displayed

Them high-heeled shoes and that wig he made her wear
Reduced her charge to voluntary manslaughter
And I ain't judging either way but she's already out of jail
And it was them high-heeled shoes and that wig he made her wear



Go Go Boots:
He packed a big-ass church out near Rogersville
He drove the Cadillac she drove the Oldsmobile
Every Friday he shacked up with his mistress
Doing things that he'd never do with the Mrs.
Who was back at home cooking dinner for him
They had a son who never had the calling
He went all over town drinking and balling
Got some girl pregnant when he was still a teen
Working at McDonalds and pumping gasoline
Driving that Camaro fast with all his friends
Daddy's been preaching the word ever since he was twelve
All about a merciful savior and the fires of hell
I know he meant it, so what's a little straying
He got everybody singing and a praying
"That devil better not come back down here again"
Missy wore them go-go boots; it did something for him
Made him think his wife back home was homely and boring
He met these guys who didn't mind getting dirty
He was a pillar and his alibi was sturdy
It only took a little bit of cash and the deed was done
Stained glass windows, Jesus looking down
Organs playing music to the middle aged crowd
His wife's in the ground the devil's in his head
Them go-go boots are underneath the bed
But it's a small town and word gets around
Gossip is a flying and his son starts to thinking
He see's his Daddy's new wife driving around in a Lincoln
There's a lot he'd like to ask if he could get the chance
But he's scared he might have to kill the old man
He wonders what the Lord will say when he weighs it all out
It's a small town. Go-Go Boots.



Fireplace Poker:
The Reverend had his wife done in by a guy I knew in High School
He and a friend should do her in and make it look like a robbery
"Here's money son, go buy a gun and shoot her in the head
No one who dies, testifies, make sure that she is dead"
The heathens were paid a thousand bucks to eliminate someone
Plus they were paid five hundred more to get themselves a gun
The guy I knew had a hunting knife, "Why bother with a gun?
She'll still be dead, why sweat details, as long as it gets done"
The Bible said that Jesus bled for the sins of the rest of us
The Reverend has his wife done in for fifteen hundred bucks
They knocked upon the door and said their car broke down
and asked if they could use the phone for a ride back into town
They stabbed her several times and left her there for dead
Bleeding and crying out and gasping for breath
and they went out the very next night and bragged about it
The Reverend came home from work and found the Mrs. dying
Life was falling from her grasp but still she lay there trying
No one will ever know what she told him or know what he told her
Cause the Reverend did his wife in, fifteen whacks, fireplace poker
The headlines screamed out "Brutal Murder, small town preacher's wife"
The crime rocked all of Colbert County as each new fact came to light
It seems the Preacher had a girl he counseled on the side
Now the shit was coming down and she was scared to lie
The preacher came home from the funeral and found Policemen waiting
The heathens, it seems, got coked up and drunk and did a lot of communicating
Life is cheap for a couple of creeps but this here is the smoker
Their prints were found all around the room but not on the fireplace poker
The Preacher's son brought his father home and followed him inside
Shots rang out in the Tuscumbia night. Was he alone when he died?
"Don't call the son for questioning, that bullet was deserved
Better call it suicide, justice has been served"
Better call it suicide, justice has been served
Everyone needs a friend, everyone needs a fuck

User avatar
Clams
Posts: 14850
Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2010 1:16 pm
Location: City of Brotherly Love

Re: DBT Tracks week 82 - Preacher killin' and killin' preach

Post by Clams »

As always, let me know if you want to start up one of these threads. Lots of good tracks left...
Everyone needs a friend, everyone needs a fuck

Zip City
Posts: 17313
Joined: Tue Jul 06, 2010 5:59 pm

Re: DBT Tracks week 82 - Preacher killin' and killin' preach

Post by Zip City »

IMO, Go-Go Boots is the clear winner in this particular trilogy, with Fireplace Poker and okay but not great song, and Wig being in my bottom 10 DBT songs of all time.

Just my opinion......I know a lot of you love Wig, which is cool, I've just never been able to get into it
And I knew when I woke up Rock N Roll would be here forever

User avatar
RevMatt
Posts: 3339
Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 4:13 pm
Location: Normaltown, USA
Contact:

Re: DBT Tracks week 82 - Preacher killin' and killin' preach

Post by RevMatt »

I like all three. Always was a fan of "Wig". It reminds me of The Velvet Underground song "The Gift" which, before they added Lou's story, was called "The Booker T."
I have nowhere else to go. There is no demand in the priesthood for elderly drug addicts

User avatar
Kudzu Guillotine
Posts: 11761
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2010 10:46 am

Re: DBT Tracks week 82 - Preacher killin' and killin' preach

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

Funny you should mention Lou Reed as the first time I played "Angels and Fuselage" for some friends that were largely unschooled in all things DBTs, that's who one of them said that song reminded them of. I never would have made that connection in a million years but it's always fun to see what others think of the Truckers, especially those folks that are new to 'em.

RMD
Posts: 725
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2010 1:20 pm
Location: CT

Re: DBT Tracks week 82 - Preacher killin' and killin' preach

Post by RMD »

Love Wig live. Go Go would be #2 for me. Still on the fence with Fireplace.

User avatar
sactochris
Posts: 2581
Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 6:47 pm
Location: Orangevale, California

Re: DBT Tracks week 82 - Preacher killin' and killin' preach

Post by sactochris »

These songs have always seem to me to have sprung from the grand tradition of great southern gothic literature.
Keep calm and have a cigar

User avatar
Clams
Posts: 14850
Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2010 1:16 pm
Location: City of Brotherly Love

Re: DBT Tracks week 82 - Preacher killin' and killin' preach

Post by Clams »

sactochris wrote:These songs have always seem to me to have sprung from the grand tradition of the tabloids and Court TV.

fixed^^^^
;)
Everyone needs a friend, everyone needs a fuck

User avatar
sactochris
Posts: 2581
Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 6:47 pm
Location: Orangevale, California

Re: DBT Tracks week 82 - Preacher killin' and killin' preach

Post by sactochris »

Clams wrote:
sactochris wrote:These songs have always seem to me to have sprung from the grand tradition of the tabloids and Court TV.

fixed^^^^
;)




I guess censorship really can make the world a better place. ;)
Keep calm and have a cigar

User avatar
Smitty
Posts: 10900
Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 9:30 pm
Location: Fruithurst, Al
Contact:

Re: DBT Tracks week 82 - Preacher killin' and killin' preach

Post by Smitty »

http://shoalandaspeaks.blogspot.com/sea ... ce=message

Apparently Sennett's wife in GGB/Fireplace Poker wasn't the first to die myseriously...


Image

painting by John Forrest Parker.
E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle.

User avatar
Smitty
Posts: 10900
Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 9:30 pm
Location: Fruithurst, Al
Contact:

Re: DBT Tracks week 82 - Preacher killin' and killin' preach

Post by Smitty »

http://shoalscrime.blogspot.com/

Great blog by Shoalandra, seems like Patterson could never run out of murder ballad material based on the area around his hometown...
E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle.

User avatar
mark lynn
Site Admin
Posts: 508
Joined: Wed Mar 24, 2010 6:40 pm
Location: Sittin Here With Me And Mine

Re: DBT Tracks week 82 - Preacher killin' and killin' preach

Post by mark lynn »

Passing this along from Patterson to Smitty and anyone else who might find this interesting. This is an older post on that same blog. Miss Sunbeam is mentioned on the Heat Lightning song untold pretties:


Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Who Murdered Little Miss Sunbeam's Killer?

The following account is taken from columns that originally appeared in Shoalanda Speaks December 19-24, 2009.

It was 1942 when Quality Bakers of America, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, introduced a brand of white bread that it dubbed Sunbeam. In an era before rapid transit, an era that was also shrouded in war time restrictions, Quality Bakers decided to franchise its product. In Alabama, the Flowers Bakery Company produced Sunbeam Bread, a product whose recipe quickly made it a favorite of the American consumer.

Just as in today's tight economy, marketing could make or break a product in the 1940s, and Quality Bakers hired illustrator Ellen Segner to create a brand icon that would distinguish it from other products, most importantly Sunbeam Appliances. Segner, who died in 2001, was noted at the time for her semi-erotic pin ups, but is remembered today for her creations of Dick and Jane, as well as Little Miss Sunbeam.

While sitting in a New York park, Segner saw a young blond girl playing. She immediately took out her sketch pad and created what was to become one of the most recognizable faces of the late 20th century; however, before Segner could approach the child to offer her a formal sitting, the little girl had disappeared. Segner then used other models to finish various portraits that came to represent Sunbeam Bread in advertising across most of the United States.

After the war, Sunbeam Bread continued to grow in popularity, and one franchiser hit upon the idea of selecting a real-life Little Miss Sunbeam to represent their area. The first Miss Sunbeam, Patty Michaels, was chosen in the New York area in 1955, but finding public appearances too tiring, left the Sunbeam company after only two years. Michaels went on to appear in The Sound of Music and enjoy a moderately successful recording career.

With the success of this live mascot in one geographic area, other franchisers followed suit. Flowers Bakery held its contest for a Miss Sunbeam in the late 1950s, and thus Marie Burns of the Central community in western Lauderdale County became the Southeast's Little Miss Sunbeam, enjoying the title's fame well into her adulthood when, in the mid-1980s, she was killed by impaired driver Wilburn May Jr.

Those who knew Wilburn May Jr. universally called him "Junior." They also called him other names that colorfully described his usual state of inebriation. It wasn't unusual to hear customers of the Central Heights Pharmacy tell each other to watch out on the way home--Junior May was on the road.

In the early 1980s, May was involved in a drunken crash that left him paralyzed from the waist down. Apparently no charges were filed in that crash, and Junior May continued to drive a modified vehicle--still drinking and now under the influence of narcotic pain killers.

It came as no surprise when a a few years later a drunken May hit another car head on; it was a shock to the community that the dead passenger in the car was Marie Burns, a former Little Miss Sunbeam and the mother of four children. It was also a shock when May was again allowed to plead to a lesser charge than manslaughter and was given only a slap on the wrist in Marie Burns' death.

Divorced, May still had family who attempted to help him recover from his addictions, but to no avail. Now, May was not only an addict himself, but had also taken on the mantle of local drug dealer. In 1998, his drug dealings caught up with him when a family member of one of his customers reported him. Junior May yet again cheated justice--this time due to his condition. Apparently the state had no wish to house a paraplegic whose body was ravaged by a lifetime of alcohol and other drug abuse. Wilburn May Jr. was given probation and allowed to return to the Central community where he again set up shop selling drugs and some said fencing stolen merchandise.

For the next three years, May operated out of a hospital bed set up in the living room of his small house on County Road 15. This is where family members found the body of Wilburn May Jr. lying in his hospital bed on the morning of February 26, 2001; a single gunshot wound to the chest was circled in dried blood. May, 45 years old and a known drug dealer, had many enemies--some of them due to his role in the death of the former Little Miss Sunbeam Marie Burns, but after a four month investigation, the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department had found every lead to be a dead end. By the end of June 2001, the reward in the case totalled $16,000.00; but the first real break came from a Madison County law enforcement officer.

Donald Wayne Darling II was seventeen years old and lived less than a mile from Wilburn May Jr. on County Road 15 in the Central community. Now Darling was an inmate at Three Springs School, a Madison alternative correctional facility for juveniles where he had been held since May 1. According to authorities, Darling told a roommate he had killed May. When Lauderdale Investigator Jr. Witt visited with Darling at the school in mid-July, the teenager denied the charges, but admitted he had bought drugs from May twice in the past. Witt was convinced that Donald Wayne Darling had killed Junior May and secured a search warrant for his Central Heights home. Investigators were secretive concerning their finds, but immediately requested a warrant for Darling's arrest.

Taking Darling into custody the next day, Lauderdale County assigned Doug Evans to prosecute the teenager. The Assistant District Attorney immediately requested an upgrade in Darling's charges--now Donald Wayne Darling was accused of capital murder in the killing of Wilburn May Jr. Evans based the new charges on accusations that Darling had also stolen drugs at the time of the killing, a killing the prosecution believed to be the result of a gang initiation. Darling defense attorneys offered a different scenario, but District Judge Deborah Bell Paseur now ordered Donald Wayne Darling held without bail.

Darling spent almost two years in the Lauderdale County Detention Center awaiting trial, while defense attorneys Jenny Behel and Chris Connolly filed various motions and maintained that Jr. Witt had illegally questioned Darling, setting the stage for what was to become a lengthy battle of words--not the least of which were prosecutorial misconduct. In the mean time, was the real killer still out there?

The State's case against Donald Wayne Darling II hit roadblocks from the beginning. Darling himself claimed he had bragged of murdering Wilburn May Jr. in order to impress gang members with whom he was incarcerated in Madison. The day before Jr Witt had traveled to Madison to interview Darling, the teenager had attempted to hang himself and was under the influence of powerful anti psychotic drugs during questioning. Of the items taken from Darling's home by Witt, some proved to belong to Darling's father. Prosecutors in the case failed to allow the Darling defense to inspect the items, a fact that drew the ire of Judge Mike Suttle who had been assigned to hear the capital murder case.

As the trial began, the case against Darling began to unravel even further. The defense proved May's front door was kicked down by an individual with a larger foot than the teenager's and none of the defendant's shoes matched the sole pattern as the prosecution initially claimed. The defense also produced witnesses that several individuals, including May's ex-wife, had recently threatened the murdered drug dealer.

As the trial progressed, Chris Connolly asked for a mistrial based on the possibility of prosecution witness Torry Harrison being released early for his testimony. The witness had testified previously in several other trials in return for special considerations. Also, a main point of contention in the Darling trial was the witness being allowed to wear street clothes to the proceedings (We will inject here that even those who are incarcerated should be allowed some dignity--as long as the jury was advised that the witness was currently serving time in the Colbert County Jail, his clothing should have made little difference). Further, Junior May's heavily peroxided blond daughter Nancy Stevenson testified that she believed her father had also been beaten and that his axe had been turned over to Lauderdale deputies, but was not introduced into evidence. If May had been beaten, as his daughter claimed, this was another element that clashed with Darling's initial and supposedly drug-induced confession.

After two days of deliberation, the jury announced it was deadlocked, and Judge Mike Suttle declared a mistrial. Darling was returned to the Detention Center to await a second trial, but his defense attorneys had other plans--they immediately filed charges of prosecutorial misconduct by the Lauderdale County District Attorney's office.

Judge Mike Suttle took the charges of prosecutorial misconduct in the Donald Darling murder trial so seriously that he ordered a jury trial in the matter; however, the Lauderdale District Attorney's office appealed the ruling and won. Now, Darling was to face a second trial for the murder of Wilburn May Jr.

By May 2004, Darling had been released on bond, and Lauderdale District Attorney Steve Graham had resigned. Graham's successor, then Republican Billy Jackson, knew the Darling family socially and recused his office from the second trial. Even Judge Suttle's role was questioned due to his announced support of Darling's defense attorney Chris Connolly, Jackson's Democratic opponent in the upcoming election. Suttle refused to step down and presided over Darling's second trial, now moved to Decatur.

During the trial, the defense team introduced evidence that included an alibi for Darling and accusations against one of May's ex-wives as well as a known drug associate who had not been seen since May's murder. On July 23, 2004, a Morgan County jury found Donald Wayne Darling II not guilty of the murder of Junior May. Suttle then authorized protection for the Darling family as they left the courthouse due to alleged threats from the May family. Darling himself spoke of his relief to have an unencumbered future.

What did Donald Darling do with his freedom? Less than four months later, the now 20 year-old Darling was accused of attempting to break into a condom vending machine at a Central Heights mini-mart. He pleaded innocent to the misdemeanor charge. Two years later, Darling was arrested for breaking into a convenience store to steal cigarettes; a short time later an intoxicated Darling was arrested by an observant off-duty deputy immediately after breaking into a truck in the Central community.

Do Darling's post acquittal criminal actions indicate he was in reality guilty of killing Junior May? They certainly indicate Donald Wayne Darling II placed little value on his freedom. As for who did murder Little Miss Sunbeam's killer, one of the strangest cases in Shoals crime history is still officially open.
Posted by Shoalanda Speaks at 9:56 PM
Labels: Billy Jackson, Chris Connolly, Donald Wayne Darling II, Doug Evans, Ellen Segner, Jenny Behel, Jr. Witt, Judge Mike Suttle, Marie Burns, Nancy Stevenson, Patty Michaels, Steve Graham, Wilburn May Jr.

User avatar
Smitty
Posts: 10900
Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 9:30 pm
Location: Fruithurst, Al
Contact:

Re: DBT Tracks week 82 - Preacher killin' and killin' preach

Post by Smitty »

mark lynn wrote:Passing this along from Patterson to Smitty and anyone else who might find this interesting. This is an older post on that same blog. Miss Sunbeam is mentioned on the Heat Lightning song untold pretties:


Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Who Murdered Little Miss Sunbeam's Killer?

The following account is taken from columns that originally appeared in Shoalanda Speaks December 19-24, 2009.

It was 1942 when Quality Bakers of America, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, introduced a brand of white bread that it dubbed Sunbeam. In an era before rapid transit, an era that was also shrouded in war time restrictions, Quality Bakers decided to franchise its product. In Alabama, the Flowers Bakery Company produced Sunbeam Bread, a product whose recipe quickly made it a favorite of the American consumer.

Just as in today's tight economy, marketing could make or break a product in the 1940s, and Quality Bakers hired illustrator Ellen Segner to create a brand icon that would distinguish it from other products, most importantly Sunbeam Appliances. Segner, who died in 2001, was noted at the time for her semi-erotic pin ups, but is remembered today for her creations of Dick and Jane, as well as Little Miss Sunbeam.

While sitting in a New York park, Segner saw a young blond girl playing. She immediately took out her sketch pad and created what was to become one of the most recognizable faces of the late 20th century; however, before Segner could approach the child to offer her a formal sitting, the little girl had disappeared. Segner then used other models to finish various portraits that came to represent Sunbeam Bread in advertising across most of the United States.

After the war, Sunbeam Bread continued to grow in popularity, and one franchiser hit upon the idea of selecting a real-life Little Miss Sunbeam to represent their area. The first Miss Sunbeam, Patty Michaels, was chosen in the New York area in 1955, but finding public appearances too tiring, left the Sunbeam company after only two years. Michaels went on to appear in The Sound of Music and enjoy a moderately successful recording career.

With the success of this live mascot in one geographic area, other franchisers followed suit. Flowers Bakery held its contest for a Miss Sunbeam in the late 1950s, and thus Marie Burns of the Central community in western Lauderdale County became the Southeast's Little Miss Sunbeam, enjoying the title's fame well into her adulthood when, in the mid-1980s, she was killed by impaired driver Wilburn May Jr.

Those who knew Wilburn May Jr. universally called him "Junior." They also called him other names that colorfully described his usual state of inebriation. It wasn't unusual to hear customers of the Central Heights Pharmacy tell each other to watch out on the way home--Junior May was on the road.

In the early 1980s, May was involved in a drunken crash that left him paralyzed from the waist down. Apparently no charges were filed in that crash, and Junior May continued to drive a modified vehicle--still drinking and now under the influence of narcotic pain killers.

It came as no surprise when a a few years later a drunken May hit another car head on; it was a shock to the community that the dead passenger in the car was Marie Burns, a former Little Miss Sunbeam and the mother of four children. It was also a shock when May was again allowed to plead to a lesser charge than manslaughter and was given only a slap on the wrist in Marie Burns' death.

Divorced, May still had family who attempted to help him recover from his addictions, but to no avail. Now, May was not only an addict himself, but had also taken on the mantle of local drug dealer. In 1998, his drug dealings caught up with him when a family member of one of his customers reported him. Junior May yet again cheated justice--this time due to his condition. Apparently the state had no wish to house a paraplegic whose body was ravaged by a lifetime of alcohol and other drug abuse. Wilburn May Jr. was given probation and allowed to return to the Central community where he again set up shop selling drugs and some said fencing stolen merchandise.

For the next three years, May operated out of a hospital bed set up in the living room of his small house on County Road 15. This is where family members found the body of Wilburn May Jr. lying in his hospital bed on the morning of February 26, 2001; a single gunshot wound to the chest was circled in dried blood. May, 45 years old and a known drug dealer, had many enemies--some of them due to his role in the death of the former Little Miss Sunbeam Marie Burns, but after a four month investigation, the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department had found every lead to be a dead end. By the end of June 2001, the reward in the case totalled $16,000.00; but the first real break came from a Madison County law enforcement officer.

Donald Wayne Darling II was seventeen years old and lived less than a mile from Wilburn May Jr. on County Road 15 in the Central community. Now Darling was an inmate at Three Springs School, a Madison alternative correctional facility for juveniles where he had been held since May 1. According to authorities, Darling told a roommate he had killed May. When Lauderdale Investigator Jr. Witt visited with Darling at the school in mid-July, the teenager denied the charges, but admitted he had bought drugs from May twice in the past. Witt was convinced that Donald Wayne Darling had killed Junior May and secured a search warrant for his Central Heights home. Investigators were secretive concerning their finds, but immediately requested a warrant for Darling's arrest.

Taking Darling into custody the next day, Lauderdale County assigned Doug Evans to prosecute the teenager. The Assistant District Attorney immediately requested an upgrade in Darling's charges--now Donald Wayne Darling was accused of capital murder in the killing of Wilburn May Jr. Evans based the new charges on accusations that Darling had also stolen drugs at the time of the killing, a killing the prosecution believed to be the result of a gang initiation. Darling defense attorneys offered a different scenario, but District Judge Deborah Bell Paseur now ordered Donald Wayne Darling held without bail.

Darling spent almost two years in the Lauderdale County Detention Center awaiting trial, while defense attorneys Jenny Behel and Chris Connolly filed various motions and maintained that Jr. Witt had illegally questioned Darling, setting the stage for what was to become a lengthy battle of words--not the least of which were prosecutorial misconduct. In the mean time, was the real killer still out there?

The State's case against Donald Wayne Darling II hit roadblocks from the beginning. Darling himself claimed he had bragged of murdering Wilburn May Jr. in order to impress gang members with whom he was incarcerated in Madison. The day before Jr Witt had traveled to Madison to interview Darling, the teenager had attempted to hang himself and was under the influence of powerful anti psychotic drugs during questioning. Of the items taken from Darling's home by Witt, some proved to belong to Darling's father. Prosecutors in the case failed to allow the Darling defense to inspect the items, a fact that drew the ire of Judge Mike Suttle who had been assigned to hear the capital murder case.

As the trial began, the case against Darling began to unravel even further. The defense proved May's front door was kicked down by an individual with a larger foot than the teenager's and none of the defendant's shoes matched the sole pattern as the prosecution initially claimed. The defense also produced witnesses that several individuals, including May's ex-wife, had recently threatened the murdered drug dealer.

As the trial progressed, Chris Connolly asked for a mistrial based on the possibility of prosecution witness Torry Harrison being released early for his testimony. The witness had testified previously in several other trials in return for special considerations. Also, a main point of contention in the Darling trial was the witness being allowed to wear street clothes to the proceedings (We will inject here that even those who are incarcerated should be allowed some dignity--as long as the jury was advised that the witness was currently serving time in the Colbert County Jail, his clothing should have made little difference). Further, Junior May's heavily peroxided blond daughter Nancy Stevenson testified that she believed her father had also been beaten and that his axe had been turned over to Lauderdale deputies, but was not introduced into evidence. If May had been beaten, as his daughter claimed, this was another element that clashed with Darling's initial and supposedly drug-induced confession.

After two days of deliberation, the jury announced it was deadlocked, and Judge Mike Suttle declared a mistrial. Darling was returned to the Detention Center to await a second trial, but his defense attorneys had other plans--they immediately filed charges of prosecutorial misconduct by the Lauderdale County District Attorney's office.

Judge Mike Suttle took the charges of prosecutorial misconduct in the Donald Darling murder trial so seriously that he ordered a jury trial in the matter; however, the Lauderdale District Attorney's office appealed the ruling and won. Now, Darling was to face a second trial for the murder of Wilburn May Jr.

By May 2004, Darling had been released on bond, and Lauderdale District Attorney Steve Graham had resigned. Graham's successor, then Republican Billy Jackson, knew the Darling family socially and recused his office from the second trial. Even Judge Suttle's role was questioned due to his announced support of Darling's defense attorney Chris Connolly, Jackson's Democratic opponent in the upcoming election. Suttle refused to step down and presided over Darling's second trial, now moved to Decatur.

During the trial, the defense team introduced evidence that included an alibi for Darling and accusations against one of May's ex-wives as well as a known drug associate who had not been seen since May's murder. On July 23, 2004, a Morgan County jury found Donald Wayne Darling II not guilty of the murder of Junior May. Suttle then authorized protection for the Darling family as they left the courthouse due to alleged threats from the May family. Darling himself spoke of his relief to have an unencumbered future.

What did Donald Darling do with his freedom? Less than four months later, the now 20 year-old Darling was accused of attempting to break into a condom vending machine at a Central Heights mini-mart. He pleaded innocent to the misdemeanor charge. Two years later, Darling was arrested for breaking into a convenience store to steal cigarettes; a short time later an intoxicated Darling was arrested by an observant off-duty deputy immediately after breaking into a truck in the Central community.

Do Darling's post acquittal criminal actions indicate he was in reality guilty of killing Junior May? They certainly indicate Donald Wayne Darling II placed little value on his freedom. As for who did murder Little Miss Sunbeam's killer, one of the strangest cases in Shoals crime history is still officially open.
Posted by Shoalanda Speaks at 9:56 PM
Labels: Billy Jackson, Chris Connolly, Donald Wayne Darling II, Doug Evans, Ellen Segner, Jenny Behel, Jr. Witt, Judge Mike Suttle, Marie Burns, Nancy Stevenson, Patty Michaels, Steve Graham, Wilburn May Jr.


LOL I actually googled the Sunbeam incident after hearing Untold Pretties and that article is what led me to that blog.
E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle.

User avatar
RevMatt
Posts: 3339
Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 4:13 pm
Location: Normaltown, USA
Contact:

Re: DBT Tracks week 82 - Preacher killin' and killin' preach

Post by RevMatt »

mark lynn wrote:What did Donald Darling do with his freedom? Less than four months later, the now 20 year-old Darling was accused of attempting to break into a condom vending machine at a Central Heights mini-mart. He pleaded innocent to the misdemeanor charge.

"Three dimes down and 25 cents shy of a slice of the Doublemint Twins, come back baby rock and roll never forgets."
I have nowhere else to go. There is no demand in the priesthood for elderly drug addicts

User avatar
dime in the gutter
Posts: 9013
Joined: Mon Apr 26, 2010 5:46 pm

Re: DBT Tracks week 82 - Preacher killin' and killin' preach

Post by dime in the gutter »

i call foul on wig not having it's own thread.


User avatar
cortez the killer
Posts: 15457
Joined: Mon Apr 26, 2010 3:22 pm

Re: DBT Tracks week 82 - Preacher killin' and killin' preach

Post by cortez the killer »

Image
You are entitled to your opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts.
- DPM

User avatar
dime in the gutter
Posts: 9013
Joined: Mon Apr 26, 2010 5:46 pm

Re: DBT Tracks week 82 - Preacher killin' and killin' preach

Post by dime in the gutter »

cortez the killer wrote:Image

betcha cash money they have partied with margo and harold.

John A Arkansawyer
Posts: 7894
Joined: Sat May 15, 2010 9:51 am
Location: Little Rock, Arkansaw
Contact:

Re: DBT Tracks week 82 - Preacher killin' and killin' preach

Post by John A Arkansawyer »

cortez the killer wrote:Image


Which one is the preacher?
The sooner we put those assholes in the grave&piss on the dirt above it, the better off we'll be

User avatar
ramonz
Posts: 1439
Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 6:23 pm
Location: "Sitting in my room, record player on..."

Re: DBT Tracks week 82 - Preacher killin' and killin' preach

Post by ramonz »

This is crazy. A couple weeks ago I found this vid on YouTube while searching for Swaggart-type preachers - somehow those guys fascinate me. I copied it to my hard drive and then got busy with work. I just looked for it because I wanted to post it....and it's gone! But I snagged it and here it is. I wonder if the boys have ever seen this or heard of/from this guy??

https://www.dropbox.com/s/icr651hyvhb9v74/Preacher%20hates%20DBT.m4v

User avatar
bovine knievel
Posts: 9348
Joined: Mon Apr 26, 2010 1:40 pm
Location: Pollyanna doesn't live here.

Re: DBT Tracks week 82 - Preacher killin' and killin' preach

Post by bovine knievel »

ramonz wrote:This is crazy. A couple weeks ago I found this vid on YouTube while searching for Swaggart-type preachers - somehow those guys fascinate me. I copied it to my hard drive and then got busy with work. I just looked for it because I wanted to post it....and it's gone! But I snagged it and here it is. I wonder if the boys have ever seen this or heard of/from this guy??

https://www.dropbox.com/s/icr651hyvhb9v74/Preacher%20hates%20DBT.m4v


:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Patterson and Cooley have been influenced.

That is some good shit, ramonz. It is deserving of its own thread!
“Excited people get on daddy’s nerves.” - M. Cooley

User avatar
Tequila Cowboy
Site Admin
Posts: 20230
Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2010 6:12 pm
Location: The Twilight Zone, along with everyone else

Re: DBT Tracks week 82 - Preacher killin' and killin' preach

Post by Tequila Cowboy »

ramonz wrote:This is crazy. A couple weeks ago I found this vid on YouTube while searching for Swaggart-type preachers - somehow those guys fascinate me. I copied it to my hard drive and then got busy with work. I just looked for it because I wanted to post it....and it's gone! But I snagged it and here it is. I wonder if the boys have ever seen this or heard of/from this guy??

https://www.dropbox.com/s/icr651hyvhb9v74/Preacher%20hates%20DBT.m4v


That's the shit right there!

:lol:
We call him Scooby Do, but Scooby doesn’t do. Scooby, is not involved

User avatar
cortez the killer
Posts: 15457
Joined: Mon Apr 26, 2010 3:22 pm

Re: DBT Tracks week 82 - Preacher killin' and killin' preach

Post by cortez the killer »

Boycotts & record burning. Now that's some serious shit.
You are entitled to your opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts.
- DPM

User avatar
RevMatt
Posts: 3339
Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 4:13 pm
Location: Normaltown, USA
Contact:

Re: DBT Tracks week 82 - Preacher killin' and killin' preach

Post by RevMatt »

Been a few years since I've been in the pulpit every week but I bet I could give that guy a run for his money. Is he on 3DD? If so, I'll challenge him to a preach off.
I have nowhere else to go. There is no demand in the priesthood for elderly drug addicts

John A Arkansawyer
Posts: 7894
Joined: Sat May 15, 2010 9:51 am
Location: Little Rock, Arkansaw
Contact:

Re: DBT Tracks week 82 - Preacher killin' and killin' preach

Post by John A Arkansawyer »

As you all know, I think "The Wig He Made Her Wear" is much more open to interpretation than the other two songs. Here's an alternative narrative found on Facebook which might fit it quite well:

On their wedding night, the young bride approached her new husband and asked for $20.00 for their first lovemaking encounter. In his highly aroused state, her husband readily agreed.

This scenario was repeated each time they made love, for more than 40 years, with him thinking that it was a cute way for her to afford new clothes and other incidentals that she needed.

Arriving home around noon one day, she was surprised to find her husband in a very drunken state. During the next few minutes, he explained that his employer was going through a process of corporate downsizing, and he had been let go. It was unlikely that, at the age of 59, he'd be able to find another position that paid anywhere near what he'd been earning, and therefore, they were financially ruined.

Calmly, his wife handed him a bank book which showed more than forty years of steady deposits and interest totaling nearly $1 million. Then she showed him certificates of deposits issued by the bank which was worth over $2 million, and informed him that they were one of the largest depositors in the bank. She explained that for the more than three decades she had 'charged' him for sex, these holdings had multiplied and these were the results of her savings and investments.

Faced with evidence of cash and investments worth over $3 million, her husband was so astounded he could barely speak, but finally he found his voice and blurted out, 'If I'd had any idea what you were doing, I would have given you all my business!'

That's when she shot him.
The sooner we put those assholes in the grave&piss on the dirt above it, the better off we'll be

blackwll
Posts: 935
Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2010 4:11 pm
Location: Waverly, AL

Re: DBT Tracks week 82 - Preacher killin' and killin' preach

Post by blackwll »

HOMEWOOD, Alabama - The Rev. Richard Shahan, an associate pastor at First Baptist Church of Birmingham, was taken into custody Wednesday in connection with his wife's slaying, AL.com has learned.

Shahan, 53, is being held for "investigative purposes" at the Homewood City Jail. He has not been charged with any crime in connection with his wife's death. Church officials said they have no comment.


Sources say Shahan came in voluntarily Wednesday for an interview. Based on that interview police decided to hold him, Homewood Police Public Information Officer Lt. Ken Atkinson confirmed.


Karen Louise Shahan's body was discovered about 11:15 a.m. July 23 inside the family's Hugh Circle home. Police, dispatched there by concerned co-workers when she failed to show up for work at Hobby Lobby, found the victim dead on the couch.

Police have not publicly confirmed how the woman was killed, but sources tell AL.com she was stabbed to death. The church's interim pastor, The Rev. Charles Carter, quoted one of the investigating detectives as saying it was "the most brutal murder that he had ever examined." The house appeared to be in disarray, and a window was broken.

Rev. Shahan is the Children and Families Pastor and the Facilities Director at First Baptist. Authorities said he was out of town visiting one of the couple's two sons when his wife's body was found.


http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2013/08/the ... lyout_news

User avatar
porkulator
Posts: 312
Joined: Fri Oct 07, 2011 6:51 pm
Location: Conway,Arkansas

Re: DBT Tracks week 82 - Preacher killin' and killin' preach

Post by porkulator »

I like the shit out of these three tunes.I don't like at all the high pitch squeal in Fireplace Poker that screams into my right ear and bores into my brain like a high speed drill bit.I don't get it.Does that bother anyone else?
Living in fear's just another way of dying before your time.

Cole Younger
Posts: 3989
Joined: Sat Dec 17, 2011 6:34 pm

Re: DBT Tracks week 82 - Preacher killin' and killin' preach

Post by Cole Younger »

porkulator wrote:I like the shit out of these three tunes.I don't like at all the high pitch squeal in Fireplace Poker that screams into my right ear and bores into my brain like a high speed drill bit.I don't get it.Does that bother anyone else?
I don't hear it. But I don't hear a lot of things.
A single shot rifle and a one eyed dog.

User avatar
Flea
Posts: 4132
Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2010 12:33 am
Location: Underneath the veneer

Re: DBT Tracks week 82 - Preacher killin' and killin' preach

Post by Flea »

porkulator wrote:I like the shit out of these three tunes.I don't like at all the high pitch squeal in Fireplace Poker that screams into my right ear and bores into my brain like a high speed drill bit.I don't get it.Does that bother anyone else?

Were you torturing a hooker while you were listening?
Now it's dark.

Sub
Posts: 637
Joined: Thu Mar 03, 2011 9:10 pm

Re: DBT Tracks week 82 - Preacher killin' and killin' preach

Post by Sub »

Flea wrote:
porkulator wrote:I like the shit out of these three tunes.I don't like at all the high pitch squeal in Fireplace Poker that screams into my right ear and bores into my brain like a high speed drill bit.I don't get it.Does that bother anyone else?

Were you torturing a hooker while you were listening?
Is that not normal listening protocol?

User avatar
porkulator
Posts: 312
Joined: Fri Oct 07, 2011 6:51 pm
Location: Conway,Arkansas

Re: DBT Tracks week 82 - Preacher killin' and killin' preach

Post by porkulator »

Flea wrote:
porkulator wrote:I like the shit out of these three tunes.I don't like at all the high pitch squeal in Fireplace Poker that screams into my right ear and bores into my brain like a high speed drill bit.I don't get it.Does that bother anyone else?

Were you torturing a hooker while you were listening?
A tortured hooker wouldn't hurt my ear anymore than that.I guess its just me,but at "normal" listening level its bad .At jammin' level it's unbearable.
Living in fear's just another way of dying before your time.

Post Reply