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| Who killed Tommy Burks? |
Readers have more faith in suspect Looper than in DA Gibson, poll finds
Gibson cannot be trusted to give the former Putnam County assessor of property a fair trial, four out of five respondents say.
The
State of Tennessee on Aug. 14 will prosecute former Putnam County Assessor
of Property Byron Looper for the murder of Sen. Tommy Burks, against whom
Looper was running in 1998. There
are many questions about the murder, investigation and evidence in the
case District Attorney General Bill Gibson is building against Looper.
The potential jury pool has been bombarded with negative stories run in
the Herald-Citizen, which carries a standing logo, "The trials of Byron
Looper." The newspaper has done absolutely no independent investigation,
but carries verbatim comments by the prosecutor.
Public
sentiment: Gibson is incapable of fairly prosecuting Former Putnam County
Tax Assessor Byron Looper
Why
give Byron Looper a trial at all? Let's kill him now.
Rush
to judgment: He wasn't a suspect, and he wasn't in town, Gibson slaps a
first degree murder charge on the unpopular Byron Looper (10/23/98)
Harris
Column: The irrefutable fact: Byron Looper is not guilty (11/28/98)
Justice
system needs to be scrutinized as the Looper case proceeds