Accusations of intimidation and wrongful convictions bring notorious 2003 Amarillo, Texas murder back into spotlight

Excerpt

Accusations intimidation and wrongful convictions by a key witness and her attorney have brought the 2003 murder of Dustin Pool in Amarillo,...

Accusations intimidation and wrongful convictions by a key witness and her attorney have brought the 2003 murder of Dustin Pool in Amarillo, Texas back into the spotlight 13 years later.

Randall County District Attorney James Farren maintains the conventions and evidence against all of the defendants in the case remains solid.

"The evidence in the Dustin Pool case was overwhelming. I've never had a case with as much evidence as I did in that case," Farren said.

However, witness Tori Patrick and her attorney James Wooldridge claim she has been intimidated and harassed by Farren's office, local law enforcement and other parties. Patrick was given ten years’ probation on a kidnapping charge in connection to Pool's murder.

"Four o'clock in the morning here they come circling the house, shining lights into her residence. “Strange people getting out of the cars and coming up on the porch, following her everywhere she goes.

"They've run her off the road twice.

"Within a week or two after we brought this to light back in February, there's a pattern of these vehicles. We've tracked a lot of them.

"A lot of them seem to be narcotics unit related, black chargers, white chargers and some of them have the spotlight on the A-pillar," Wooldridge said.

Wooldridge also claims that Farren's chief investigator, Bill Redden, pretended to be a pizza delivery person in order to snoop around Patrick.

"It's an Infiniti which has been used in this. We didn't see Mr. Farren in it, but we have seen his chief investigator, Bill Redden, who appeared also as a Pizza Hut delivery guy at one location, snooping around Ms. Patrick and her friend," Wooldridge said.

Farren downplayed the accusations as "ridiculous" and nothing more than a last ditch effort to keep Patrick from going to prison for violating her probation.

"He says he has hundreds of hours of video tapes for instance, well let's see it.

"He claims they've got helicopters with spotlights flying over Tori Patrick's house. I'm assuming in the middle of the night or they wouldn't need a spotlight. I guess none of the other neighbors even noticed a helicopter with spotlights.

"This is ridiculous.

"I have literally gone to the judge in cases where statements made by the defendant were less bizarre than this, and those statements prompted me to say we have to have a competency hearing.

"He wants the Amarillo Police Department to reopen a case that he believes they're complicit in the conspiracy. What kind of sense does that make?

"This is a desperate attempt to delay Tori Patrick's leaving for prison," Farren said.

Patrick and Wooldridge claim that new evidence shows that Pool's murderer or murderers could still be at large and that an innocent man is sitting behind bars.

“I testified on Josh Stocker, but he didn’t do it and he’s serving life. He did not kill him," Patrick said.

“Mr. Pool’s actual murderers yet remain at large and prowling around Amarillo," Wooldridge said in a letter to interim Amarillo Police Chief Ed Drain requesting that the investigation into Pool's murder be reopened.

Pool’s body was discovered after Stephen Craig Kimberlin was arrested for being in possession of 400 grams of methamphetamine. Kimberlin informed investigators that Pool’s body was buried in an abandoned grain silo and covered by concrete.

Kimberlin received 45 years in prison, while Joshua Stocker received a life sentence.

Wooldridge believes new evidence proves Tijuana Cartel members wanted Pool dead after he disclosed information about the organization after being arrested in Plainview, Texas on drug charges.

"It was a hit that was sent out from the "pinta" which is jargon for the penitentiary which would seem to indicate that it was a Texas syndicate that did the hit and not any issues between Kimberlin and Pool,” Wooldridge said.

Farren said the murder of Pool came as the result of a conflict between two rival Amarillo meth distribution operations.

"We never had any evidence of the Gulf Cartel being involved in this in any way. If Pool was a snitch and the evidence was utilized in some prosecution involving the Gulf Cartel.

"I seriously doubt there’s any validity to that," Farren said.

The family of Joshua Stocker provided the following statement to High Plains Pundit concerning the latest developments in this case:

"We are aware that Tori Patrick, who was the key witness in the trial against Josh, has recanted her testimony and admitted she was forced to commit perjury by the District Attorney. Josh is 1 of only 2 individuals with absolutely no DNA evidence nor fingerprints found during the course of the "investigation" by the state, and the case against Josh hinged primarily on the testimony of Ms. Patrick.

"We do not harbor any ill will towards her; as we had long ago forgiven her. We understand that as a young mother in a very terrifying situation, she was fearful.

"It is our understanding that she was told that if she did not go along with the fabricated story; then she would never see her child again. It is also our understanding that, several of the other co-conspirators had initially stated that if anything went wrong, they were told to place blame on Joshua Stocker and Josh Bledsoe.

"But at the trial, their testimonies had changed to reflect the same story that Ms. Patrick now admits was a fabrication.

"Our hope and prayer is that truth is revealed and justice is served. Unfortunately, across this country, we have all witnessed that many public officials have betrayed the trust of the people and the honor of their positions, by using their power to engage in corrupt and illegal activities.

"To whom much is given much is required; and it is our duty as citizens to ensure that those men and women in places of power do not abuse that power. If they abuse that power, then they must be held accountable."

Read the letter to APD Chief Drain and the supporting documents provided by Wooldridge below: