and that was edward lee elmore.even more surprising was that the police allowed holloway, a possible suspect, to clean the crime scene the day after dorothy's body was found. >> law enforcement turned the crime scene over to jimmy holloway to clean up. he could do whatever he wanted in there. there was no law enforcement presence watching what happened. there was no preservation of the crime scene. >> diana needed answers so she drove 90 miles to greenwood, south carolina, and showed up unannounced at james holloway's front door. >> mrs. holloway answered the door. she led me into the den and he was sitting on his big overstuffed recliner. so i introduced myself, and he proceeded to tell me, well, you know, really, the only one who could kill her and get away with it was me, the way she trusted me. that was one of the toughest moments in my career of not reacting. holy -- he also told me that law enforcement suspected him because all of the neighbors had told law enforcement that he and dorothy had been having an af

and that was edward lee elmore.> even more surprising was that the police allowed holloway, a possible suspect, to clean the crime scene the day after dorothy's body was found. >> law enforcement turned the crime scene over to jimmy holloway to clean up. he could do whatever he wanted in there. there was no law enforcement presence watching what happened. there was no preservation of the crime scene. >> diana needed answers so she drove 90 miles to greenwood, south carolina, and showed up unannounced at james holloway's front door. >> mrs. holloway answered the door. she led me into the den and he was sitting on his big overstuffed recliner. so i introduced myself, and he proceeded to tell me, well, you know, really, the only one who could kill her and get away with it was me, the way she trusted me. that was one of the toughest moments in my career of not reacting. holy -- he also told me that law enforcement suspected him because all of the neighbors had told law enforcement that he and dorothy had been having an

and that was edward lee elmore.> even more surprising was that the police allowed holloway, a possible suspect, to clean the crime scene the day after dorothy's body was found. >> law enforcement turned the crime scene over to jimmy holloway to clean up. he could do whatever he wanted in there. there was no law enforcement presence watching what happened. there was no preservation of the crime scene. >> diana needed answers so she drove 90 miles to greenwood, south carolina, and showed up unannounced at james holloway's front door. >> mrs. holloway answered the door. she led me into the den and she he was sitting on his big overstuffed recliner. so i introduced myself, and he proceeded to tell me, well, you know, really, the only one who could kill her and get away with it was me, the way she trusted me. that was one of the toughest moments in my career of not reacting. holy -- he also told me that law enforcement suspected him because all of the neighbors had told law enforcement that he and dorothy had been having

present evidence pointing to edward elmore's innocence. to a state court in south carolina. l was to get a new trial for elmore. diana would be join by chris jensen for what would be her first hearing as a lawyer. >> she was very fierce. she had not the slightest doubt about eddie elmore's innocence. she was determined to make sure that i did my job. >> the state was represented by donald zalenka who reportedly once argued that women who had abortions in the third trimoster could be executed for murder. and elmore's fate would be decided by judge earnest kinnard. one of the first witnesses called was james gilliam, the inmate who said elmore confessed to him in jail. in the small town of greenwood, both elmore and gilliam knew bishop spearman. and before the hearing, gilliam told spearman the truth. >> james gilliam and i go back i guess all our life. one night he called me and he will me, i lied and my conscience is bothering me. >> gilliam said he made a deal with the prosecutor to testify against elmore in exchange for release from prison. with elmore facing the electric c

not bad as it seems because god is still in control. >> bishop emmanuel spearman was pastor to edward lee elmoren accused of murdering dr. dorothy edwards. >> i have come to know edward in the late '70s. i pastored his home church. and his mother and i were best of friends. they didn't have a whole lot. >> one of 11 siblings, elmore's father was killed by a hit-and-run driver when elmore was 2. he grew up in dire poverty. >> he had a low i.q. i was a special ed teacher so i knew that he was slow. when i went to greenwood jail and i spoke with him, he really didn't know why he was there. and that bothered me. >> a hard worker, elmore got by on odd jobs like cleaning gutters and washing windows, including for dorothy edwards. when dorothy was murdered, age old fears and recrimination surfaced in the community. >> i know race plays a role when it comes to the justice system. here in greenwood, there are those who still have their agenda, but it's a hidden agenda. >> i'm positive that race played in edward lee elmore's trials. make no mistake, i think that was because he was the black guy that they

and that was edward lee elmore.ising was that the police allowed holloway, a possible suspect, to clean the crime scene the day after dorothy's body was found. >> law enforcement turned the crime scene over to jimmy holloway to clean up. he could do whatever he wanted in there. there was no law enforcement presence watching what happened. there was no preservation of the crime scene. >> diana needed answers so she drove 90 miles to greenwood, south carolina, and showed up unannounced at james holloway's front door. >> mrs. holloway answered the door. she led me into the den and he was sitting on his big overstuffed recliner. so i introduced myself, and he proceeded to tell me, well, you know, really, the only one who could kill her and get away with it was me, the way she trusted possible suspect, to clean the crime scene the day after dorothy's body was found. >> law enforcement turned the crime scene over to jimmy holloway to clean up. he could do whatever he wanted in there. there was no law enforcement presence

one of her first assignments was reviewing elmore's case. >> the first time i saw the name, edward leeelmore, i was reading through a transcript. >> diana started having suspicions that elmore's trials weren't fair. she was troubled that elmore's defense attorney didn't call any expert witnesses and rarely challenged any of the prosecution's evidence. diana knew that an incompetent defense was grounds for an appeal. >> i felt like there was something wrong. i needed to meet eddie. and give him an eyeball up and down, size him up. >> and who she met wasn't what she expected. >> edward and diana's story will be featured in the first episode of cnn's upcoming series "death row stories." which premieres tonight at 9:00 eastern. they join me now from columbia, south carolina. and diana, i want to start with you. you looked at the evidence and it just simply didn't make sense. there were things that had been overlooked. tell me what those things were. >> they weren't overlooked. they were never going to look at these things. because they decided that mr. elmore was guilty on the same day the

one such case begins in 1982 when this man, edward elmore, is convicted of murder.ern named diana holt, who wasn't so sure that he was guilty. she's on the hunt to find the evidence to get elmore out of jail. >> in order to solve the mystery of who did murder dorothy edwards, diana began looking for alternate suspects. and she found one in the neighbor who discovered the body, james hollowway. >> i read the testimony and my head just about spun off of my little spindly neck. i was like, wow. >> holloway spent an unusually long period of time at the crime scene before calling the police. >> he goes inside dorothy edwards' house. he sees that wall of blood for the first time, but he doesn't call police. he decides that he's going to go to the other side neighbor and get her to come in the house with him. so he's at the closet door again. and he decides to put gloves on. then he opens the door. and low and behold there she was. really? he put his gloves on before he went to open the door? >> does diana holt? find out who really killed dorothy. you can find out by watch

"death row stories, edward lee elmore" starts right now. >>> on this episode of "death row stories," murdered. >> blood spatter on the walls. the scene was just unbelievable. >> and a black man is arrested. >> his fingerprint was found. there were a number of hairs on the victim's bed.