THE incredible story of a former Busselton woman’s 13 year dedication to proving the innocence of an American man jailed for murder is being heard around the world.
In 2000 Barbara Santek became aware of what she believed to be a miscarriage of justice regarding American man Tyrone Hood’s 75-year sentence and decided to take action.
Ms Santek told the Busselton Dunsborough Mail with new court dates set she was hopeful Mr Hood’s conviction would be overturned.
In 1996, and in a city worlds apart from Busselton, American man Tyrone Hood was sentenced to life for the murder of Marshall Morgan in Chicago.
In 1993, 20-year-old student Mr Morgan went missing and was found nine days later between the front and back seats of a car with three gunshot wounds.
Father of three Mr Hood was arrested based on confessions from several individuals, confessions of which have since in some way been recanted.
Ms Santek’s story with Mr Hood began in 2000.
She attended an Amnesty International meeting in Fremantle where she agreed to correspond with the American inmate.
Ms Santek’s devotion to his plight however came to international attention following an article printed in the New Yorker earlier this month on August 4.
The article 'Crime Fiction' by Nicholas Schmidle provided an in-depth and thorough investigation of the case which led to Mr Hood’s sentence.
Reading like a crime block buster, Schmidle uncovers the piles of indisputable evidence which supports Mr Hood’s claim of innocence.
The article implies alleged corruption by the Chicago police and evidence which ties another man, Marshall Morgan Senior, to the crime.
Morgan Senior was the father of the victim and is also connected to four murders which share obvious similarities.
He is currently serving a 75 year sentence for the murder of his girlfriend Deborah Jackson in 2001.
The New Yorker article states Ms Santek was wary of Mr Hoods letter at first however, Ms Santek told the Mail after reading the trial transcripts, police records, witness statements and recantations that she felt there was more to the case and time had shown that to be true.
This evidence is what has kept Ms Santek fighting to prove Mr Hood’s innocence for the past 13 years.
“I research, I contact people and do anything that needs to be done that he is unable to do,”
- Barbara Santek.
“I fell into the role of advocate after realising he was innocent, I think most people would have done what I have.”
In 2002, Ms Santek decided to go on a holiday to America which she said felt like was the right time as she had always wanted to travel.
Since then Ms Santek has lived in the United States alongside her second husband and three adopted children.
She said her children in Australia knew of the case and believed and supported her in her efforts.
After four years of living in America Ms Santek met up with Mr Hood and said they had since formed a close relationship.
She said Mr Hood was intelligent, caring, had a great sense of humour and although life had not been kind to him he saw the best in people.
“Tyrone is also a great friend to my girls he talks and guides them with many things including the importance of respect, having aims in life and believing in themselves,” she said.
In 2007 Ms Santek convinced a Chicago law firm to take on Mr Hood’s case pro-bono and they have been working on it ever since.
With new court dates in sight for September and October Ms Santek said she was feeling hopeful, however after so many court dates she was not over excited.
“Although frustrating, I do believe the truth will unfold,” she said.