Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

New Evidence Discovered In Dansby Case

New information has come forth in the Joe Louis Dansby case which could result in a new trial.

Dansby was convicted in 1997 of murdering Jeff Lewis and Malissa Clark on May 16, 1992.

However, according to his court-appointed attorney William McLean, two sources have come forth who were not available at the trial for the defense.

Wayne Mills signed an affidavit asserting he had seen Harley Hillary, Clark's step-father and former investigator with the Nevada County Sheriff's Office, in a pickup truck on the passenger's side the morning of May 17, 1992, when the bodies were found.

About 10 minutes later, Mills said, he found a dry brown shopping bag. He noted the dryness as there had been a shower earlier in the morning.

The contents, according to the affidavit, included a photo of the victims and a female Mills didn't know, along with a diary of Clark's which allegedly disclosed a sexual relationship with Hillary.

"If the affiant Mills is relating truthful observations there is a compelling inference the paper bag and contents were placed where found by affiant by an agent of the State (Hillary) or at his direction," McLean wrote in his motion to the Arkansas Supreme Court.

"This fact coupled with the timing of the event, would certainly have been beneficial information for the defense no only from the standpoint of pretrial investigation, but also rom the standpoint of an ability to impeach the entire investigation."

Larry Byers also signed an affidavit stating he was one of many involved in the search which turned up the bodies of Lewis and Clark.

According to Byers' affidavit, at crime scene one he saw approximately six .22 caliber shells in a cluster about "six inches in circumference."

At the time Byers was with Hillary, and he pointed the shells out to the deputy.

Again, McLean wrote, this information wasn't made known to the defense counsel, and if Byers' account is accurate, the "information was actually withheld by agents of the State from defense counsel."

In McLean's motion, he wrote testimony at the trial and information provided by the State in discovery indicated fewer shells were found than described by Byers and in a much different location than the configuration he described.

"One could infer," McLean wrote, "circumstantially from the Byers statement the perpetrator of the crimes had used a pistol, not a rifle as was the State's theory of the use, and had dumped the empty shells on the ground from a cylinder chamber."

He stated not letting the defense counsel know this may have been intentionally and perniciously done, and kept the defense from calling serious questions into the validity of the State's assumption the murder weapon was a rifle.

Had this been the case, the testimony of Dansby's wife, Betty, would have been undermined as she told the court Dansby admitted killing the two young people, and in regards to her leading investigators to the alleged murder weapon.

In Mills' affidavit, he states he was living with his father at the old Jones-Garrett place on May 17, 1992.

Around 10:30 a.m., he stated, he saw a pickup traveling from north to south come by the house with Hillary in the passenger side. The vehicle was apparently heading toward Cale Road.

About 10 minutes later, the truck returned and Mills got on his bicycle to ride to work.

After he had ridden about a mile north, he found the bag in question. The bag was dry, which was unusual as there had been an early morning shower and dew was still on the ground.

The bag being dry, he stated, led him to believe it had been thrown from the truck.

The items found inside included: a grey pair of jogging shorts; a white pair of panties; a red diary; several pieces of an 8X10 photo which had been torn up; a Gideon New Testament; a metal key, several candy bar wrappers; and several cigarette butts.

Mills put the photo back together and saw there were three people in it. He recognized Lewis and Clark, but didn't know the third female in it.

He took out the diary and testament, along with the key, hiding them across the road under a black locust tree so he could look at them later.Mills went back to his hiding spot between 5-5:30 p.m. and saw a tall slender man with a truck and bobcat. He also saw the sack in the man's hands.

"I went on home," he stated, "but at approximately 6 p.m. that same day, I returned to where I had hidden the diary, the New Testament and the key, picked them up and took them home."

The diary had been cut open with a knife, according to Mills, and several pages had been removed. However, in reading it, Mills stated in the affidavit, he gathered it belonged to Clark.

Throughout the diary she made references to the fact Hillary had been having sex with her for several years.

Mills' affidavit states he misplaced the diary, but turned the key and testament over to Capt. Ron Stovall of the Arkansas State Police.

He claimed he didn't come forward with this information sooner because he feared for his life.

Byers, in his affidavit, a pastor at Riverside Baptist Church in Fulton, stated he was pastor of Shady Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Nevada County when the murders occurred.

This church is located about six miles from Prescott. Mary and Harley Hillary were members, he said.

Byers got a call Sunday, May 17, 1992, from Mary Hillary, around 8:30 a.m. saying Malissa and her boyfriend were missing. She indicated the two hadn't returned home after having gone four-wheeling the previous day.

Byers was asked not to inform the congregation until the service was over.

He agreed and said nothing to the congregation until services had ended, at which time he said the two were missing and encouraged the members of the church to help look for them.

Byers left church around 11:45 a.m., heading to the Hillary home in the Redland Community.

Upon arrival he changed clothes and waited for Harley Hillary to return.

While waiting, a neighbor, Sid Meadors, came by the Hillary home, and when Harley Hillary arrived about 45 minutes later, Meadors showed him a weight lifting glove he had found on a logging road.

Hillary identified the glove as being Lewis'. Meadors also found a portion of a gun rack Hillary thought may have been from Lewis' truck.

Byers drove his truck to the location the items had been found and stopped, but didn't get out.

The three then proceeded to the area that later became known as crime scene one.

Byers walked behind Hillary, asking if he should stay away from the scene, but was told he could follow, and did.

"The first thing I saw," Byers stated in his affidavit, "was about seven .22 caliber hulls which were all laying together with a circumference of about six inches. I showed these hulls to Harley."

Hillary picked one up and put it back down. He and Byers then walked forward, where Hillary found a checkbook he said belonged to Lewis.

According to Byers, the distance between the shells and checkbook was about 12 feet.

The next thing to be found was a pair of sunglasses near the checkbook.

Byers said he saw a rolled up item of blood-soaked material lying in a bloody spot of grass, along with a pair of women's panties. Hillary picked up the bloody item, put them in a sack and put the sack on the floorboard of his vehicle.

According to Byers, deputy Wayne Kisselburg was at this scene as well.

Hillary, Byers wrote, looked at the bloody area where the item had been found.

Byers spotted a footprint at the edge of this area and pointed it out to Hillary, who, he said, wasn't well focused at the time.

"Crime scene one was never sealed off for a proper investigation," Byers stated in his affidavit. "I was surprised when I later heard the murder weapon was supposed to have been a .22 rifle."

In his affidavit Byers said he was never questioned by any of the investigators involved in the probe concerning what he had seen at crime scene one.

Byers later asked Hillary if he needed any help based on his knowledge of the first crime scene, but was told it wasn't needed, he stated.

"I was never asked to give a written statement to investigators," he stated. "I never was called by any of Joe Dansby's attorneys concerning the case.

"I read an article in the paper about two months ago and learned attorney William A. McLean of Little Rock, Arkansas, has been appointed to represent Joe Dansby, and I called Mr. McLean and gave him the information contained in this affidavit."

Still, whether or not Dansby will get a new trial based on this information is not known.

McLean said it's hard to get the courts to overturn a murder conviction and grant a new trial.

Dansby was sentenced to death after being found guilty at his 1997 trial.