Fourth Sunday from Jingle Jangle

Doing Time (Chapter 12 of Jingle Jangle)

By Jim Rix

[Editor’s Note: From the September 2015 review by Joe Kilgore in The US Review of Books:

The heinous deed that forms the axis of Rix’s tale takes place in Phoenix, Arizona,1991. A pretty barmaid is found virtually nude; beaten, bitten, and stabbed to death in the men’s room of her place of work. While the crime scene is littered with numerous examples of potential evidence, it is the actual bite marks on the victim’s body that become the central interest of the state. Prosecutors become convinced, based on forensic odontology, that the bite marks could only have come from a particular dart-throwing bar patron who was seen nuzzling with the deceased at a Christmas party prior to the killing. Ray Krone, the hapless young man whose teeth impressions seem to be a perfect match for the victim’s wounds, is arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to die for the shocking crime.

Fourth Sunday from Jingle Jangle

Relative Truth (Chapter 11 of Jingle Jangle)

By Jim Rix

[Editor's Note: From the September 2015 review by Joe Kilgore in The US Review of Books:

Jingle Jangle is a recounting of the kidnapping, rape, and murder of Kim Ancona, plus the trial, conviction, appeal, retrial, upheld conviction, additional appeal, and subsequent overturned sentence and release of Ray Krone. The tale is told by Krone’s cousin, Jim Rix, a computer programmer and software developer turned chronicler of this fascinating foray into forensic sleuthing, questionable policing, dubious prosecution, alarming conviction, and incarceration of an innocent man.]

Fourth Sunday from Jingle Jangle

The Perfect Witness (Chapter 10 of Jingle Jangle)

By Jim Rix

[Editor's Note: Opening paragraphs from the current review by Joe Kilgore in The US Review of Books:

“When confused by contradictory technical testimony, all that conscientious but bewildered jurors seem to be able to do is to give the Academy Award to the song and dance man they think gave the best performance.”
    It is often said that truth is stranger than fiction. That is frequently the case when it comes to recounting real crimes that have been committed, judgments that have been handed down, and sentences that have been carried out. For quite some time writers have sought literary gold by mining this nonfiction vein of abhorrent behavior and its consequences. A few have actually found it in such excellent tomes as Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, Norman Mailer’s The Executioner’s Song, and Joseph Wambaugh’s The Onion Field. The search for justice never seems to lose its particular allure. An allure that is alive and well in Jim Rix’s Jingle Jangle.]

Fourth Sunday from Jingle Jangle

Chapters 7-9 of Jingle Jangle

By Jim Rix

[Editor's Note: Concluding paragraph of the review by Daniel L. Kaplan, Assistant Federal Public Defender in the District of Arizona, published in The Federal Lawyer, February 2009:

Other than being Ray Krone's cousin, Jim Rix has no personal investment in the justice system. He is not a lawyer but the co-owner of an Internet-based billing service for dentists. His book leaves us with powerful critiques but no recommendations. Fortunately, these issues are beginning to be addressed with some rigor, as the revolution in DNA technology has revealed the importance of understanding the phenomenon of wrongful convictions. Unfortunately, understanding our mental black holes does not make them go away. Our only remedy is to study these black holes closely enough to avoid them-a delicate process that requires constant self-examination and course correction. But it is a process that we must master, because we can always be certain of two things: law degrees and black robes will never free us from our natures, and there will never be enough Jim Rixes to go around.]

Fourth Sunday from Jingle Jangle

Brady Material (Chapter 6 of Jingle Jangle)

By Jim Rix

[Editor's Note: Opening paragraphs of the review by Daniel L. Kaplan, Assistant Federal Public Defender in the District of Arizona, published in The Federal Lawyer, February 2009:

We all should have a cousin like Jim Rix. Better yet, we should have a justice system that is too reliable to convict an innocent man of murder twice. Failing that, a cousin like Jim Rix can be quite handy.
    Rix didn't think much of it when his mother casually said, to him, “You have a cousin on death row, and he's innocent.” But Rix was curious and wrote to his cousin, Ray Krone. In response Rix received Krone's facially compelling account of having been wrongly convicted and sentenced to death. Krone's case quickly turned into a sort of hobby for Jim Rix – although using the word “hobby” here is a bit like using it to describe Lance Armstrong’s cycling.]

Fourth Sunday from Jingle Jangle

Sugar and Hot Lips (Chapter 5 of Jingle Jangle)

By Jim Rix

[Editor’s Note: As the date of publication approached, billboards around Phoenix, Arizona started announcing the arrival of the book that would blow the cover off the Ray Krone case.]

Fourth Sunday from Jingle Jangle

A Shady Person (Chapter 4 of Jingle Jangle)

By Jim Rix

[Editor’s Note: Blurb from the dust jacket: “Jim Rix has written an astonishing memoir about his cousin Ray Krone’s wrongful conviction for a 1991 Arizona murder. Rix meticulously details every aspect of police corruption, prosecutorial misconduct, defense incompetence, expert witness tampering and jury shenanigans that led to Ray’s decade-long nightmare. But Rix doesn’t stop there. He dissects each problem, then with careful research explains how it is not an isolated incident but part of a larger pattern of problems in the criminal justice system. Rix’s wry humor and occasional sarcasm reveal the depths of his despair at realizing that the justice system, which he once trusted, is so deeply flawed. Scariest about this true story is that if Ray Krone, an honest, law-abiding person, could end up on Death Row, it could happen to anyone.”
        –Rachel King, author of Don’t Kill in Our Names and
        Capital Consequences, teaches legal writing
        at Howard University School of Law ]

Jingle Jangle sells!

Author Jim Rix is signing books again this weekend, this time at Costco's Carson City, Nevada store. He must be signing a lot of them. Look! He's having fun.
     Ray Krone, the subject of the book, lives on a farm outside York Pennsylvania and when last heard from was continuing to lobby for an end to the death penalty, under whose shadow he lived for three years before his cousin began to champion his case and worked with attorney Christopher Plourd to win a new trial. The second jury again bought the bogus bite mark evidence, but this time only sentenced the innocent Ray to life in prison.
    It had become abundantly clear that the only way to get Ray Krone out of prison was to discover who really killed Kim Ancona....

When Jim was through signing today (at 3 p.m.), only eleven of thirty-six copies were left. Hey, Costco needs to restock! Move over, John Grisham. (In fact, the store manager has asked Jim to bring six cases for the next signing session.)
    He left the poster below to pitch those last books for him until he returns tomorrow. The dust jacket art was created by Brooklyn graphic artist Matthew Moss. Drawings inside the book were created by Rob Esmay, whose cartoons occasionally appear in The New Yorker Magazine. I edited Jingle Jangle. It is published by Broken Bench Press.

What to make of this endorsement?

Brian Finkel, a once-prominent Phoenix abortion doctor, was sentenced Friday [January 2, 2004] to nearly 35 years in prison. He was convicted last month on 22 counts of sexually abusing patients. Under Arizona law he must serve at least 29 years behind bars. His sentence could have ranged from probation to 74 years.

So wrote Carol Sowers in The Arizona Republic.
    I have in my hands a copy of a letter from Brian Finkel, dated Summer 2009 and with the salutation, "HELLO FRIENDS!!!" It opens:

I hope this letter finds you in good health and spirits. The State budget crisis has hit the Chateau d'If prison very hard. The yard is overcrowded, the food is foul, and there is no air conditioning. The Warden stopped issuing replacement clothes. Inmates are expected to buy their own uniforms or wear rags. There are too many men wearing faded shirts, pre-owned shorts, shredded socks, and dingy, threadbare pants. It sucks to be a prisoner.
    I have spent my entire life believing the truths taught by the Boy Scouts of America....

    Mr. Finkel (I'm not sure that "Dr." Finkel is still appropriate) doesn't actually profess his innocence in this letter, but he indicts the Maricopa County Prosecutor (Rick Romley) with such fervor that I'm sure he would.
    It so happens that Romley is the character portrayed in the Rob Esmay drawing that I used to illustrate Wednesday's piece about the use of the human brain. (Romley has taken the place of the blindfolded Goddess of Justice.)
    Anyway, it seems that Mr. Finkel is one of the many inmates in Arizona reported to be reading Jingle Jangle: The Perfect Crime Turned Inside Out. (The report comes from Attorney Christopher Plourd, whose defense of the author's cousin is recounted in the book.) Mr. Finkel briefly reviews the book and says this by way of endorsement:

Jim Rix is the author of "Jingle Jangle," a book that casts a jaundiced eye on Romley's office. He exposed how difficult it is for an innocent defendant to win a justice game stacked against him with unlimited treasury, dishonest and dumb cops, reptilian prosecutors, forensic whores, cowardly judges, and a jury pool poisoned by press releases filled with maggoty meals of lies and innuendo. It is an eye-opening page turner that should be read by all concerned citizens [and not just inmates!]. Rix shines a bright light on the Golden Goblet that Romley would hold out to the public. It is shiny on the outside, but Rix shows that the inside is filled with evil and filth.

    You can learn more about the Finkel case (as I did) from the "Strike the Root" website. Including that Finkel was "a $600,000-a-year abortion doctor" and "wore well-cut suits during his three-month trial."

The top 10 reasons to read this book

10 It’s the story of Ray Krone, who was convicted for a 1991 murder he didn’t commit. Ten years later he became the 100th Death Row exoneree when DNA implicated a convicted sex offender.

“A must for readers of true crime and anyone wondering why so many innocent people are convicted in America. The book satisfies from start to finish, from the opening of Ray Krone’s horror story, through the compelling analysis of what went wrong and on to the startling conclusion...” –Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking and The Death of Innocents