Deadly Affair
- Episode aired Aug 1, 2010
- TV-PG
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Deadly Affair
Boy, is this a weird one? In November 2006, Avis Banks was murdered in the garage of the home she shared with her fiancé; the victim, who was five months pregnant, was both shot and stabbed to death. The home had also been searched in what was in the eyes of investigators clearly a staged burglary. This led them to their prime suspect, Keyon Pittman, who had apparently discovered his lover's body. Or perhaps that should be the body of one of his lovers, because it was soon clear that schoolteacher Keyon couldn't keep it inside his trousers.
In the UK he would almost certainly have been charged, remanded in custody, tried and convicted, but in the United States where higher standards are required to deprive a man of his liberty, he was released without charge even though he remained the prime suspect. He appears to have shown little if any grief for the woman who had shared his bed and who appears to have wanted to spend the rest of her life with him.
Soon though, there were to be amazing developments in the case. It transpired that Keyon had been having an affair with another teacher, Carla Hughes, a golden girl who could have done much better for herself, but he was not her first bad choice in that department.
The bottom line is that the investigators believed she was covering up for Keyon or more likely she was an accessory before the fact, but when a lawyer came forward with information about a gun, Carla found herself facing not one but two first degree murder charges, and this being Mississippi, the State decided she warranted the death penalty.
It took nearly three years for the case to come to trial, which saw Keyon – who had since married and relocated elsewhere – being portrayed as the real villain of the piece by Carla's high powered attorney. Although he had a rock solid alibi, the police too were convinced he was the real villain of the piece, but however unsavoury he may have been, the jury didn't buy it, and Carla was convicted on both counts, although they spared her life. We are shown both the verdict and the sentence, although we are spared the gruesome crime scene photographs that sometimes feature in programmes of this nature. We see too archive footage of a far more extrovert Carla.
While Keyon took the stand – as a prosecution witness - Carla did not, and said little or nothing since she was questioned by the police, first as a witness and then as a suspect. She did though speak to the programme makers from prison protesting her innocence and claiming she had been framed by the real murderer, although she said she did not know who that was. One surprising facet of the case is that there was no meaningful forensic evidence.
Although Keyon Pittman was far from a credible witness, it is just possible he is totally innocent, even though the police would still like to see him behind bars as well.
In the UK he would almost certainly have been charged, remanded in custody, tried and convicted, but in the United States where higher standards are required to deprive a man of his liberty, he was released without charge even though he remained the prime suspect. He appears to have shown little if any grief for the woman who had shared his bed and who appears to have wanted to spend the rest of her life with him.
Soon though, there were to be amazing developments in the case. It transpired that Keyon had been having an affair with another teacher, Carla Hughes, a golden girl who could have done much better for herself, but he was not her first bad choice in that department.
The bottom line is that the investigators believed she was covering up for Keyon or more likely she was an accessory before the fact, but when a lawyer came forward with information about a gun, Carla found herself facing not one but two first degree murder charges, and this being Mississippi, the State decided she warranted the death penalty.
It took nearly three years for the case to come to trial, which saw Keyon – who had since married and relocated elsewhere – being portrayed as the real villain of the piece by Carla's high powered attorney. Although he had a rock solid alibi, the police too were convinced he was the real villain of the piece, but however unsavoury he may have been, the jury didn't buy it, and Carla was convicted on both counts, although they spared her life. We are shown both the verdict and the sentence, although we are spared the gruesome crime scene photographs that sometimes feature in programmes of this nature. We see too archive footage of a far more extrovert Carla.
While Keyon took the stand – as a prosecution witness - Carla did not, and said little or nothing since she was questioned by the police, first as a witness and then as a suspect. She did though speak to the programme makers from prison protesting her innocence and claiming she had been framed by the real murderer, although she said she did not know who that was. One surprising facet of the case is that there was no meaningful forensic evidence.
Although Keyon Pittman was far from a credible witness, it is just possible he is totally innocent, even though the police would still like to see him behind bars as well.
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- a_baron
- Sep 9, 2014
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