Jamie Snow: A Story Recanted

[00:00:18] Hey everyone, my name is Nikki Young and this is Serial Napper, an international true crime podcast. I'm back with another true crime story to lull you to sleep or perhaps to give you nightmares. Tonight's story will both enrage you and make you question everything that you know

[00:00:37] about America's legal system. Or at least it should. On Easter Sunday 1991, a gas station in Bloomington, Illinois would be robbed at gunpoint. Tragically, Billy Little, the attendant who was working that night, would be killed, shot to death for the money in his cash register.

[00:00:57] Investigators collected evidence from the crime scene including fingerprints, shoe prints, and even a possible DNA sample. But they struggled for years to nail down who the armed robber was. It wasn't until 8 years later that a witness would pick out a man named Jamie Snow from a lineup.

[00:01:17] Jamie was a person the police had their eye on from the beginning, but the witness had previously failed to pick him out from photos and lineups. Now that this witness pointed at Jamie Snow, the police moved in on an arrest.

[00:01:32] However, Jamie denied robbing the gas station and killing the attendant. He said that he was at home eating dinner with his children and his wife at the time of the crime. Despite Jamie having an alibi and passing a polygraph test, the police finding no evidence

[00:01:49] to connect him to the crime scene, and an eyewitness that only pointed at Jamie 8 years later, Jamie Snow would be tried and convicted. He has been in prison for over 24 years now for a crime that he says he did not commit.

[00:02:06] And once you hear the details of the investigation and the trial, you'll wonder how all of this happened. So, let's jump right in. On March 31st, 1991, 18-year-old William Little, who went by Billy, was working at a gas station on Clark Street in Bloomington, Illinois. It was Easter Sunday.

[00:02:27] It should have been a quiet day. But instead, it was the last day of Billy's life. At around 8.15pm that evening, someone would rob the gas station, shooting Billy and taking a total of $92 from the cash register. A life taken for under $100.

[00:02:48] Before taking his last breath, Billy would trip the silent alarm, sending the police right to the gas station. The first officer to respond was Officer Pelo of the Bloomington Police Department.

[00:03:01] When he arrived, he says that he sees a man who is filling air in his tires outside of the gas station and no one else in the vicinity. This man's name would turn out to be Danny Martinez, and he would become a key part of this investigation.

[00:03:17] When Officer Pelo enters the gas station, he finds Billy Little shot behind the register. No one else is inside. But there is a ton of evidence left behind, including bullet casings and bloody footprints, all of which would be documented by investigators.

[00:03:37] They would also pull fingerprints and find potential DNA that could be connected to the suspect. Beyond the evidence, there would be three eyewitnesses to come forward, including the man who had been filling air in his tires, Danny Martinez.

[00:03:54] Martinez told officers that he had just finished putting air in his tires when he heard two gunshots. He looked up at the gas station, and he said he saw a man walking backwards out the front door. Interestingly enough, this would directly contradict the statement that was given by

[00:04:11] the first officer on scene, who said that he didn't see anyone other than Martinez at the gas station. Still, they took down his statement. Martinez claimed to have come within a few feet of this man, so he said that he saw his

[00:04:27] face and he was able to put together a sketch. He said that the man was around 5'8 tall. He had long, brownish hair and facial stubble. He would later testify that he noticed the man's eyes right away, saying, quote,

[00:04:42] "'His eyes was wide open, like if he was out the whole night, and I'll never forget those eyes.'" Martinez was not the only eyewitness to come forward with information. Fourteen-year-old Carlos Luna lived across the street from the gas station, and he claimed

[00:04:58] to have been home with a friend looking out the window at the time of the robbery. He said that from his living room across the street, he saw a white male wearing a trench coat walking out of the gas station.

[00:05:11] Though the robbery happened in the evening and it would have been dark, Luna claimed to have seen the man's face. A third witness named Gerardo Guitierrez would later come forward to say that he was also there just before the robbery, getting gas.

[00:05:28] When he went inside to pay, he saw a man talking to Billy, the gas station attendant, and his behavior made him believe that he was trying to shield his face away from being seen.

[00:05:40] He described this person as being around 6' tall, with a mustache and a gold earring. This man also apparently had a bloody cut across his chin, a completely different description than the one that was given by Martinez.

[00:05:56] While the gas station robbery was happening across town, Jamie Snow was enjoying dinner with his wife and kids. It was an eventful Easter Sunday with an egg hunt for the little ones, followed by a really big dinner. He would hear about the robbery on the local news.

[00:06:13] A total tragedy, but at the time, he had no idea how much that single event would dramatically change his life. About a month after the Clark Street gas station robbery where Billy Little had been killed, the police take Jamie Snow into the station for questioning.

[00:06:32] They believe that he is a suspect in another gas station robbery that had happened about a month prior to this one. And listen, it's important to note here that Jamie Snow was not a complete angel.

[00:06:44] He did have a criminal history of petty theft at the time, but there was nothing on his rap sheet to indicate that he was a violent person. Jamie would deny his involvement in either of the gas station robberies, but the police believe that they have their man.

[00:07:02] Charges in the first gas station robbery case would later be dropped, but the police were not giving up on this one. Though Jamie's fingerprints and shoe prints don't match the ones that were found at the crime scene, investigators asked Jamie to participate in a police lineup that's related

[00:07:22] to the Clark Street gas station robbery. Remember, there were three witnesses who claimed that they had seen the face of a man there at the time of the robbery. The first witness, Danny Martinez, the man who had been filling his tires with air,

[00:07:38] he picks out two men that he thinks could be the culprit. Neither of the men who were picked were Jamie Snow. Martinez would be brought in three more times to try to identify the suspect from a photo

[00:07:52] lineup, and he does not identify Jamie Snow any of these times. Gerardo Gutierrez, who says that he was there just pumping gas before the robbery occurred, he said that he didn't recognize anyone from the lineup as being the man that he saw talking to the attendant, Billy.

[00:08:12] The third witness, teenager Carlos Luna, who lived across the street, he would pick Jamie Snow out of a lineup, but he said that he wasn't all that sure that this was truly the suspect, the person that he saw.

[00:08:25] Luna's witness testimony is particularly a point of contention because he only saw the person from his window in his house, which was across the street from the gas station. And remember, this is in the evening, it was dark out, so there were doubts that he truly

[00:08:41] saw this person's face, even amongst investigators. Later, a police memo would reveal, quote, The reason that Carlos Luna did not positively pick someone out of the lineup is he couldn't if he wanted to. I interviewed him and his friend the night of the murder.

[00:08:58] I talked to them that night, and a few days later, individually. Neither of the boys could see the person clearly. I stood at the window they looked out, and it was difficult to identify the people running around on the lot, and I knew most of them.

[00:09:15] There was no way that they could make an ID. This would later be found in a police memo that was written by an unnamed detective on the case. One would think that, without a reliable positive identification, investigators would kind of

[00:09:29] move on from Jamie and begin to look at other possible suspects. But this just doesn't happen. It appears that Jamie Snow remains the prime suspect, the only suspect, and the police, they have their work cut out for them trying to connect the dots.

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[00:10:37] Visit rosettastone.com slash rs10. That's 50% off unlimited access to 25 language courses for the rest of your life. Redeem your 50% off. Visit rosettastone.com slash rs10 today. Jamie is so distraught that he offers to take a polygraph test to prove that he's innocent.

[00:10:57] Now, I say this all the time on my podcast, but if you are ever a suspect in a crime, even if you're innocent, you should never subject yourself to a polygraph test because they are not 100% accurate. They can't be used in court.

[00:11:15] You'll never see the results used to rule someone out as a suspect. They're really only ever used to bolster the case against someone. So if you pass, no harm, no foul. But if you fail, well, you've just given the police ammunition, even if they are way off base.

[00:11:34] Jamie Snow, he passed the polygraph test, but it wouldn't be enough to save him in the end. Jamie isn't arrested at that time because there really isn't anything to connect him to the Clark Street robbery other than the police believing that they have a hunch.

[00:11:51] He decides to move to Florida to get some space away from this investigation. He also starts his own tree trimming business, earning an honest living, and he tries to put the past behind him. But the past? It never stays where it is.

[00:12:08] In 1994, Jamie would be charged and plead guilty to obstruction of justice related to another crime. He would spend two years behind bars. Once he was released, he returned to live in Florida, where he was completely unaware

[00:12:23] of the case that was being built against him back in Bloomington, Illinois. It wouldn't be until September 1999, eight years after the gas station robbery, that Jamie Snow was indicted for the murder of William Little. Jamie was completely blindsided, and he maintained his innocence.

[00:12:44] He said there was no way that he could have done it. Again, he was at home enjoying his Easter Sunday with his family at the time of the robbery. But the police? They had a little something in their back pocket.

[00:12:58] A letter from a jailhouse informant who said that he knows for a fact Jamie killed Billy because Jamie bragged about it while they were serving time together. He'll tell them everything that he knows for a deal.

[00:13:13] Despite there being no actual physical evidence to connect Jamie Snow to the gas station robbery, investigators make a deal with several jailhouse informants who say that they will testify against Jamie in exchange for cash or time served.

[00:13:29] The police also bring Jamie in for one final police lineup with their star witness, Martinez, that man who was there putting air in his tires. This is the fifth time that Martinez is asked to pick out the robber out of a lineup, and

[00:13:46] it has now been eight years that have since passed and since he has seen this person's face. This time, Martinez picks Jamie out of the lineup. To be clear, this is a man who says that he came face to face with the suspect and could

[00:14:00] never forget his eyes. Yet he failed to pick out Jamie until the fifth lineup eight years later after the crime. So do with that information what you will. Jamie's sister-in-law, Susan Claycomb, she was also arrested in connection to this crime.

[00:14:18] Police believed that she was the getaway driver during the robbery. Susan sadly had a long history with abusing drugs and alcohol. She initially couldn't remember where she was at the time of the robbery, and she would often get mixed up and confused by her own memories.

[00:14:36] Allegedly, she had told a few different people that she thought she could have been there, she may have been the getaway driver, but just as quickly and easily, she'd say that she had no memory of that at all.

[00:14:50] In the end, she completely denied any involvement, and she also denied that Jamie had anything to do with the robbery. Susan would go to trial before Jamie. The prosecution wanted to charge her for first-degree murder because they alleged she drove the

[00:15:07] getaway car that night that Billy Little was killed. They attempted to offer her a deal in exchange for a lesser sentence if she would turn on Jamie, but Susan refused. Despite the fact that she and Jamie never really got along all that well, she refused

[00:15:26] to flip on her brother-in-law. At trial, Susan would be acquitted. There wasn't enough evidence to bring about a conviction. My name is Andy Schilt. I was a juror on Jamie's co-defendant's trial. Her name was Susan Claycomb Powell, and she was the alleged getaway driver, and we acquitted her.

[00:15:49] She was Jamie's sister-in-law, and the only reason anyone can figure out why she was involved was that she had a car. Jamie didn't have a car, and she was vulnerable. She was pregnant, and the prosecutors used her to try and get her to say that Jamie did it.

[00:16:08] She faced first-degree murder charges just like Jamie did, and she went through it, and we acquitted her. However, this did not stop the District Attorney's Office from continuing with their case against Jamie Snow. At trial, Jamie would be represented by attorneys Patrick Riley and Frank Pickle.

[00:16:32] They were assigned by the state. It's alleged that Pickle was an alcoholic with a severe gambling problem, and he would even show up to court intoxicated. Jamie wrote a letter to the judge asking for a continuance because he didn't believe his attorneys were prepared at all.

[00:16:51] It should have been ruled ineffective counsel, but instead, his request was denied, and his attorneys remained on the case. Years later, that same attorney would be disbarred after being accused of stealing money from one of his elderly clients.

[00:17:09] Obviously not someone you would want fighting for your freedom, but at the time, that's all Jamie had. I spoke with Tammy Alexander, who has been working on Jamie's case for over 10 years now. Here's what she had to say. I ran across a story about his case.

[00:17:28] It was just questionable to me. So he really didn't have a lot of media or any positive media, I should say. So I just, I wrote him and I said, you know, I had never written anybody in prison, never knew anybody in prison.

[00:17:45] And I worked for, I worked in the cybersecurity center at the University of Memphis and worked with a lot of FBI agents and that kind of stuff. So I was like, I don't know what compelled me, but I wrote him and I said, you know,

[00:18:01] I don't know if you did this, but I, I don't know if you're innocent, but I, I don't think you got a fair trial. Jamie's trial lasted nine days and it had many of the same witnesses who testified at Susan Claycomb's trial.

[00:18:18] The state would call 43 witnesses, including the three eyewitnesses who were at or near the gas station that evening. Martinez, the air tire guy, he talked about how he saw a man leaving the gas station after hearing two pops.

[00:18:34] He admitted that he was initially unable to identify Jamie from the lineups, but years later he said he saw his photo in a newspaper and that he recognized him from that. They called this supposed star witness to the stand, despite the fact that his statement

[00:18:53] directly contradicted the statement given by the first officer on scene who claimed that he didn't see anyone else at the gas station. No one coming out of the front door. What Danny Martinez said was that he almost, that when he was going into the store, he

[00:19:10] came face to face. This is what he ended up testifying. Face to face with the person. He was, you know, he was just right there and he'll never forget his eyes. And then, uh, Pila, like the officer that was across the street would have had to see him.

[00:19:27] It's like you look across the street, you have a full field of view and there is no way that that could have happened. The prosecution would call several jailhouse informants to the stand who would testify that

[00:19:42] at one point or another, they heard Jamie admit to the robbery and the murder. The whole case heavily relied on these testimonies because there wasn't any fingerprints, footprints, blood, or DNA evidence that connected Jamie to that crime scene.

[00:20:01] More than 17 witnesses for the prosecution have since recanted their testimonies. What they appeared to have done was go through the case and see anybody that had anything to do with it or filed anything.

[00:20:16] Then they went to jail, prisons, to see anybody who had ever roomed with him or been a celly of his because we have those documents where they're outlining everybody's schedule and who had ever been in prison with him.

[00:20:35] We have several people who have told us and documented it and given affidavits saying that they came to them while they were in jail and tried to get, you know, tried to get them to just say, you know, that Jamie did it.

[00:20:54] As for the defense, Jamie repeated his alibi. On the night of March 31st, 1991, he said he was at his home with his wife and his children. His wife would also testify that they were at home together.

[00:21:09] It's probably one of the worst alibis to have because most people assume that a wife will lie for their husband just to keep him out of jail. But what can you do if that is the truth of it?

[00:21:21] In the end, Jamie Snow would be found guilty of first-degree murder. A decision made solely on the eyewitnesses who had failed to pick him out of a lineup so many times before. Also, the testimony of jailhouse informants who were offered deals and Jamie's somewhat sordid history. That's it.

[00:21:42] That's all they had. Jamie would try to fight it, citing ineffective assistance of counsel, but his motion was denied. His motion to reconsider was also denied. Jamie would try to appeal his conviction, but it was denied by the Illinois Supreme

[00:21:59] Court, despite the fact that so many of these supposed witnesses would recant their statements. We've had about 12 people either recant or change their testimony. It's very compelling, but as I'm sure you know, the courts don't like recantations very much.

[00:22:21] Jamie Snow has been in prison now for over 24 years. To this day, he still maintains his innocence, and he has been fighting to have his freedom once again. As it turns out, there is potential DNA evidence from this case that has gone untested all

[00:22:38] of these years, but it could prove that Jamie is innocent. Technology has come a long way. There were fingerprints lifted at the scene that didn't match Jamie that can now also be tested for DNA.

[00:22:53] There were two bullets recovered from the body that can be tested for DNA, but they can also be run through the FBI ballistics database to determine if the same gun has been used in any other crimes.

[00:23:05] The victim, William Little, he has never had his clothing tested for touch DNA, and there was even blood found at the scene that was never actually tested. Strangely enough, the McLean County State's Attorney's Office, they have fought DNA testing

[00:23:21] in this case, which is incredibly frustrating, despite the fact that the University of Chicago's Exoneration Project has agreed to pay for all of the DNA testing at no cost to the taxpayers. But in their minds, this is a closed case.

[00:23:38] The bad guy has been caught and put behind bars. But when you look at the way this has all played out, the lack of any actual physical evidence and the faulty eyewitnesses, it's really difficult to understand how one can

[00:23:53] sleep soundly at night knowing that there very well may be an innocent man behind bars. A man who has missed the opportunity to see his children and now even his grandchildren grow up. So why don't the police want to know the truth of it?

[00:24:11] In my opinion, why they pinned it on Jamie is they had, the case had gone cold. They had a couple, three witnesses, jailhouse witnesses saying that he had done it. And so it was a very weak case. And they knew that in 1993.

[00:24:29] I believe that the main investigative officer in 1998 was a candidate for sheriff. We know that the judge became a judge the very next year after Jamie's trial, after his wrongful conviction. And we know that his other prosecutor was gunning for a state's attorney job.

[00:24:53] And you know, they were just walking the ladder. So that's why I think, I think it was politically motivated. You know, we believe that Jamie was truly wrongfully convicted. And what that means is the actual killer is still free. And they did such a poor job of investigation.

[00:25:16] And you can go through and see how they didn't follow up, how they just let very viable violent suspects, alternative suspects, just go on a base of they didn't have an earring or a scar on their chin.

[00:25:39] Now this is just a high level overview of Jamie Snow's case and his journey to exoneration. But if you'd like any more information or to continue to follow Jamie's story, or even to help with this cause, I highly encourage you to listen to the podcast at snowfiles.net

[00:25:57] and to visit freejamiesnow.com. You think, well, it would take a whole court to do that. No, it takes, it takes a prosecutor to do it. It takes one prosecutor. It takes one detective. That's all it takes for these wrongful convictions. And it's heartbreaking. He's lost his life.

[00:26:19] He has six children, his youngest son, his girlfriend was pregnant when he was arrested. He's never met him. That child is the same age as Jamie's conviction when he was arrested. His children were between the ages I think of two and 15.

[00:26:41] Now they're, I think, in their 20s, mid-20s to 40. Can you imagine losing all of that life? That's it for me tonight. If you want to reach out, you can find me on Facebook at Serial Napper. I also have a Serial Napper true crime discussion group.

[00:27:02] It's called Serial Society and I'll have the link in my show notes. I'd love to chat with you about all that's going on in true crime and the cases that I cover. You can find my audio on Apple or Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.

[00:27:16] I post all of my episodes in video format over on YouTube so go check it out. And if you're watching on YouTube, I would love if you could give me a thumbs up and subscribe. Every little bit helps.

[00:27:28] I'm over on X, formerly known as Twitter at Serial underscore Napper. And I post things on TikTok. Serial Napper Nick and that's all one word. Until next time, sweet dreams, stay kind, especially in the comments. Bye.