Plot:Based on a true story. Barbara has enjoyed a long and happy marriage with Denny. That soon changes when Denny is arrested for a murder that was committed more than two decades ago in Oregon. Denny initially insists that he is innocent, but evidence proves that he has been living a secret life. Despite the revelations about her husband and circumstantial evidence produced by the police, Barbara doesn't believe that Denny is a murderer. She begins investigating the killing herself and tries to track down the only witness to the crime in an effort to clear Denny's name.
Reality: I could not find a lot of information on the actual case. However, there is a book entitled
"Mountain Madness" on which the movie is based. The real man accused was James Dale Taylor. In 1967 or 69, Taylor, accompanied by a friend, Glen Clark, went out looking for girls. On the way they pick up a hippie hitchhiker named Terry. Once turning down a dark mountain road, Clark starts to rape Terry, and then Jimmy, who wanted no part of it, shot and killed his friend in self defense and in defense of the victim Terry. This crime went unsolved for almost 20 years until Jimmy Dale Taylor was matched to computer records.
an article
United Press International
March 8, 1989, Wednesday, BC cycleOklahoma man cleared of 21-year-old slayingSECTION: Domestic NewsLENGTH: 209 wordsDATELINE: MEDFORD, Ore.
March 8, 1989, Wednesday, BC cycleOklahoma man cleared of 21-year-old slayingSECTION: Domestic NewsLENGTH: 209 wordsDATELINE: MEDFORD, Ore.
A man charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of a traveling companion more than 21 years ago was found innocent.
A Jackson County Circuit Court jury determined Tuesday that Jimmy Dale Taylor, 42, of Guthrie, Okla., acted in self defense when he shot Glenn True Clark, 46, near Howard Prairie Lake in August 1967.Taylor was arrested in October after authorities used a computer to identify fingerprints found at the shooting scene more than two decades ago.
Taylor said his boss at the termite control firm where he worked before being arrested has agreed to give him his old job back.
''I'm happy to be going home, to go back to work, to my wife and kids and to live my life over,'' Taylor said. ''I'm thankful. I did a lot of praying.''
Had he been convicted, Taylor could have been sentenced to life in prison.
Taylor and Maxine Maxwell, 40, testified during the trial that Clark was attempting to rape Maxwell when Taylor intervened. Taylor testified he shot Clark when the man threatened him with a gun.
Taylor also told the court he met Clark while they were living in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury District and the two were en route to Seattle when they picked up Maxwell, who was 19 and hitchhiking at the time.
A Jackson County Circuit Court jury determined Tuesday that Jimmy Dale Taylor, 42, of Guthrie, Okla., acted in self defense when he shot Glenn True Clark, 46, near Howard Prairie Lake in August 1967.Taylor was arrested in October after authorities used a computer to identify fingerprints found at the shooting scene more than two decades ago.
Taylor said his boss at the termite control firm where he worked before being arrested has agreed to give him his old job back.
''I'm happy to be going home, to go back to work, to my wife and kids and to live my life over,'' Taylor said. ''I'm thankful. I did a lot of praying.''
Had he been convicted, Taylor could have been sentenced to life in prison.
Taylor and Maxine Maxwell, 40, testified during the trial that Clark was attempting to rape Maxwell when Taylor intervened. Taylor testified he shot Clark when the man threatened him with a gun.
Taylor also told the court he met Clark while they were living in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury District and the two were en route to Seattle when they picked up Maxwell, who was 19 and hitchhiking at the time.
