There was a travesty
of justice in Waycross this past month. A
murderer is walking free among us.
That’s not what the judge and jury decided; the murderer was found not
guilty. So, who am I to say otherwise?
I was not there when the death occurred. There is only one person alive who was there
and by her own admission, she was the instrument of the death. Her story, which ultimately freed her, and
what the jury believed, was also the one played out in the press. If you had not known Jimmie Burke, and only
got to know him from what was printed in the press and what the jury heard was
the following:
Jimmie Burke was a disgraced Miami attorney and former
legislator who served time in federal prison for fraud. He came back to his home town as a
“do-gooder” but after 6 marriages, he preyed on Sonia, the sister of a friend,
and got her to marry him. During that
marriage, he stalked, threatened and verbally abused her. Finally, the conflict came to a head and he
attacked her and she had no choice but to defend herself by shooting him
several times. A 911 call was made by the
deceased with a cell phone; then Ms. Burke told EMS when they arrived that she
had taken an overdose of anti-anxiety meds.
The police searched the house and found Jimmie, dead, in a locked
bedroom. The only part of this story that is true are the last two sentences.
Sonia came into
Jimmie’s life when her home was destroyed in a fire and she needed a place to
stay. Jimmie had sworn he’d never marry again; he
had failed at marriage enough times to know the odds were against success. Despite
this, he felt something special with her and took that chance. It is a fact that Jimmie loved the women in
his life and they loved him back. To
this day, they will only say good things about him. I knew Jimmie over the past
10 years so what I know to be the truth is not hearsay or speculation. I knew Jimmie’s history, who he was in his
past and who he was in Waycross. Yes, he
was an activist (very different meaning than “do-gooder”). He wanted his community to change for the
better. He networked with local
governments and organizations and he was the “go to” person if you wanted to
get things done. He deeply loved his
siblings, family, and children, both biological and step. There was never even a suggestion that he had
been violent or abusive to anyone in his life.
He didn’t drink or smoke, he attended and was active in his
church. He did not own a gun and was not
armed on the day of his death. They had
agreed that Sonia would keep her gun in her vehicle where she felt she needed
it for protection. I spoke with Jimmie approx. 1-1/2 weeks before
this happened and he told me his marriage was falling apart; he said his wife
had accused him of doing things that made no sense. Specifically, that he had been having an
affair with a man and she was afraid of getting AIDS. He added, to me, that “She has a gun; so, if
you hear that something has happened to me….”.
Unknown to me at that time, Sonia had also called a mutual friend of
hers and Jimmie’s and verbalized threats of killing him “if he gave me
AIDS”. When the friend asked her if she
had been tested she admitted she had and it was negative. The friend advised her to leave the marriage
if she believed those things.
None of this was told at the trial. None.
What was told was that Jimmie attacked her with “a paperweight”, which
was never mentioned by the police or placed into evidence. Further “witnesses” testified that Sonia had
been in fear of her husband (although she made no move to leave). All the witnesses said what a nice woman she
was.
Over the years, I had occasion through various organizations
to spend many evenings with Jimmie, both in his house and elsewhere, at
meetings and play rehearsals and performances.
Sonia was not with him at any of these events and he had an extremely
active and busy life that she was not a part of. If anything, he was probably too
self-involved and concerned about his health, well-being and appearance. But that very weekend, he had been
distributing Mother’s Day cards to all his female friends and family. If
anything, he also loved women too much.
I expect that there are those who will not believe or
appreciate my saying these things. But
if I believe nothing else, I believe injustice should always be addressed. I really can’t say why the verdict was
reached or why information was withheld.
I have to believe the truth will eventually come out. It’s only fair and just that a man like
Jimmie Burke should be remembered in death as he truly was in life.
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