Former Sheriff Threatened By Convicted Felon, Officials Say
By: Import User
Updated: January 7, 2009
Associates of a man sentenced to life in prison allegedly made threatening phone calls to a former Saline County Sheriff and prosecutor.
Joe Lee Richard, who served as sheriff of Saline County, says he received threatening phone calls over a 17- year period from friends of Denver Witham. He doesn`t understand why he was targeted.
"I didn`t arrest him, I didn`t prosecute him. All I did was hold him in my jail when he was up for appeals,`` Richard says.
Threats were also made to John Lovell, a former prosecutor, officials said.
Witham was convicted in 1974 of 1st-degree murder for beating a man to death with a metal pipe. He recently filed a clemency request, which Governor Huckabee is considering.
A decision on that clemency is expected in August.
