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Lax asked if William wanted to correct the situation. When William said he did, Lax asked if he could record a new videotape. The boy and his parents agreed, and both parents sat with William as he answered Lax’s questions. Lax began by asking William what he had planned to do when called to testify. “I was going to get up there and tell the truth,” he said.

Lax: “And what is the truth?”

William: “That I don’t know nothing about it….”

Lax: “Has Damien ever said anything to you at all about this murder?”

William: “No…”

Lax: “Has Jason Baldwin?”

William: “No sir. None of them have….”

Lax: “In this statement, you had some fairly, uh, specific information regarding what happened to the boys when they were killed. Where did you get that information?”

William: “Rumors, and the papers, and what I was told.”

William Jones was one of several teenagers questioned by Lax who’d admitted making a false statement to the police. The first had been Buddy Sidney Lucas, who’d said he’d been frightened by Durham and had told the detective what he thought he wanted to hear so that he wouldn’t “get in trouble.”221But the testimony of William Jones had been the most damaging, and his decision to recant his statement was the most important to the defense. Lax informed Stidham, who reported the news to Fogleman.

One of Lax’s investigators, Cheryl Aycock, drove the nervous teenager to the courthouse. Detective Ridge met them in a hallway and escorted them to a room where the deputy prosecutor was waiting. Fogleman told Aycock that he wanted to talk to William alone, but William insisted that he wanted her to stay. Fogleman asked Aycock what her relationship was to William. Aycock later stated in a sworn affidavit that when she told him that she worked for Lax, “Fogleman became visibly agitated and hostile.”

“Fogleman turned to [William] Jones and asked what was ‘going on,’” Aycock said in the affidavit.

Jones said he had told his mother something that he didn’t know anything about. Fogleman asked Jones what Mr. Lax (pointing at me) had done to make him change his story. Jones replied, “Nothing.” Fogleman asked if Mr. Lax threatened him, to which Jones replied, “No.” Jones explained he “just wanted to tell the truth….” Fogleman insisted Mr. Lax had “done something” to Jones. He told Jones not to be afraid, that “…no one can touch you. Mr. Lax can’t touch you, Jessie can’t touch you, Damien can’t touch you, the cult can’t touch you.” Jones stated he understood this and repeated his desire to simply tell the truth. Fogleman then asked Jones, “Did Lax threaten to send the cult out after you? Did he say they’d cut your (pause) off?” to which Jones replied he had not. I believe it was [prosecuting attorney] Davis who said, “Come on, son. Something’s wrong with you. We can tell.” Jones again denied anything was “wrong….”

Fogleman asked Jones something to the effect of what would he [Jones] have done if Lax had not come to talk to him. Jones replied he was just going to wait until he got on the stand and tell the truth when [Fogleman] asked him. Fogleman again became visibly agitated, widening his eyes, slamming his palm on the table, and raising his voice, asking, “You were going to wait until you got on the stand today to tell me this?” to which Jones answered, “Yeah, I didn’t know what to do.” A man I assumed to be Inspector Gitchell (white male, slender, balding) approached and asked Jones, “How much is he paying you?” Jones emptied his pockets and produced some coins and said, “Nothing, see? This is all the money I have.”

Fogleman’s demeanor continued to be hostile, and I, personally, found him to be physically threatening. During this conversation, Davis and Gitchell drew nearer and nearer to Jones, ending up approximately three feet from Jones, shoulder-to-shoulder with Fogleman, which made me very uncomfortable. Fogleman made a comment to the effect Lax had to be “doing something” to intimidate witnesses because every time he spoke with them, they changed “their story.” Fogleman asked Jones