Reporter’s Notebook: James Betts’ statement
Dennis Skillicorn‘s lawyers tracked down the man responsible for the murder that first sent Skillicorn to prison. James Betts is currently serving a life sentence at the Jefferson City Correctional Center. He shot and killed 81-year-old Wendell Howell while he, Skillcorn and another man robbed Howell’s home in 1979.
On September 18, 2008, Betts wrote the following statement, which is included in the clemency petition for Skillicorn:
