This is the other side…

On November 11, 1978, in Simi Valley, California, my sister and my nephew (Rhonda Hamilton Wicht, age 24, and Donald Alan Wicht II, aka Donnie, age 4) were brutally murdered. Back then Simi was a small community and this was the first double homicide in our little valley.

Rhonda’s ex boyfriend was arrested, charged with the murders, tried and convicted. In 1980 he started serving his life without parole sentence. He did maintain he was innocent, and in fact all the evidence against him was circumstantial, however it was enough to convince a jury of his guilt. My family and I never doubted his guilt.

By around the mid to late 1980’s all appeals had been exhausted so with that it was requested that the court allow the evidence be destroyed (I assume because of storage purposes) and this request was granted.

In 2013 RDK filed for clemency but in 2016 the governor of California, Jerry Brown, denied clemency. However in 2016, for some unknown reason, Jerry Brown requested that the case be reexamined again which fell into the hands of the Simi Valley Police Department cold case division. Based on their findings the governor chose to pardon RDK.

In November of 2017 he was released from his life without parole sentence. He went on to sue the Simi Valley Police Department and the County of Ventura and received more money than most of us could ever dream of earning in a lifetime.

He became known as the man who was wrongly convicted, who had 39 years of his life stolen from him. The man who worked hard to prove RDK’s innocence (*XCV) was declared a hero. The media loved his story and published every follow up and update to their feel-good story.

My name is Shelley Hamilton. With my parents long gone and having recently lost my last two living siblings, I am the only voice left for Rhonda and Donnie. I have been interviewed by the cold case detective, aka CCD (see acronyms list), who explained in depth what “new” evidence was found. I do commend their wonderful investigative work in finding a lab that had two items leftover from the original investigation and were able to extract DNA from it. However, these two items and the DNA aren’t necessarily related to the crime itself. The media related the story that this was “new” when it wasn’t new at all! It’s the same evidence from 1978; the only difference now is they were able to extract DNA from it.

In my opinion the only reason RDK was pardoned is because the governor, Jerry Brown, was on his way out of office and was doing the usual duty of pardoning people from prison before he left office. But that’s just my opinion. I don’t believe the supposed “new” evidence proved anything as to RDK’s guilt or innocence. He was just a 71-year-old man who is too old to hurt anyone so why not let the guy out; what harm could it do? Who cares about the victims. They are long dead and forgotten!

I have been interviewed by a couple different newspapers over the past couple of years but my opinion is not the popular one. Some has been published and some hasn’t. The majority of the media is only publishing one side of the story. There is even a documentary being made on the story of RDK and his hero.

There is always another side to any story, and my sole purpose of creating this blog is to get the other side of the story told. Let people read both sides and decide for themselves their own conclusion.

I do not believe this case will ever be solved merely because it already was solved. There is another person they are focusing on but this person, along with many others, were looked at closely in the original investigation but it always came back to RDK. Evidence from the crime scene was found in his apartment and his truck was seen leaving the scene. Of course all this has been dissected over the decades and explanations to contradict the original theory has been argued. RDK had two different attorneys in two different trials (the first was a hung jury) and apparently the jury didn’t believe his defense. Somehow that all changed over the years! Now I am hearing about witnesses who were drug addicts so clearly unreliable and stories of crooked cops.

Pardon me if I sound sarcastic, but I still believe in the original investigation when witnesses were still alive and their story was still fresh in their minds (including me) and evidence still existed.

I do not claim to have all the answers from the original investigation or the current one. My one hope is that the reader of this blog will fairly weigh both sides of this story. I do not want Rhonda and Donnie to be forgotten. Their story matters. I am the only remaining voice that Rhonda and Donnie have now. They may never get justice, but at least their story will be told even if it is just in this simple blog.

I may be right or I may be wrong, but I won’t be quiet.

Thank you for taking time out from your day to read this.

If you would like to know real names for the acronyms just email me, or just have any questions I will be more than happy to respond: RandDjustice@gmail.com

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