Billy Wayne Cope’s Case Revisited

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LOS ANGELES (GaeaTimes.com)- ‘Dateline NBC’ aired a two hour documentary ‘The Mystery in Rock Hill’ on July 9 that focused on the case against Billy Wayne Cope. The documentary highlighted the conviction of the Billy Wayne Cope for the rape and murder of his daughter Amanda Cope in 2001. The director of VC3 (Virginia Capital Case Clearhouse) David Bruck argued on the show about the first appeal of the Billy Wayne Cope case.

Billy Wayne Cope was convicted for the rape and murder of his daughter and sentenced to life plus 30 years in prison with no parole. Subsequent DNA tests revealed that he was not involved in the crime. Another criminal James Sanders was also awarded a life sentence in the case. Several theories about the crime cropped up since the court ruling saying that Billy Wayne Cope may have been innocent of the crime and convicted wrongly. Opposing views suggested that he may have played a role in staging of the crime. Billy Wayne Cope appealed against the sentence in 2009. The judge affirmed all the charges but only reversed the conspiracy charge. The two hour documentary focused on the mystery that surrounds the crime and conviction of the murder of Amanda Cope.

Billy Wayne Cope was convicted only on the basis of his confessions. He confessed several times to the police during the investigations. According to some people he confessed under the pressure of the cops. The lawyers of Billy Wayne Cope have argued that his statement was coerced. The show on the WCNC(Channel 36) was aired from 9 to 11pm with correspondent Keith Morrison.