- Diane Fleming
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Diane Fleming Conviction(s) Murder, Adulteration of a substance Penalty 30 years Status Incarcerated Occupation Inmate Diane Fleming is an American prisoner currently serving a 30-year sentence at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women in Troy, Virginia. She is prisoner #311655. She was convicted in February 2002 for poisoning her third husband Chuck by spiking his Gatorade with methanol.[1] Many people believe that Diane's conviction was a miscarriage of justice and have filed petitions to have her convictions for murder and adulteration overturned.[2]
Contents
Early life
Diane Fleming was born in 1957 in Colorado. When she was 4, she moved to Fredericktown, Missouri and was raised on a farm. She became pregnant as a young woman by her first husband and gave birth to a son. A second marriage produced another son.[3]
In 1989, she placed a personal advertisement in a Virginia newspaper, which Chuck Fleming responded to. The two married and Diane gave birth to a daughter in 1993. Chuck was a maintenance mechanic at Philip Morris USA in Richmond, Virginia, while Diane was a soccer mom.[3]
Death of Chuck Fleming
On June 12, 2000, Chuck Fleming, age 37, went to work at Philip Morris USA, but returned home after falling violently ill. He was admitted to the Chippenham Medical Center, but soon after his arrival his condition suddenly and rapidly worsened. He slipped into a coma and was pronounced deceased the next day.[4] After his autopsy revealed that Chuck's cause of death was acute methanol poisoning, a criminal investigation begun, and ultimately, his wife Diane was charged in the crime in July 2001.[2]
Trial
Diane's trial began in February 2002. She was charged with murder and adulteration of a substance, and could face up to life in prison. At the trial, Diane testified in her own defense, claiming that she and her husband had helped mix creatine, a muscle building agent, into many bottles of Gatorade. She also claimed to have no idea how her husband could have died from methanol poisoning. However one piece of evidence seemed to contradict Diane's story. Before trial, a friend of Diane's had come forward with a computer hard drive Diane had given to her, and it showed a web search for methanol poisoning time-stamped one month before Chuck's death. Diane claims she was trying to protect her son by hiding the hard drive. Jurors did not believe Diane, and she was found guilty of murder and adulteration of a substance. She was sentenced to concurrent terms of 30 and 20 years.[1]
Aftermath
After being convicted, Diane filed appeals due to ineffective assistance of counsel and for the prosecution's withholding of evidence.[5] All of Diane's direct appeals have been exhausted, and her Habeas petitions have been denied, even though tests show that the Gatorade did not contain methanol.[6]
Diane Fleming is currently working with the DC Innocence Project, an organization that helps wrongly convicted criminals to overturn their convictions. She is hopeful that her convictions will be overturned. There is a lot of evidence that proves she is not guilty of killing her husband Chuck. For example, a multitude of toxicology testing of Chuck Fleming's tissue samples revealed no evidence of methanol poisoning, and that Chuck rather died due to an overdose of aspartame and creatine.[7] If all of Diane's effort fail, she is scheduled to be released from prison on April 3, 2028. She will be 71 years old.[8]
Diane's case has been televised on WE tv's Women Behind Bars in 2008 and on Oxygen Network's Snapped in 2010.
References
- ^ a b "The Charles Fleming Murder Case: Diane Fleming, Wrongly Convicted Of Murdering Her Husband". 2005-12-14. http://www.iamnotfat.com/articles/Weight-Loss-News_3657.html. Retrieved 2011-05-02.
- ^ a b Harkins, Don (2005). "Mother Wrongfully Convicted of Murder, Aspartame Guilty?". http://www.rense.com/general38/mother.htm. Retrieved 2011-05-02.
- ^ a b http://www.wetv.com/women-behind-bars/bios/diane-fleming
- ^ Guilford, Carol (2005). "The Charles Fleming Murder Case: How Did Diane Fleming Get Wrongly Convicted of Murdering Her Husband". http://www.detoxprogram.net/articles/archives/2005/12/the_charles_fle.php. Retrieved 2011-05-02.
- ^ "Diane Fleming Habeas Corpus Petition Denied Despite Withholding Of Evidence; Appeal Filed June 30, 2006". 2006-07-16. http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/07/prweb409235.htm. Retrieved 2011-05-02.
- ^ "Diane Fleming Petition for Habeas Corpus; Judge's Decision for Evidentiary Hearing Could Take Six Months". 2006-01-06. http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/01/prweb333144.htm. Retrieved 2011-05-02.
- ^ Bowen, James. "Aspartame, Creatine, and Athletics, A Fatal Combination!". http://www.wnho.net/aspartameandathletics.htm. Retrieved 2011-05-02.
- ^ . Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Corrections. http://www.vadoc.virginia.gov/offenders/locator/results.cfm. Retrieved 2011-06-02.
Categories:- 1957 births
- Living people
- American people convicted of murder
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