wfn.org | Walker Railey case revisited

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3474 notes).

Note 3473 by UMNS on March 6, 1997 at 15:51 Eastern (5025 characters).

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT:  Thomas S. McAnally                     119(10-71B){3479}
          Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470            March 6, 1997

NBC-TV's 'Dateline' program
revisits Walker Railey case

by Tom McAnally*

     NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) -- Viewers of Dateline NBC-TV's March
4 program, "Sins of the Preacher," may have been disappointed if
they were expecting much new information about former United
Methodist clergyman Walker Railey, acquitted in 1993 of strangling
his wife Peggy.
     The program traced the life of Railey, a "preaching prodigy
from Kentucky," to the pastorate of First United Methodist Church
in Dallas where many predicted that he would be elected to the
church's highest office of bishop.
     All this came to an end in March of 1987 when Railey started
receiving threatening letters.  On Easter Sunday of that year,
Railey wore a bullet-proof vest as he preached what would be his
last sermon at the church.  Two days later, wife Peggy was
brutally strangled in the garage of the couple's home. Railey
testified later he was at Southern Methodist University's library
during the time of the assault.
     Within days Railey attempted suicide with an overdose of
sleeping pills while staying in the hospital near the room of his
comatose wife.  He left a handwritten message saying "There is a
demon inside my soul. It has always been there.  People have seen
me as good.  The truth is just the opposite. I am the baddest of
the bad."
     After recovering, Railey stopped talking to police who had
discovered he had been having an affair with Lucy Papillion, a
member of First Church. "Something developed, which should not
have," Railey admitted.
     Subsequently he was forced to turn in his ministerial
credentials.  He moved to California, leaving his wife in the care
of her parents and the two young Railey children in the care of
friends.
     In 1992 it was learned that the letters threatening Railey
had been written on a typewriter at the church.  Prosecutors
claimed Railey wrote the letters to himself and produced evidence
that the DNA on the saliva that sealed an envelope matched that of
Railey.
     Armed with that evidence, the prosecution was able to get an
indictment from a grand jury for what was to become Texas' own
"trial of the century."
     During the trial Railey admitted he had visited Papillion on
the night of the attack on his wife.  Inconsistencies were also
revealed about the times he said he was at the library and when he
made phone calls to the answering machine at his residence.
     On the witness stand, Railey admitted he made a phony message
to his wife so he could visit Papillion.
     Dateline interviewed two jurors on camera and four others by
phone.  Five of those six jurors, according to Dateline, said they
didn't believe Railey's story.  All six said they thought he wrote
the threatening letters to himself. Then why a unanimous decision
to acquit Railey?  According to the interviewees, the evidence
wasn't strong enough to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
     If nothing else, the Dateline program provided for the
concerned and the curious an update on the once popular pastor.
     * Railey reiterated his innocence to Dateline.  Asked if he
strangled his wife, he replied, "No, I didn't."  Asked if he knows
who did, he said, "No, I don't."
     * Railey, who works part-time in telemarketing in California,
said, he "barely earns enough to pay the rent."   Asked by
Dateline what he thinks about people who still consider him
guilty, he said, "I went through the system and followed the rules
.. I can sleep at night because I know that I am innocent."

     * Railey gave up permanent custody of his children and has
not seen them since the trial.  Both Railey and a letter to
Dateline from an attorney representing the children's custodians,
say the children have requested not to see their father.  They no
longer use the Railey name.
     * Papillion, who has a cable access show in Los Angeles, said
she hasn't seen Railey. Because of her once close relationship
with Railey, Papillion said people assume she knows if he attacked
his wife.  "I don't know," she said,  "I will never know."
     * Peggy Railey remains in a vegetative state where she must
be fed, bathed, dressed and moved by others.  Doctors say she
could live in this awful state for many years to come, according
to the Dateline report.  Railey filed for divorce in 1989.
     * Peggy's family won an $18 million civil suit against Railey
filed in 1988.  Doubtful that they would ever receive the money,
since he has filed for bankruptcy, the family reached an agreement
with Railey in December 1996.  He will get a divorce but pay $337
a month in alimony.
                              #  #  #

    * McAnally is director of United Methodist News Service.

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