Paul Denham

During his stay at a youth hostel in San Pedro, he had met a young woman working there, Dolores Legaspi. He returned again to California to visit her, and the pair travelled through Europe and along the Mexican coast together. In June of 1994, Paul moved to Los Angeles, and, in a secretive July ceremony in Las Vegas, the two got married – an arrangement made so that Paul could legally stay in the country. Only Dolores’ sister and a close friend knew the two had tied the knot. Paul lived in Dolores’ family home during this time, sleeping either on the couch in the living room or outside, in his van.

Although she was married to Paul, Dolores had continued her romantic relationship with her highschool sweetheart, Edward Weinmann. When Edward was found dead, his car crumpled into the guardrail of the 405 freeway, a bullet through his the head,  police suspected that the murder was an impassioned crime of jealousy. 

His gas station receipts that would show that he had been nearly 400 miles from the crime when it occurred, on a trip to buy equipment for his sign-making business in San Francisco. The police's theory, that he had taken a flight in the afternoon, retrieved his car out of long-term parking, found Edward on the highway in his car, killed him, put his car back in long-term parking, and flown back to San Francisco, would not be feasible in the time frame they claimed. Further, the information they showed to create this narrative was proven to be false.

Paul Denham was sentenced to Life Without Parole in 1998 for attempted murder and murder, despite him having a concrete alibi and being several hundred miles away at the time of the murder. No physical and circumstantial evidence tied him to the scene.  Paul has spent the past three decades trying to access justice. 

When Paul received the full cache of evidence that had been used to convict him, he was shocked to find an airline note that police alleged they had found in his gym bag when they searched his home. This had been used as evidence to back the narrative that Paul had taken two surreptitious flights to kill Edward, then get himself back to San Francisco.

He was shocked because this note was falsified, and was in an unrecognizable handwriting. A handwriting expert examined the written evidence in the case, and determined that is was "highly probable" that the author of the note was Bryon McMahon, the lead detective on the case.

After securing this new, exonerating evidence in 2015, Paul compiled significant evidence in support of his innocence, and filed a habeas corpus petition in Long Beach in 2018, with Judge Laesecke. His lawyer shared that by California law, Judge Laesecke had 60 days to render a decision or request additional briefing. According to Paul and his lawyer, Judge Laesecke did neither.  She has failed to provide any response that is recognized under the law for the past 6 years.

They shared that Judge Laesecke has denied repeated requests to transfer the case to the central Writs Unit at the downtown Los Angeles courthouse. Paul said he has repeatedly filed writs of mandate to force a decision. Instead, they say Judge Laesecke has “suspended” the proceedings, a category that is not recognized under California law.  Paul Denham’s case has been suspended in motion, unable to move forward since 2018. 

He is now represented by the People’s Commission for Integrity in Criminal Justice and his case is the subject of an upcoming British documentary on ITN’s ITV channel.