For Eric Volz, A Fight
For A Different Kind of
Freedom
by Justin Balding,
Inside Dateline
Eric Volz is a nervous
man. Understandably so,
too, given the nightmare
he has been living
through. Has been - is
still - living through.
So on the morning we
meet for the second
time, he is driven the
short city block from
New York's Today Show
studio to Dateline's
interview facility. He's
accompanied by his
mother, step-father, and
a young woman who has
been acting as a
publicist for the family
(together,
these three generated
and kept alive the
international pressure
that helped Eric win his
freedom). All of them
greet us warmly, and
all, especially Eric,
wear the look that says
this isn't over.
I'll back up a minute.
The first time I met
Eric he was the
best-known inmate of the
Modelo Prison, a huge
maximum security
institution not far from
Managua, Nicaragua.
He'd been sentenced to
30 years, convicted by a
Nicaraguan court of
murdering his one-time
girlfriend, a striking
beauty named Doris. The
killing was particularly
shocking for its
extraordinary brutality,
and Doris's mother, as
well as many people in
her town, and one of
Nicaragua's most popular
newspapers, appeared
determined to ensure
Eric was held
responsible.
In fact, after one of
his court hearings, a
local mob chased him
through the streets of
town, intent on - well,
we don't know what.
After Eric's parents
hired security guards to
protect him, rumors
circulated in Nicaragua
that Eric's people were
trying to bribe their
way to an acquittal.
And, in spite of clear
and convincing evidence
that Eric was hours away
when the crime occurred,
he was convicted.
So, to say that Eric was
living through a
nightmare was, if
anything, something of
an understatement.
His imprisonment lasted
15 months, while promise
after promise of an
appeals court review
came and went without
result. Then, just in
time for Christmas, Eric
was finally freed, after
the appeals court judges
agreed he simply could
not have committed the
crime.
But it was not a man who
wore a look of contented
relief who joined me for
our second visit, back
in New York. For one
thing he was, he said,
tired... though gaining
strength every day that
he's free. He quibbled
with the inclusion in
our first report of a
portion of his interview
which made it seem, he
felt, as if he'd behaved
as a bit of a jerk
toward Doris.
This time he went out of
his way to repeat how
sorry he was that the
loss of Doris has not
played a larger role in
his story. His demeanor
seemed to me to be that
of a man who has been on
a campaign somehow
extended beyond its
expected end. He worried
about the fate of the
appeals judges. Reports
in Nicaragua suggest
that one of them, at
least, has been
threatened, and an
official investigation
has been launched to
reconsider their
decision.
Does that mean Eric will
become a wanted man?
Will he be tried again,
this time in exile? Will
he ever again be able to
travel in Central
America? The morning of
our meeting, those
questions were clearly
eating at him.
So, when Eric told the
story of his experience
in that prison, he
seemed to be hampered by
an odd 'disconnect,' as
if he is still unable to
face those memories, at
least until he knows the
end of his story.
It was only when he read
from his prison diary
that his daily trials
somehow came alive.
Will he write a book?
Someone already has, he
said, and without
talking to Eric at all!
Will there be a movie?
He doesn't know. All
questions to be
addressed later, said
Eric Volz and the family
who surround him, after
the long, strange,
campaign for freedom is
done. |
