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Show A25. __ The SaltLake Tribune NATION Sunday, March 31, 1996 After 37 Years in Prison, Man Walks Free in a Brave New World ByMichelle Locke “To live through all this and ‘THE ASSOCIATED PRESS OAKLAND, come out with as muchhealth as I Calif. Five- thousand years after he lived and died. the “Ice Man” was pried from a glacier and thrust under the lights of a 20th-century lab- got and the mind that I got, I'm so glad and happyand praising the ‘I don’t wantto go into the oth- ship in my heart and he doesn’t “I wasn't on ice but I was in a igne, the 62-year-old daughter of can and they openedthe can and I crawled out,” says Bickham, who at 78 is a free man again. When Bickham went to prison everybodyliked Ike. blacks in the South drank from “colored” water fountains, and trips to the had not crossed paths with the two deputies on that July night in straightenedsomething up onthis side and didn’t do it,” he says. Even whenhis days were num- oratory. After 37 years in prison. 14 of feels. about his experiences, hopes the families will one dayforgive him. er world knowingthat I could've ham thinks he mayknowhowthat them on death row, Moreese Bick- dered Lordforit,”” he says The adult children of the two men Bickham killed, Gus Gilland Jake Galloway, don’t share his Joy. “He has broughta lot of hard- deserve to get out,” Delores Ser- Galloway, said of Bickham’s release Bickham, who makesa point of mentioning the dead men and what might havebeen if he their families whenever he talks bered, Bickham neverlost interestin life on the outside. He witnessed many of the milestones of the late 20th century secondhand through the crackle of a small radio or the flickering images of a communal TV Watchinglife unfold from a distance, Bickham sometimes won- 1958. kill got involvedin the case in 1994 at the urging of his friend David across Lake Pontchartrain from NewOrleans. Bickham maintains they came to get him after he argued with one outside a bar. He says he came out of his house holding an unloaded shotgun over his head and yt elled to the officers it was empty. He says he got shot in the stomach in reply. been so enraged as to formanin. tent to murder two deputies Bickhamsays he then loaded the gun andshot both officers before they could movein for the and 74 — worked part time in Mandeville, then a small town The elderly officers — aged 68 I just can't believe that a 41year-old carpenter would haye which would mean the endof his own life,” Aleamo said Then he found that at least two jurors had not comefrom thejury His lawyer, Michael Alcamo, pool, backing up stories he had heard that the judge and a court officer hadcalled on their friends to serve. Bickham does not believe he got a fair trial, but he does not Isay, who had producedthe docu- mentaryabout Bickham. I knew from the very first page of the trial transcript that there was something fundamentally wrong,” Alcamo said. For one thing, prosecutors claimed Bickham was enraged because one of the deputies had refused to spend too much time on might- have-beens. ‘Thefreest person in the world is the one that's satisfied with whatthey have,” he says firmly For now, he’s satisfied just to give him a ride home befree. moonwerethestuffofsciencefiction, not science He resurfaced in an America ®| it Midvalley & Murray stores are being remodeled to a brighter, moreexciting shopping experience where jet planes zip across the countryin six hours, money spits out of sidewalk machines and a black man can run for president. “It’s wonderful to be out here,” Bickham says simply The Ultimate "Get It Done Now" Digi pau&Copying Center Bickham was sent to prison in 1958 for the deaths of two deputies in a small town in Louisiana Bickham, whois black, said the white deputies were Ku Klux Klansmen out to get him. Prose- cutors called it an ambush After a trial that lasted 242 hours, Bickham wassentenced to G Onin-oe e of $299 OF nottried on the other. He got seven stays of execution before his sentence was commut- Last March, Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards cut Bickham’s sen- tence to 75 years. Because of time off for good behavior and other sentence reductions, his time was up in January. He emerged to a world turned upside-down. Weeksafter his release to Oakland, where he has been reunited with family, Bickham was still delighting in his forays into a brave newworld. His first call on a cellular phone: “I heardtell of them, but I didn't know that you could call anywhere, anytime.” His first jet flight: “I never thought I'd fly ina jet that fast.” On a recent stroll along Oak- COMPAQ Multimedia Computer * 8MB RAM upgradable to 128MB * 1GB (1000MB) Hard Drive * Quad speed CD-ROM drive and seeit alreadyin progress,” he arking garage. “Boy, the man it invented this parkinglot. he Was on theball,” he said. Perhaps the biggest changesin Includes software valued at $1200 including *1299 Model #7212 Pentium Windows 95 00 PRICE BREAK!| Was New OfficeMax Everyday Low Price Limited to stock on hand while supplies last One per cust Theite! Inde & Pentium® Processor Lages ae trademarsof Intel Corporation onl2 Assemby requied TAA By ot shown 0101-1087 Hey Sioa were embodied in the multiethnic Says. Even the mundane had the powerto astound — 85-centsodas 4ndthe intricacies of a multistory * Monitor sold separately * 19.2K data and 14.4K fax modem land’s busy waterfront, some of lunch crowd milling about EXTENDED WAHRANTIES electronics, tl yet of enesane foryouroverage compl 90 telephone software suppor. “except Apple® compiiters the deeper changes in society ‘L had dreamsseeing this. But I thought I'd be in the making, didn’t think I'd be isolated somewhere and have to come out Ly {J Orste computer instalation & ungrad Installation by certifi Convenient schedied 3 intent Basic instalation 00 <fyour home: or office. with the purchase of any Te 4 es ham’s cause was takenup in a ra- dio documentary, “Tossing Away The Keys.” —— iaare die in one of the killings. He was ed to life in prison in 1973 after a U.S. Supreme Courtruling Seventeen years later, Bick- 75MHz ne 3/31 thru Saturday 4/6 while supplies last. “SULLIVAN no * Hard drive/printer storage and puli-out keyboard shelf * Two-shelf, side bookcase (Canon) Computer Desk * Desk: 29-1/2°H x 23- 1/40 x 53-1/4'W Computer Work Center + Hutch sold separately List Price $349.95 0113-6602 + 2 individual voice mailboxes + Time/day stamp © 52°H x 47-1/2'W x 23-120 + Remote access $ is Price $199.99 0113-6860 1 $ 1201-1307 30) 12 OfficeMax Everyday Low Price 1 OfficeMax Everyday Low Price Low Pric - Rebate nufacturer's i * Compact $ me $959" Pictures Instant Rebate = a 13-6611 $00(Misecicadaisanl XEROX Xorox Personal Copter Copler * 300+ TrueTypefonts on CD-ROM List Price $399.00 1402-4405 $39 i {natant 99 $376-60 720 x 360 dpi Poco) Canon Color Printer 99 PESocr 1 Cartge FH * Zoom reduction, enlargement «Prints 8 copies per minute List Price $1695.00 0201-2164 $699" OfficeMax Everyday Low Price (cae Toner $119.00 0203-6852) Bickham’s world, though, are per- sonal. “When I first went in, I had AT&T Telephone only one daughter, nowshe’s got eight children and they got 24 + 3-way teleconferencing /.< + Separatelight and ringer for each line children. All that happenedsince I been locked up. It makes a man think, ‘How in the world [did] all this happen and I've got to be away from it?’ ” But Bickhanuis far from bitter. = Pneumatic height adjustment * Swiveltilt mechanism * Comfort contoured back Uist Price $229.00 0101-1023 Gray A HEARING PROBLEM Coup BE A MEDICAL PROBLEM Complete hearing 449" 101-1032 Burgundy 0101-1041 Navy OtficeMtax Everyday Low Price Sharp Organizer + 20-character x 4-line display * Calendar/scheduler + 250-page letter cassette « Copier function List Price 5 List Price $179.99 0205-2799 sgq*’ OfficeMax Everyday Low Price 99 List Price $1699.00 1401-9493 1399” ‘After Mail-in Rebate (~ BUSINESSSERVICE Business Servicesinclude: * Self service and high volume copying Brother Fax Machine Free Hearing Screenings * Business cards, letterhead & envelopes Full-service double-sided copies for the price of a single side! 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