Monday Mystery Part. II:
Peggy On Trial

(CBS)  As she began her trial in Montgomery, Peggy Lowe stood halfway between James White, a confessed murderer, and her sister, Betty Wilson, a convicted one. Peggy was the only connection between the two.

But Lowe was in a better position than her sister. She sang in the church choir and came across as a loyal wife. In order to prove Peggy innocent, her lawyers would have to prove Betty was innocent, too.

"Because if Betty was guilty, then Peggy was guilty under the same set of facts and the theory of the state's case," says Hilda Smith, an investigator on Lowe's defense team.

Once again, White was the star witness for the prosecution. But Lowe's defense team saw openings her sister's lawyers never exploited, like White's flimsy description of the murder he said he committed.

They also attacked the idea that Jack Wilson was killed in this house with a bat.

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Kris Sperry, now chief medical examiner for the State of Georgia, testified the crime scene was suspiciously tidy, given the savage beating that killed Dr. Wilson. He testified that Wilson was killed elsewhere. The Alabama state forensic pathologist, who declined an on-camera interview, strongly disputed Sperry's findings.

The defense strategy was to make White's confession questionable. Says Sperry: "If he doesn't know about how this murder occurred, and the nuances that are there, then-- is his confession actually valid? Then is his confession -- or his implication of the two sisters, is it valid?"

But if White wasn't hired by Betty and Peggy, why would he kill Jack Wilson? One theory is that the murder was set in motion when Betty tore into White in a heated phone call. Betty says she was furious at White because, after giving him money to attend the AA meeting at this lodge, he failed to show up. She thought she was being used.

Schutze believes White went to the Wilson home to burglarize it, but wound up in an unexpected struggle when Jack Wilson came home and surprised him.

The jury believed the defense arguments, and acquitted Lowe.

Since the trial, White has recanted the testimony that convicted Betty Wilson. "I was never approached by Miss Betty Wilson to kill her husband, or get rid of her husband, or any other shape, fashion, form. I've never met Betty Wilson. I don't know Betty Wilson" he says.

White has signed two sworn affidavits disavowing his trial testimony. But he can only help Wilson if he tells it to a judge. White was about to do just that seven years ago, but decided against it when prosecutor Jimmy Fry paid a visit and told him what would happen if he said he lied at trial. Fry told him that if he went into court and breached his deal with the DA's office, he would get the electric chair.

Fry insists White told the truth at trial, and says White is lying now when he claims Betty Wilson didn't hire him.

White says he did not kill Jack Wilson. Why should we believe him now? White says that by appearing on 48 Hours he risks having the state take away the only thing that matters to him in prison - a once-a-month phone call with his children.

But it is very difficult to sort out White's story. Five days after he talked to 48 Hours, recanting his testimony, he sent a letter, saying "85 percent" of that interview was a lie. In other words, he was lying about lying. Remember: Betty Wilson is in prison because a jury believed White.

Nine years after her acquittal, Lowe has no doubt her sister is innocent: "You do not share a womb with a mother, you do not stand up and walk 15 minutes apart for the very first time. You don't live as closely with another human being as I lived with her and not know whether or not they care capable of something as hideous as murder. And Betty is not capable of murder."

Part 1: By Two And Two




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