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Former Death-Row Inmate Sent Back to Prison

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Three days after Draughon was paroled, Wolfe called the police. According to a report from the Livingston Police Department, Wolfe told officers that he wanted Weathers and Draughon out of his house "due to them lying and causing him problems."

Weathers told police that Wolfe had a problem with her and Draughon being romantically involved. Weathers also told police that Wolfe kept guns in his house.

Draughon had tried to stay out of it. He stood at the sink and washed dishes when the argument began.

Wolfe never filed a written complaint with the police department, and the situation was soon resolved. Wolfe says he and Draughon eventually became friends.

The incident didn't result in a parole revocation, but, according to Draughon's attorney, Sean Buckley, it was definitely a negative mark.

Draughon's parole guidelines were set by the state's Super Intensive Supervision Program, designed for parolees who are considered dangerous or likely to commit another crime. Draughon was required to wear a GPS monitor around his ankle. His parole officer, Jim McKee, would have to preapprove any time Draughon went outside the house.

Draughon's first trip was to a large retail center in Livingston. McKee approved six hours for Draughon to go to Lowe's, Wal-Mart and an outlet mall. Draughon and Weathers decided to walk.

After a brief stop at Lowe's, the couple went to Burger King, which had not been preapproved. They left Burger King and went to Wal-Mart, and then they walked home.

The following morning, four Livingston police officers arrived at the house to arrest Draughon. McKee had issued a warrant because of the stop at Burger King.

McKee suggested to the parole board that Draughon should be placed in a halfway house, away from Livingston, if Draughon was released from prison again.

McKee would not comment about the case, but, according to documents from the Board of Pardons and Paroles, McKee was concerned about the relationship between Weathers and Draughon. He wrote that the environment in Livingston was not a stable one. Furthermore, McKee was disturbed by the fact that when he asked Draughon a question, Weathers often answered.

During his revocation hearing, Draughon argued that McKee had told him it was okay to stop for food, if he ordered it to go. McKee said he never said that, and Draughon and Weathers called McKee a liar.

"Boy, the big guys must have really made you do this," Draughon said to McKee.

The parole board voted to allow Draughon to be released. Before he could return to Livingston, Draughon had to stop at McKee's office to sign some ­documents.

While they were talking, McKee pushed the papers to the side of his desk and said, "Draughon, are you sure you don't want to move to Florida? Get out of Texas and go live with your sisters?"

"No," Draughon replied. "This is where my woman is. This is where my ministry is. This is where God paroled me out to, and this is where I'm supposed to be."

McKee said okay, and Draughon returned to the KDOL house.

He and Weathers began speaking of his case on the radio. Draughon wanted to tell the guys he felt like there was a target on his back, but he wasn't letting the system kill his hope.

"I can see now that was my test of faith," Draughon says.

Draughon's GPS monitor began losing signal almost daily. The device would beep, alerting Draughon that his parole officer was unable to track him. Draughon was required to reset the device within ten minutes or call McKee to verify that he was home.

Draughon began writing down everything he did in a spiral notebook. When his GPS would lose signal, Draughon would mark it down in his book. He recorded phone conversations he had with McKee.

Weathers started videotaping Draughon in the house with his monitor beeping. She wanted evidence, she says, that Draughon was where he was supposed to be.

The monitor would often beep while Draughon was speaking on the radio. Weathers had Wolfe install baby monitors throughout the house, so if Draughon was in another room, she could record the sound.

Finally, Draughon was arrested again. The warrant was issued after Draughon failed to answer phone calls from his parole officer for about 30 minutes after his GPS device had lost signal.

Weathers prepared to take the case before the parole board, and she was certain there was no way Draughon could lose. In fact, with the amount of evidence she had gathered, she thought they could prove the entire GPS system was faulty.

"There are so many people who have been screwed by the system, and Martin's case can affect so many," Weathers says.

Buckley handled Draughon's case for the second parole hearing, and Weathers turned over all the video and audio evidence she wanted Buckley to use. She gave Buckley a list of witnesses — people who had been involved with her ministry and radio show — to testify on Draughon's behalf.

Weathers wanted Buckley to hire a private investigator to track down former employees of the company that manufactures GPS devices. She wanted to hire an electrical engineer to testify against GPS.

"I felt that was an overbroad approach. Nobody in that system is going to acknowledge that. They're not going to invalidate their whole system. I felt we should have focused on the specifics of Draughon's case," Buckley says. "He would have been better served staying away from this radio activism thing. He needed to get away from the prison system, and that falls in line with staying away from the whole ­culture."

The big plans for the parole hearing never materialized. Many of the witnesses were never called before the parole board, and only some of the video was allowed as evidence.

McKee argued that the video proved nothing about the reliability of GPS, and he accused Draughon and Weathers of intentionally causing the device to ­malfunction.

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