Arc Of The Pikes Peak Region © Joe Arridy, left, listens to warden Roy Best read his death warrant. Arridy was convicted of the murder of a Pueblo teenager and was executed in 1939. Advocates now believe he was mentally disabled and not the killer.

Advocates say disabled man was not the killer

By Steven Saint, Special To The Rocky
June 2, 2007

There aren't any fancy tombstones on Woodpecker Hill. The rocky western slope of Greenwood Cemetery was reserved for convicts who died in nearby Cañon City prisons with no families to bury them, their graves denoted by cheap metal markers that look like rusty license plates.

That will change today, when advocates for the developmentally disabled unveil a granite monument to replace the marker on the grave of Joe Arridy.

Arridy was 23 when he was sent to the gas chamber in 1939 for the murder of Pueblo teenager Dorothy Drain. His advocates believe he was innocent - just mentally retarded and the victim of a child-like willingness to tell police what he thought they wanted to hear.

A lawyer is working on a posthumous appeal.

"Developmentally disabled people routinely say 'yes' to authority figures," said Craig Severa, advocacy specialist for the Arc of the Pikes Peak Region. "They are extremely vulnerable to abuse and exploitation."

Severa heads the Arc's Special Offenders Coalition. He first heard Arridy's story more than a decade ago, when author and disabilities advocate Robert Perske was researching his book on Arridy, Deadly Innocence?

Arridy, the son of Syrian immigrants to Pueblo, had spent most of his life in and out of institutions. With an IQ of 46, he was described as possessing the mind of a 6-year-old.

In 1936, Arridy ran away from a state home in Grand Junction, rode a few boxcars along the Front Range and got arrested for vagrancy in Cheyenne.

That was less than two weeks after the Drain sisters had been beaten with an ax in Pueblo. Dorothy, also raped, died from her injuries. The younger Barbara recovered and eventually testified at the trial.

Pueblo police had arrested Frank Aguilar, a Mexican who had been fired by the girls' father, stashed the ax head at his home and confessed to police.

Nevertheless, under interrogation by the Cheyenne sheriff, Arridy admitted being at the Drain murder scene with a man named Frank. Both Arridy and Aguilar were tried, convicted and executed for the crime.

Arridy played with a red, wind-up train while on death row and ordered ice cream for his last meal.

"At that time, the courts didn't have any experience working with developmental disabilities," said Severa. "They only had the insanity issue, and Arridy wasn't insane."

Two years ago, Severa and Perske found Arridy's grave. But they weren't the only ones on the trail. Trinidad-based writer Daniel Leonetti was writing a screenplay about the Arridy case, The Woodpecker Waltz.

Severa said the conjunction of events offers the opportunity to spread a positive message about people with developmental disabilities.

Woodpecker Hill will not only get a new tombstone, it may appear in a feature film next year. Keller Entertainment Group of Los Angeles has optioned both Perske's book and Leonetti's screenplay.

"It is a beautiful, dramatic story that is not just tragic, but speaks of people who are willing to fight for truth," said Micheline Keller, whose husband-partner Max is raising $10 million to produce The Woodpecker Waltz.

Both former entertainment attorneys, the Kellers like the character of Gail Ireland, the Denver attorney who tried to save Arridy from the gas chamber - all the way to the Colorado Supreme Court.

Actor Dennis Quaid has read the script and expressed interest in the Ireland role, Keller said.

What's next

• The Arc of the Pikes Peak Region will give Arridy a real tombstone today at Cañon City's Greenwood Cemetery.

• Keller Entertainment Group plans to produce a feature film on Arridy's case, The Woodpecker Waltz, written by Daniel Leonetti, to begin filming in October.

• Denver attorney David Martinez is seeking a posthumous pardon for Arridy.

Copyright 2007, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.