Wrong Man season 2 premiere recap: The Case Against Grandma

The season 2 premiere of Starz series Wrong Man examines the case of Vonda Smith, a grandmother accused of brutally murdering her grandson’s mother, Jessie Morrison.

It’s been a little while but Ron Kuby, Sue-Ann Robinson, Joe D. Kennedy, Ira Lee Todd Jr. are back to look at new cases of people who may have been wrongfully convicted of crimes. This time, Wrong Man looks at the case of Vonda Smith, who some feel was wrongfully convicted for the murder of her grandson’s mother, Jessie Morrison. Morrison’s body was found at around 7:30 PM in August of 2016 in Greeneville, Tennessee.

It’s believed she was killed by a blunt object, but no specific weapon was found. Jessie was pregnant at the time. There was also no effort to hide the body, which was dumped to create a secondary crime scene. Two tattoos s identified her. This was not long after Jessie Morrison’s mother, Tammy, and her boyfriend, Gary Ealey, filed a missing person’s report.

Jessie Morrison was the 21-year-old, mother of Channing and Kandyn, and Vonda is Channing’s grandmother. The big question, of course, is whether this grandmother did the crime, or even could do it. Civil Rights Lawyer Ron Kuby plays back a tape of Vonda being informed of the murder. His panel of experts notes that she doesn’t seem particularly shocked (though that by itself wouldn’t make her a criminal, as some people simply aren’t as emotive as others). Vonda mentions a white van in connection with the crime.

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Investigator Ira Lee Todd Jr. notes that Vonda was cooperative. Why was Vonda Smith initially suspected in the case? Jessie’s blood was found in Vonda’s car, which Vonda claims Jessie had borrowed. Kuby and Retired NCIS Detective Joe Kennedy immediately say it’s unlikely Vonda could have even inflicted the murder blows. Sue-Ann Robinson adds that convictions based only on blood stains are thin.

Chrystal Waltz investigates

A private investigator named Chrystal Waltz heads to Greeneville to examine the case. She says that the area has good people, though there are poverty, drug use, and abuse issues. Chrystal notes that the area the body was found has little vehicle traffic. William Smith, Vonda’s son, says that Jessie was a good person, though she initially didn’t tell him he was a father. Chrystal also interviews Chrissy Hamilton, Vonda’s niece, and Brittney Brown, William’s ex, who says Vonda helped Jessie out regularly. Neither her nor Chrissy can imagine Vonda being a murderer. Ken Little, a staff writer at the Greeneville Sun, says Vonda was a highly regarded hospital worker for 28 years.

However, not everyone interviewed in Wrong Man depicts Vonda in 100% positive terms. Tammy Morrison says Vonda wanted to control Channing’s life. Stacy Bailey, who blogs about the case, says text messages showed resentment and obsession (in fact, Wrong Man shows us a few of these texts, suggesting at least a light argument between Vonda and Jessie). Also, Angie Hickerson, the grandmother of Jessie’s son, Kandyn, thinks Vonda “snapped.” Still, Chris and William Smith think their mother is innocent.

Tunnel vision?

Joe Kennedy suggests the investigators had tunnel vision and stopped investigating after finding blood in Vonda’s car. They also wonder why Vonda was so cooperative. There’s a debate over whether Vonda mistook bloodstains for cat urine, claiming she cleaned the car with bleach to ger rid of that (rather than blood). To examine the cat urine aspect, Chrystal, joe and Ira head to Chuckey, Tennessee to interview Peggy Carter, Vonda’s sister-in-law, who owns many cats, and would have owned the cat relevant to the case. They say they saw a cat get out of Vonda’s car, adding that Vonda called them about cleaning cat urine before the murder occurred. Ira asks Peggy and Roger Carter if Vonda had a temper. They suggest she doesn’t.

The plot thickens

Wrong Man consults medical examiner, Dr. Scott Giles, who calls it a crime of passion, likely committed with a pipe or tire iron. He adds that there was a struggle, with Jessie receiving bruises to her hands and feet, and also a broken finger. In other words, evidence suggests Jessie put up a fight. Dr. Giles theorizes that the attacker would have likely been injured or scratched. This is partly why some doubt Vonda’s guilt. Vonda Smith had no injuries, wasn’t “in the best of shape” physically.

Giles says the investigation was incomplete, although there were leads to follow up on. Semen was found from two different contributors (though it’s not stated if it pertains to the actual attack). Also, the DNA of 3 males was apparently found underneath Jessie’s fingernails. Two samples were too small for comparison. However, Jessie’s boyfriend, Gary, and Vonda’s son were excluded as contributors.

Circumstances of the murder

Vonda and Jessie shopped for groceries on the day of the murder. Vonda supposedly gave her money for food, car, rent and phone minute payments, and Jessie left in her car. So Wrong Man asks whether Jessie paid any bills that day. There is no proof that Jessie bought phone minutes. Also, she was not behind in rent, contradicting what Vonda said. So, where did the money go, or did Vonda give her money at all? There’s also the possibility that Jessie was robbed. After the car, Vonda’s car was apparently returned (at least according to Vonda’s account). Vonda then went to pick up Emma, daughter of Brittney Brown (who’s the ex-girlfriend of Vonda’s son, William).

By all accounts shown, Emma and Vonda were close. When Emma was told of cat urine in the car, Emma got a towel. Police later asked Brittney about Vonda making Emma sit in Jessie’s blood. However, Emma said she didn’t see blood in the car. There was another witness, Sharon Burgner, who is Emma’s great grandmother. Sharon says she remembers Emma retrieving a towel. Still, she didn’t notice Vonda being injured or scratched and saw no blood on the car seat. Sharon also says Vonda bought clothes for Jessie’s unborn baby. So, where did the blood in the car come from, and at what time did it show up?

Was it planted?

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It’s fair to say this is a crazy case. One could reasonably ask, “Did someone plant the blood in the car?” Two other people — Jason Matthews and Edward Hitchens — testified to seeing Jessie in or near a white van. Chrystal visits Jason, who says he saw Jessie get into a white van at 5:30 PM. In that time frame, Vonda would have had only about 1 hour and 20 minutes to commit the murder. Ira mentioned a recording of Vonda discussing looking for a white van. Vonda claims another car stopped her, dragged her out hit and kicked her, told her to “Stay out of it” and threw her near a bridge.

What do you think of Wrong Man and this complex case? Let us know in the comments!

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