D'oh! Reporter Jill Smolowe Tells NR "I Really Don't Remember" Flacking for Va. Murderer

Two weeks ago, when the state of Virginia reported that DNA evidence underlined that executed murderer-rapist Roger Keith Coleman was actually guilty, Geoff Dickens revisited the goopy 1992 Time cover story by reporter Jill Smolowe making a passionate case for Coleman's innocence: "the courts have so far failed miserably. It is quite possible he will die, the victim of a justice system so bent on streamlining procedures and clearing dockets that the question of whether or not he actually murdered Wanda McCoy has become a subsidiary consideration."

Now that Smolowe looks a wee bit foolish, it's no surprise that when National Review's John J. Miller called to ask her about her story for the February 13 edition of NR, she abruptly claimed amnesia:

"That story was many years ago. I really don't remember it and don't have anything to say," said former Time writer Jill Smolowe when I contacted her at People, where she now works.

So obviously it's now Smolowe who feels that who actually murdered Wanda McCoy has become a subsidiary consideration. Or perhaps Time should have looked in the mirror before making that accusation at the time.