Plainsmen reporter claims Updyke confessed to poisoning trees | News

By Elizabeth White

AUBURN, AL - Day two of the Harvey Updyke tree poisoning case may be stalled, after an Auburn University reporter wrote an article claiming updyke confessed that he did poison the two trees at Toomer's Corner.

The story was written by Andrew Yawn and ran yesterday afternoon in The Plainsman paper.

Yawn says Updyke and his wife spoke to him yesterday outside of court, and that’s when Updpyke confessed.

However, Updyke’s defense attorney Everett Wess said his client, never made those statements or admitted his guilt to the student reporter.

“I talked to harvey and his wife and they deny making the statements. So, I think it's strange to say that the student reporter from Auburn University was able to get the scoop on the major news networks,” said Wess.

 News Lader 9 spoke with John Carvalho, the Auburn University faculty advisor to The Plainsman.

He said,  "We stand behind Andrew’s reporting of Updyke's confession 100%, the confession was not prompted or off the record."

Meanwhile,  Wess says he will be filing a motion for a change of venue and ask the judge for a continuance of the case, based on the article the plainsman.

Wess says if jury selection continues, he will ask to re-interview all potential jurors to see if they saw the article with Updyke's alleged confession.

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