Rockford Register Star | Web site of the Rock River = Valley

From: Subject: Rockford Register Star | Web site of the Rock River Valley Date: Tue, 22 May 2007 18:06:08 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; type="text/html"; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0000_01C79C9B.DFC4F780" X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.3028 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0000_01C79C9B.DFC4F780 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://www.rrstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007105210010 Rockford Register Star | Web site of the Rock River = Valley

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	Yes. That movie changed my = life.=20
	Yes. I have fond memories of = "Star=20 Wars."
	Yes. It's a historic piece of=20 cinema.
	No. =

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HELM=20 = PUBLISHING

Published: May 21,=20 2007

GO=20 Today
Fact or=20 fiction?
Former=20 reporter=92s new novel examines a local murder=20 case

What happens when someone = is=20 convicted of murder without forensic evidence or = a=20 murder weapon?

Author Harriet Ford = tackles that=20 question in her new book, =93Shadow in the = Rain,=94 based on=20 a real Rockford murder case.

Ford was a = reporter=20 for the Rockford Labor News in 2000 when she = covered a=20 court hearing involving Ted Kuhl, who was = convicted of=20 murdering his girlfriend, Janet Nivinski, = outside a=20 Loves Park bar in 1996. Ford was intrigued by = what she=20 saw and heard at the court hearing and began = researching=20 the = case.

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Book=20 = signings (5/21/07)

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She=20 worked with Joe Lamb, a former investigative = reporter=20 for the Rockford Register Star turned private=20 investigator, interviewed witnesses and met with = Kuhl in=20 the Dixon prison in 2003.

=93I began to = hear things=20 that made me think (Kuhl) is innocent,=94 Ford = said. =93It=20 took me a while to come to that conclusion. I = could not=20 see, even though I tried to, him as guilty. = There was=20 just more than reasonable doubt.=94

Ford = decided to=20 turn her research into a book in 2003. She = worked on the=20 book only one day or so a week while reporting = full-time=20 for the Labor News. She finished =93Shadow in = the Rain=94 in=20 2006 and spent the next year getting it=20 published.

The book is technically = fiction, Ford=20 said, though it is based on Kuhl=92s case. She = changed=20 some names and time elements and inserted a = fictional=20 subplot. But details about investigations,=20 interrogations and witness interviews are = factual, she=20 said.

Ford, who moved to Missouri last = year, will=20 be in Rockford June 7 for a book signing at = Loves Park=20 Scuba. She=92s lining up additional local book = signings in=20 August at Borders and Barnes & = Noble.

She=20 intends to write a second book on the Kuhl case, = she=20 said, one that is purely nonfiction. Her hope is = that=20 readers ask enough questions that Kuhl=92s case = is=20 reopened or given another look. Moreover, she = wants the=20 public to be aware of cases where people have = been=20 sentenced to prison without concrete forensic=20 evidence.

=93You hear about the people = who are=20 exonerated because of DNA, but there are still = prisoners=20 who may very well be innocent but there=92s no = DNA to pull=20 the plug for them,=94 Ford said. =93Nobody is = out there=20 looking at those kinds of cases. There=92s no = smoking gun=20 to prove that these guys are wrongfully = convicted. Who=92s=20 going to speak for them?=94

By Sarah=20 Roberts