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Michael White's financial problems seemed to diminish after he found employment.

He also came into some extra cash when he sold Liana's Ford Explorer.

According to White, two young men dropped by his workplace on 34th Street and they wanted to buy the vehicle. He said he sold them the Explorer for a thousand dollars.

I asked Michael White if they had any idea who he was, or who Liana was.

"No, I don't think so."

White told me that some EPS officers once dropped by his house in the middle of the night (around 2:00 a.m. he figures) to make sure he was home and abiding by his curfew.

White said he answered the doorbell in his pajamas and two officers in uniform apologized for getting him out of bed.

White is different than 99 per cent of people behind bars because he doesn't run down law enforcement.

Having said that, he does not respect the investigating officers on his case – including detectives who chose to get him up in the middle of the night (about 3:00 a.m.) at the Remand Centre to interrogate him.

I told White that being woken up at 3:00 a.m. was no big deal: it happens all the time in Guantanamo Bay.

When White's bail was revoked, it wasn't that he had violated his conditions. It was because of a public outcry, spearheaded by a petition by T. Gallant, a neighbour of Michael and Liana White. Thousands of people signed the petition.

The petition contained some interesting wording: it said Michael White was Liana's killer.

In the fall of 2005, Thomas Lukaszuk, the MLA for Edmonton Castle Downs, accepted the petition in a news conference/photo-op in his strip-mall office at 12120 161 Avenue.

Half a dozen media outlets were there. To my knowledge only one (630 CHED Radio) actually reported on the wording of the petition.

"We, the citizens of Alberta, are shocked, angry, very disappointed and outraged in the judicial system. Everything that was publicized to date on this case states, to us, that this man is guilty of murdering his wife and unborn child. How, then, can he be out on a mere ten thousand dollars bail?"

I questioned Lukaszuk about how the wording said Michael White, presumably innocent until proven guilty, had actually killed his wife. The Tory MLA forced a weak smile and said, "People in Ottawa [where the petition was headed] would see through that."

Lukaszuk later posed for photographers with Gallant.

Other reporters knew the wording on the petition was 'problematic' (to use a Peter Royalism – Royal being a prominent defence lawyer). But they didn't report on it.

The media not reporting on the wording of the petition was the equivalent of not taking soil samples or not ripping up floorboards.

It was an important and interesting angle to the story the public should have known about. But save for CHED's listeners, it was kept a secret.

It goes to show that staged media events aren't always what they're cracked up to be.

When I saw all the names on the petition, it made me wonder about those who signed it. As an old CBC broadcaster once said: "People also elect to the job of premier alcoholics with only a grade nine education."

White's family in Ontario would later say their son was convicted three times: in the news media, in the court of public opinion ... and finally, by a jury in Court of Queen's Bench.

The night before the decision came down on the Crown's appeal of his bail, Michael White phoned to say he didn't have a good feeling about it.

He was right. White would soon be headed back to the Remand Centre.

Reporters at the courthouse were handed copies of the written decision the next morning.

The paragraph at the top of page 5 said it all: "We think that this too is one of those rare cases where it is necessary to deny bail in order to maintain public confidence in the justice system."

If Canadians were polled, it would be interesting to see what percentage of people actually have confidence in the justice system.

I immediately pulled out my cell phone and called Michael White, who was working at Loadstar.

I wanted to know what Michael White had to say about his mail being re-routed again to 97th Street and 103 A Avenue, the Edmonton Remand Centre.

White hadn't heard the news.

His lawyer, Larry Anderson, was still at the Appeals counter flipping through the seven-page decision.

White didn't say much. "I'm going to clean up and head in." He added that he hadn't slept well the night before.

I told Anderson he didn't have to rush; his client already had been told and said he was turning himself in.

Anderson did reach White at Loadstar, telling him he had three choices: he could turn himself in at the police station, or stay at his workplace or go home and wait for police to pick him up.

Two co-workers drove Michael White to the main police station downtown.

His boss, Tony, said they were going to miss a "good hand."

Christopher's notes covering the day's events can be seen here.

Accused wife-killer Michael White was back in the news. CFRN showed a glimpse of White wandering the lobby of the main police station.

White had to wait in the lobby before he could get processed.

According to White, police told him if he wanted a bite to eat he was free to leave and come back. But he said he stayed put, suspecting police might accuse him of escaping.

It would be Michael White's last day of freedom ... for a long time.

In a diary entry written months later, Michael White posted his own thoughts about what may have led to his bail being revoked.

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deadmonton - michael white - the untold story - 24