Derrick Yancey: Deputy convicted of killing wife maintains innocence

The jury has spoken, DeKalb District Attoey Robert James said simply.

But now, Derrick Yancey has spoken too, on camera in a lengthy exclusive interview with Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne.

Yancey is the ex-DeKalb deputy convicted of murdering his wife, Linda, and Marcial Cax Puluc, identified as a laborer he met that day.

In addition to Winne’s broadcast reports, some portions of the interview are available only through this story on WSBTV.com.

To fight the conviction, Yancey has retained Ashleigh Merchant, a young defense attoey gaining an increasingly high profile for her lead representation in a number of newsworthy cases.

Yancey told Winne he’s sticking to the story he initially gave police, and Merchant said, ”He didn’t speak with the police again. He did not speak with the prosecutors. He did not testify in his trial.

But he told Channel 2 plenty.

Winne’s report on GA Daily News at 5 focused on Yancey’s version of the killings themselves, along with response from a key witness.

His report on GA Daily News at 6 detailed Yancey’s version of where he went when he fled the country before trial, and why he did so, along with reaction from DeKalb Sheriff Thomas Brown.

The wsbtv.com web-exclusive excerpts vary in length, but all offer a remarkable view of the mindset of a convicted murderer who continues to maintain his innocence.

For Yancey’s first-person account of how the killings occurred -- a version at variance with the verdict.

In a remarkable scene, Yancey stood up and did a show-and-tell-style walk-through of how he claims the shooting of Cax Puluc took place.

His lawyer suggested his walk-through explains a seeming discrepancy between what he told police and what physical evidence showed.

”I told them the man was charging! Yancey told Winne.

Chief Assistant District Attoey Don Geary said the autopsy and other evidence proved beyond doubt that Cax Puluc never charged.

Winne observes one of the values of the video account for viewers is they can hear the timbre of Yancey’s voice, gauge the look in his eyes and his body language and assess for themselves what they think of Yancey’s claims.

In one exchange, he puts Yancey on the spot in that regard.