Dr. Benjamin Gilmer, the longtime advocate of Virginia inmate Vince Gilmer who is expected to be released from prison later this week, poses outside an Asheville, N.C., restaurant on April 29, 2024. FILE - Vince Gilmer, is shown during an interview with the Bristol Herald Courier on March 20, 2005, from the Washington County jail in Abington, Va.
Vince Gilmer admitted to killing his father, whom he accused at trial of committing horrific acts of sexual abuse against him as a child, and he received a life sentence. Though no one claims Gilmer is innocent, his supporters argue that the outcome of his 2005 trial, where he insisted on representing himself and jurors rejected his insanity defense, would likely have been different if he had been properly diagnosed at the time.
Vince Gilmer is in the “terminal phases” of his illness, confined to a wheelchair and fairly close to being bedbound, struggling to eat, losing his cognitive abilities and at high risk for aspiration pneumonia, Benjamin Gilmer said. Benjamin Gilmer wrote in his book, “The Other Dr. Gilmer,” that he became fascinated with Vince Gilmer’s case after he joined the family medicine clinic just outside of Asheville, where Vince Gilmer used to work. Patients and former colleagues described Vince Gilmer as a beloved community member and dedicated clinician who made house calls, remembered birthdays and cared for patients regardless of their ability to pay.
Benjamin Gilmer’s sleuthing eventually led to a Huntington’s diagnosis confirmed by lab work. He began to connect with lawyers and other advocates who would assemble a strategy to free Vince Gilmer from prison by pursuing a clemency petition. “Nobody cares that they have a man dying in their prison,” Benjamin Gilmer said in an interview before he’d received confirmation of a release date, adding that many private facilities were also reluctant to take in a convicted murderer.