Paul Skalnik, a career criminal with a history of fraud and deception, served as a key informant who provided testimony leading to the conviction of several men, including sending at least four to death row, according to an investigative report. Skalnik, who had a pattern of being in jail when accused murderers were willing to confess, leveraged these alleged confessions to receive leniency for his own offenses.
Skalnik's methods involved presenting himself as a confidant to inmates, extracting alleged confessions, and then relaying this information to prosecutors. In one instance in the summer of 1981, while jailed on a grand-theft charge in Pinellas County, Florida, Skalnik contacted the state attorney's office, claiming he had information on three murder suspects who had confessed to him. By 1984, he had testified in or provided information on at least 27 defendants, with prosecutors overlooking his extensive record of dishonesty.
Pamela Colloff's book, "Catch the Devil: A True Story of Murder, Deception, and Injustice on the Gulf Coast," details Skalnik's long career as a professional witness. He had previously served as an informant in Houston in 1978, after being jailed on bad-check charges. He contacted a friend in the district attorney's office with information about Thomas Hirschi, one of three activists charged with inciting a riot. Skalnik was released for the day to provide his statement to the DA's office.
In Florida's Pinellas County Jail, Skalnik worked in the law library, where he could interact with defendants. He would study case details from local newspapers and then contact prosecutors, reporting alleged confessions. The reward for his testimony was often probation or other forms of leniency, while prosecutors gained a witness who could simplify complex cases.
The case central to Colloff's book involves James Dailey, a Vietnam veteran who was on Florida's death row for nearly four decades for the 1985 murder of Shelly Boggio. Dailey, who had been adrift due to alcoholism, was in Pinellas County with Jack Pearcy. Boggio was found stabbed multiple times. During an investigation, Pearcy implicated Dailey. Skalnik then claimed Dailey had confessed to him in jail. Despite Dailey's assertions that a confession would have been impossible given the cellblock layout, Skalnik testified that Dailey admitted to the murder. The jury convicted Dailey, and Skalnik was released from jail days later.
Skalnik's pattern of deception continued even after his work as an informant. His parole officer noted that he was a danger to society and had perfected the role of a con man. Colloff encountered Skalnik in a federal prison in 2018, where he offered to reveal details of his informant work but never followed through. He died in a Texas nursing home in March 2020, with his ashes unclaimed.
Dailey, now 80, remains on death row. Colloff's work suggests that institutions meant to uphold justice amplified Skalnik's lies, enabling him to send innocent men to death row. The book argues that the willingness of prosecutors to "make a deal with a sinner to catch the devil" instead empowered a con man who exploited the system.