The secret government arranged for the case to go to Wade knowing he would lose it through ineptness or could be "persuaded" to purposely lose it?
A bit far for me. In Netfilk's "The Confession Killer", the two Texas Rangers handling Henry Lee Lucas did some unusual things, such as supposedly giving Lucas some hints so he could "confess" to visiting law enforcement eager to close cold cases around the United States. They eventually got the count up to 600 murders. Lucas told a Japanese film crew given special access that he had done a few in Japan, traveling there by car.
The District Attorney of McLennan County in Waco, Vic Feazell, questioned the "closing" of a case in Waco, based on a Lucas "confession". As a consequence, the Texas Dept. of Public Safety (in charge of the Rangers) and Dallas TV-station WFAA launched a campaign to discredit Feazell.
If Henry Wade was involved chances are very good that J. Edgar Hoover and HL Hunt were right at his elbow....
PS Speaking of Hunt... I was happy to see Andy Reid and his team win the Super Bowl but the mention of the Lamar Hunt trophy makes me want to puke!....