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Date of Alleged Crime

Beeman was sentenced to death for a murder committed during a robbery.  Clair Liuzzo, a prison escapee, testified he saw Beeman with the victim at about the time the coroner estimated the murder occurred and again a little later with blood on his clothes.  Liuzzo also claimed Beeman had admitted the crime.  The conviction was reversed because the trial judge had prevented Beeman from calling an exculpatory witness.  At the retrial in 1979, Beeman was acquitted after five witnesses testified that Liuzzo had confessed to the crime.  (NL)

Lonzo Thornton was convicted of assaulting and robbing Louie Parkalab, a recent immigrant from central Europe.  Thornton had visited James Ivory, a suspect arrested for the robbery, to get back the overcoat he had lent Ivory.  Thornton was subsequently questioned by police and identified by Parkalab as the second person of the pair who had robbed him.  At trial Thornton had 5 alibi witnesses, although some of these witnesses had bad reputations, which did not help him.  He was sentenced to 10 to 25 years at the Columbus penitentiary.  This penitentiary would burn in 1930, killing 322 inmates trapped in their cells.  In Jan 1928, another man was arrested on other charges and confessed to being Ivory’s accomplice in the Parkalab robbery.  The Ohio Governor pardoned Thornton in Feb 1928.  (CTI)  [11/07]

Late in the evening, Wilmington police officers Henry Adams and Emory McCreight were patrolling an alley skirting the post office on Main Street when they heard a racket at the back of the Murphy and Benham hardware store.  After approaching the area, the officers saw two shadowy figures against the building.  Unbeknownst to the officers, the two were cutting their way through the rear door of the hardware store.

Adams called out, "What are you doing here?"  "Looking for a dog," came the reply.  "You are liable to get in bad in here," answered Officer McCreight, as Adams flashed his light full in the face of the nearest figure.  Pistols then flashed as the two mystery men fired bullets into Adams and McCreight, before escaping in a waiting automobile.  McCreight was mortally wounded and died the following afternoon.

A witness named Smalley later came forward.  He said he had seen two Cincinnati men that he knew with a flat tire on the morning following the murder.  The men had several gallons of whiskey in their car, which was illegal under then existing Prohibition laws.  As the witness was leaving, one of the men said to him, “Smalley, don't you never say a word you saw us on this road this morning.”  Smalley identified the men as Clarence McKinney and Jim Bill Reno.  The two were arrested.

Officer Adams said that the shooter he saw had on a sheepskin coat and a toboggan cap.  These articles of clothing were put on McKinney.  The lights were then turned out and Adams flashed his light in the suspect's face, as he had done on the night of the shooting.  Adams identified McKinney as the shooter whose face he had seen.  Other witnesses provided testimony that McKinney and Reno were in town on the night of the murder.

Both McKinney and Reno were initially tried and convicted of illegally transporting liquor.  When tried for murder, McKinney provided alibi witnesses, but these witnesses were not especially effective, in part because McKinney’s alibi was falsified to avoid possible conviction on liquor charges.  McKinney was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.  Reno was not tried for murder, but held in jail while he served out a sentence for his liquor charge.

About a year after the shootings, two other men were implicated in the crime.  Both confessed not just to the murder of McCreight, but also to a number of other burglaries in Clinton and Greene counties.  The men led investigators to some of their stolen loot.  After these men pleaded guilty, McKinney’s conviction was vacated and he was released.  As a form of restitution, the fines in the liquor cases against both McKinney and Reno were suspended.  (CTI)  [11/07]

Vincent Doan was convicted of the kidnapping and murder of his girlfriend, Clarissa Culberson, also known as Carrie.  He was sentenced to 888 years in prison.  Culberson, then 22, mysteriously disappeared one night and is presumed dead.  Neither her body nor her car has ever been found.  The case against Doan was based on speculation, guesswork, and hearsay, with no hard evidence.

In 2004, police received a tip that Culberson’s body was buried on the property of Jarrod Messer.  Cadaver detecting dogs were brought in and hit on a scent.  Seven items were found buried under the concrete floor of Messer’s barn.  They included a piece of duct tape, a sock, and a shirt.  Culberson’s mother identified the shirt as her daughter’s.  Police said the concrete was poured just days after Culberson’s disappearance.

Culberson knew Messer and even introduced him to her mother.  Messer associated with Michael Fogt, who was later convicted of the 1998 murder of his wife.  The father of Fogt’s wife believes his daughter was killed because she knew too much.  Fogt also shot Messer in the back in 1998, but Messer refused to press charges.  In addition to the murder of his wife, Fogt was also convicted of a 1994 rape and the 2003 murder of a Hillsboro woman.  Culberson knew Fogt because he lived next door to her best friend’s parents.  (justiceforvincent.com) (www.justice4vinceandtracey.com)  [3/08]

After an intruder entered his home, and brutally murdered his wife, Marilyn, Sheppard was accused and convicted of the crime.  The Sheppard home was in Bay Village on the shore of Lake Erie.  Sheppard had an affair some months before and this was portrayed as a motive.  Sheppard had some wounds from the real attacker but the prosecution claimed these were self-inflicted.  Sheppard described the attacker as a bushy haired man and other witnesses claimed to have seen him.  Although its creator denied it, the 1963 TV series, "The Fugitive," was widely thought to be based on this case, due to obvious similarities.

Sheppard's defense was not allowed access to forensic evidence prior to trial.  When examined after trial, it found that Marilyn had apparently bitten her attacker as one of her teeth was broken outward, and that the killer must have been splattered with blood as the bedroom walls were all splattered except for a spot that was shielded by the attacker's body.  Apart from a small spot, Sheppard had no blood on him, nor any bite marks.  Backswing blood spatter indicated the attacker swung his weapon with his left hand, while Sheppard was right-handed.  Appeals based on this new evidence were denied.  Eventually a young lawyer named F. Lee Bailey got interested in the case, took it to the U.S. Supreme Court, and had the conviction overturned.  Sheppard was acquitted on retrial in 1966, but died at age 46 in 1970.  DNA tests in the 1990's revealed the attacker was a mentally ill man who had once worked at the Sheppard home.  [9/05]

Booker was convicted of a Beachwood rape after being identified by the victim.  After being raped, the victim said the rapist took her car.  The car was later recovered, but a toy gun that was previously inside it was missing.  Booker was arrested in Feb 1987 on an unrelated incident involving a toy gun.  The victim identified the toy gun as the one stolen from her, and she identified Booker as her rapist.  Booker was paroled in 2002 after refusing chances at an earlier parole because he would not admit he committed the crime.  He applied for DNA testing, and in 2005 DNA tests exonerated him of the crime.  (IP155)

Cuyahoga County, OH

Anthony Michael Green

May 29, 1988

Green was convicted of raping a terminally ill nurse who was receiving treatments for liver cancer.  The crime occurred at the Cleveland Clinic Center Hotel.  The perpetrator had told the victim his name was Tony.  Green had worked at the hotel for a short time, but was fired in March 1988 for getting into a fight with another employee.  Green's clinic ID badge was among a group of badges shown the victim.  The victim identified him at trial.  The trial also featured faulty and falsified forensics.  DNA tests exonerated Green in 2001.

Following Green's release, the Plain Dealer newspaper wrote an article series about Green's ordeal.  The real perpetrator, Rodney Rhines, who had become a Christian and was living at the City Mission, happened to read the series.  He had not known that anyone had been convicted for his crime.  After reading the series, Rhines, feeling remorse, confessed to mission personnel that he had done the crime and wanted to turn himself in.  The Rev. Brent Reynolds told him, "You won't be coming back out once you walk into that police station."  "Yes, I know," said Rhines.  Rhines had once worked for the Cleveland Clinic in the hotel kitchen.  Even though the victim identified Green, Green does not resemble Rhines.  Rhines' skin and eyes are darker and his face wider.  Green was awarded $2.6 million in 2004 for 13 years of wrongful imprisonment.  (Plain Dealer) (IP089)  [5/08]

Piszczek was convicted of rape, felonious assault, and burglary after being identified by the victim from a photo lineup.  He had once been to the victim’s house with a mutual friend.  DNA tests exonerated Piszczek in 1994.  (IP019) (PDI)  [12/05]

Twenty-seven-year-old Eve Rudd was indicted by a grand jury for the arson murders of her 4-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son.  Authorities charged Rudd after finding pour patterns, which they said were evidence that she had doused clothing and papers in a second-floor bedroom with cooking oil and set the room ablaze.  But the pour patterns proved to be a faulty indicator of arson.

Kenneth Gibson, a fire investigator retained by defense lawyers, videotaped an experiment with cooking oil and found it was not an accelerant--the oil by itself was not flammable unless it was heated to 540 degrees.  Gerald Hurst, who also investigated the fire for the defense, said there were so many burn patterns, "you can't interpret them anymore."  A jury acquitted Rudd after she spent nine months in jail.  [10/07]

Clinton Oliver, Donald Krieger and Andrew Mendez attended a Cleveland Indians baseball game at Jabobs Field in Cleveland.  They had upper level seats.  After the game began, Oliver and Krieger moved to box seats at ground level while Mendez stayed in the upper deck.  At the top of the ninth inning, an explosion occurred in the lower level seats, which injured four people.  Witnesses offered contradictory statements about the device that caused the explosion, but one described it as a “small soup can,” thrown from the upper level.  Stadium authorities arrested the three men because their tickets had adjoining upper level seat numbers above the explosion site.  Oliver and Krieger were held for four days before a security camera showed they were seated at ground level when the explosion occurred.

Mendez was not as fortunate.  Even though no one saw him throw the explosive device, he was convicted at a bench trial of charges related to the incident and sentenced to three years in prison.  He was paroled after seven months.  Oliver and Krieger filed a civil suit against the city of Cleveland that alleged malicious prosecution, false arrest and intentional infliction of emotional distress.  At the civil trial in Nov. 2006, Oliver testified he was a Marine home on medical leave when he was arrested, and he was prevented from re-enlisting because of the charges.  There was also testimony that the three were held in an utterly filthy holding cell without mattresses or blankets for 96 hours.  Oliver’s attorney suggested that the police hoped to squeeze confessions out of them.  The jury awarded Oliver and Krieger $400,000 in compensatory damages and $600,000 in punitive damages.

Mendez appealed his conviction.  Among his arguments was that a stadium surveillance tape showed the explosive device falling 16 feet in one second.  In his brief Mendez included physics calculations that if the device was thrown from the upper level 63 feet above, it would have been falling at four times that velocity on the surveillance tape.  Thus the calculations showed that it must have been thrown from the lower level.  The Ohio Court of Appeals rejected this science-based argument.  It stated that the calculations Mendez provided “requires explanation in order to apply. It contains terms that are not generally known such as ‘final velocity,’ ‘average velocity,’ and the ‘acceleration of gravity.’” The court then stated, “Judicial notice will not be taken of such scientific facts and matters, however, unless they are of such universal notoriety and so generally understood that they may be regarded as forming part of the common knowledge of every person.”

The Court of Appeals upheld Mendez’ conviction in June 2004 and the Ohio Supreme Court declined to review it in Dec. 2004.  Oliver is so convinced of Mendez’ innocence that after he received his jury award he said he was going to use the money to hire an attorney for his friend’s fight to exonerate himself.  (JD34 p4)  [4/07]

Thrower was convicted of the shotgun murder of Columbus Police Officer Joseph Edwards.  In 1978 the Internal Affairs Bureau of the Columbus Division of Police determined that Detective Tom Jones Sr. had acted egregiously during the investigation of Thrower. Thrower was released from prison in 1979.  [12/06]

Broady was convicted of murdering John Georgeoff.  During Broady’s trial, FBI agent Dick Cleary informed Detective Tom Jones Sr. that another suspect had credibly confessed to the murder.  Jones responded by telling Cleary, “we have our man,” and he failed to inform the prosecutors or defense counsel about the confession. After Broady discovered the existence of the confession, he was granted a new trial and acquitted.  (JD32 p15)  [12/06]

Timothy Howard and Gary Lamar James were convicted of murdering bank guard Berne Davis, 74, while robbing the Ohio National Bank at 1433 E. Main St. bank in Columbus.  The pair were initially sentenced to death.  After spending 26 years in prison, these two boyhood friends were freed in 2003 after Centurion Ministries established their innocence.  Hitherto suppressed police and FBI reports demonstrated that their convictions were based on perjured testimony manipulated by corrupt Columbus police officers including Detective Tom Jones Sr.  A retired FBI agent who originally helped investigate the case with the Columbus Police was instrumental in assisting to free these men.  In 2006, Howard was awarded $2.6 million for his wrongful imprisonment, but died in 2007, several days after suffering a heart attack.  In 2007, James was awarded $1.5 million.  He was awarded less than Howard because his legal fees were less and his lost wages were deemed to be less.  (CM) (JD32 p14,15)  [6/05]

Smith was convicted of sexually assaulting three women.  He was sentenced to 78 to 190 years of imprisonment.  DNA tests exonerated him in 1996.  Smith was awarded nearly $250,000 in 2001 for his wrongful imprisonment.  (IP029) (www.walterdsmith.com) [5/05]

Mark E. Burke was sentenced to death merely for standing by and watching his cousin, James Tanner, knife 72-year-old James Tanner.  According to the coroner, the victim did not die of the stabbing but died of a heart attack.  (Dispatch)  [12/05]

Castleberry was convicted at his second trial of murdering Jose Soriano, a drug dealer on the east side of Columbus.  Soriano was shot at 3417 Bexvie Avenue, Apartment C, on March 29, 1990.  He died several months later.  Following Castleberry's conviction it was found that the prosecution withheld three key pieces of evidence:  (1) Before he died, the victim stated his attacker was clean-shaven and between 5'6" and 5'8".  Castleberry was 5'9" to 5'10" and wore a goatee at the time of the crime.  (2) Three of the victim's neighbors reported seeing two thin men go in or near the victim's building and make a threatening statement.  This occurred on the day of the crime, and they later heard a gunshot, followed shortly afterward by a car driving away.  Castleberry weighed 221 lbs.  (3) A witness came forward who stated that the state's star witness against Castleberry, Kenneth "Chief" Thomas, had planned to rob the victim.  In 2003, the Sixth Circuit Court overturned Castleberry's conviction.  It is not known if the state plans to retry him.  (TruthInJustice)  [12/05]

Warren Keith Henness' ex-wife, Tabatha Lynn, and her male friends robbed Henness and his friend, Richard Myers, 51.  Henness got away but Myers was killed.  Tabatha blamed the murder on Henness.  As a result, he was convicted of murder and sentenced to death.  Tabatha Lynn is reportedly something of "black widow" who has a history of robbing husbands/lovers and having them die suspicious deaths.  (CCADP)  [3/05]

Kevin Alan Tolliver, a black man, was convicted of murdering Claire Schneider, his white live-in girlfriend.  According to Tolliver, Schneider killed herself with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.  Although she was clinically depressed and had not taken her Paxil medicine in 4 days, Schneider's shooting of herself in the mouth, happened so unexpectedly that it appeared to be an involuntary suicide.  She may not have been aware that the gun was loaded.  The shooting occurred shortly after midnight.

Tolliver was a severe dyslexic since childhood, and emotionally went to pieces following his girlfriend's death.  He screamed and cried.  Two neighbors in his building, hearing his screams called police, but police came and left without finding the source of the disturbance.  Police finally were summoned back by Tolliver's ex-wife, more than an hour after the shooting.  Police arrested Tolliver immediately and performed no investigation.  They did not test either Tolliver's or Schneider's hands for gunshot residue.

The coroner was prepared to rule that Schneider's death was self-inflicted, until the police gave their theory.  He still ruled that her death was undetermined. The prosecution argued murder and Tolliver was convicted because of ineffective defense and the perjured testimony of a jailhouse snitch.  Tolliver is serving 16 years to life imprisonment.  (Free KT)  [4/08]

Around midnight, David Kibble was standing behind 1237 E. 17th Avenue in Columbus with Donnell Broomfield and others.  After Alan Dukes parked his car there, the men there started an argument with him.  Broomfield then took a swing at Dukes and Dukes swung back.  After the fight ended, Kibble came up behind Dukes and hit him in the mouth.  Dukes and an associate then chased after Kibble.  As they entered an alley, Kibble saw a police officer at the other end and ran towards him.  Kibble had pulled his knife out during the pursuit and still had it in his hand.

The officer, Adam Hicks, was looking for a suspect, Melvin Collins, who was seen with a gun and was wanted in connection with a carjacking.  Like Collins, Kibble was a black male of about the same height and weight.  They both were wearing red shirts.  Officer Hicks opened fire on Kibble, hitting him three times while he was still beyond shouting distance.  Dukes’ associate, who was pursuing Kibble with Dukes, was also apparently hit.  A video taken after the incident shows a man, who matched a description of Dukes’ associate, going up to the camera and showing where a bullet passed through his baggy shorts without injuring him.  Dukes had fled the scene, but was later traced through his license plate number.

After being shot, Kibble was charged with the felonious assault of Officer Hicks, apparently to cover-up the wrongful shooting.  Hicks told a story that did not involve Kibble being chased and which made the shooting seem justifiable.  However, Hicks’ story was at odds with the positions of where Kibble and his knife had fallen and where the officer’s own shell casings were found.  Dukes and two other witnesses attested that Kibble was being chased at the time of the shooting.

Despite the evidence, Kibble accepted a plea bargain in which he did not have to admit guilt.  Prior to trial his attorney pointed out that Dukes had a warrant out for his arrest and might not show up in court to testify.  Kibble’s other witnesses were relatives, which jurors tend to discount.  Kibble faced up to 10 years if convicted.  The plea bargain allowed him to serve only one year and he had already served almost half of it awaiting trial.

When told of Kibble’s conviction, Dukes said, “That’s crazy.  All [Kibble] was trying to do was get away from us.  I was shocked when I saw the officer start shooting for no reason.  It didn’t make any sense.  That’s why I took off. I was scared of what might happen next.” (JD28 p4)  [9/07]

Gillispie was convicted of raping three women.  The first woman was raped on Aug. 5, 1988.  The other two, twin sisters, were kidnapped and raped on Aug. 20, 1988.  The three victims identified Gillispie from a tainted photo lineup two years after the crime.  According to the initial descriptions by the victims, the attacker had reddish-brown hair, no chest hair, a loud commanding voice, no accent, bushy eyebrows and a dark suntan.  He was also a smoker, wore cologne, and smelled of alcohol.  Gillispie had brown hair that grayed at the sides, a cleft chin, thick chest hair, pale skin, a Kentucky drawl, and rarely wore cologne.  Friends say he rarely drank and never smoked.

After the Ohio Innocence Project took on Gillispie's case in 2003, an anonymous tipster called and provided the name of man said to be the real rapist.  He was a guard at Lebanon Correctional Institution.  This man matched the victim’s initial descriptions to a tee.  He had even been arrested in 1990 for the apparent kidnapping of a woman, but charges were dropped after the victim refused to cooperate.  When spoken to, the man claimed ignorance about the Gillispie case, but seemed overly curious about it and referred to the “ladies” without being told there were multiple victims.  (Western Star)  [10/07]

Campbell was convicted of stabbing to death his ex-neighbor Henry Turner, 78, during a burglary.  Turner was an elderly bootlegger who sold alcohol and cigarettes from his first floor apartment at 1008 York St.  Police seized Campbell's gym shoes, one of which had blood on them.  Campbell asserted that blood dripped on them once when he cut his finger, but the state claimed it was Turner's blood.  The shoes, however, did not match the bloody shoeprints found at the crime scene, but the jury did not learn of this fact.  The state also claimed Campbell had taken a bottle of rum as it had the same code number as one in Turner's apartment.  However, Turner had a cabinet full of liquor, plus money and a gun near the cabinet, none of which were taken.  Campbell was sentenced to death.

In 2002, the bloodied shoe was tested using advanced DNA testing and the tests showed the blood was Campbell's.  The state then claimed the blood on the shoe was irrelevant and Campbell was still scheduled for execution in 2003.  After an appeals court refused to overturn Campbell's conviction, Gov. Taft commuted his death sentence to life without parole.  (City Beat) (JC Campaign)  [12/05]

In Feb. 1996, 18-year-old Sarah Jane Adams filed a police report, accusing James F. Love of orally raping her six, seven, eight years earlier.  After being charged with five rapes, Love filed a notice of alibi, stating that he was out of the United States during a large portion of the time period mentioned in his indictment.  His lawyers requested more specific dates and times of the alleged rapes, but the prosecutor repeatedly denied that any dates were available.

At Love’s trial in June 1996, Adams testified that the first rape occurred “the week after Christmas 1988.”  She testified next three rapes occurred “at least once a month each month after the first time.”  Which would have been January, February, and March 1989.  Regarding the fifth rape she testified, “I can’t remember when the last time was.”  Love told his attorneys he was in Mexico during the time period Adams said she was raped.  He obtained his mother’s telephone records, which showed his mother had received collect calls from Mexico in late 1988 and early 1989.  The prosecutor argued that there was no proof the collect calls to Love’s mother had been made by Love.  The jury convicted Love on four of the five rape charges.  Love was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences.  Love will be eligible for parole in 2036 when he is 85-years-old.

Since Love’s conviction, he has assembled abundant evidence proving that he was in Mexico, before, during, and after the period in which the alleged rapes occurred.  In Nov. 2006, Love’s conviction was overturned.  Love has written numerous articles on wrongfully convicted persons.  Many of those articles are posted on the Innocent Inmates of Ohio website.  (JD30 p5)  [9/07]

Along with a codefendant, teenager Dante Allen was convicted of charges related to the boarding a Cincinnati Metro bus, waving a gun at passengers and demanding to know if any of the passengers were from Bond Hill in Cincinnati, or knew anything about the murder of Eugene Lampkin that same day.  Allen’s co-defendant testified that Allen was not on the bus with him, but the bus driver and a passenger identified Allen.  Prior to sentencing, another teenager confessed to perpetrating the crime with Allen’s codefendant.  Allen was released.  Allen’s codefendant was sentenced to 18 years in prison for scaring bus passengers, a sentence Allen would likely have received.  (JD32 p4)  [9/07]

Johnston was sentenced to death for the murders of his stepdaughter, Annette Cooper Johnston, 18, and her fiancé, Todd Shultz, 19.  The two were reported missing on Oct. 4, 1982.  Ten days later their torsos were found in the Hocking River.  Body parts were later found buried in a cornfield.  The conviction was due to hypnotically induced testimony and alleged boot print forensics.  The prosecutor contended that the victims had been killed in Johnston's home and that their bodies were later discarded in the cornfield eleven miles away.  After Johnston's conviction was vacated, it became known that the prosecution had withheld knowledge of four independent witnesses who had seen the couple shortly before their murder and had heard gunshots near the cornfield.  Johnston could prove he was home at the time the shots were fired.  Johnston was released in 1990 and charges against him were dropped.  (NL)  [7/05]

Lenworth Edwards, Alfred Cleveland, and Benson Davis are natives of New York and were convicted of murdering Marsha Blakely and Floyd Epps solely because of the testimony of William McAuther Avery Jr., a convicted perjurer.  All are serving life sentences.  (JusticeDenied) (NYB)  [5/05]

Nancy Smith and Joseph Allen were convicted of child abuse.  Smith, a Head Start school bus driver allegedly drove students to Allen’s house where the students were molested.  Smith, a white woman, and Allen, a dark complexioned black, were an unlikely pair and denied ever having met each other.  The two were convicted on the testimony of child witnesses whose testimony changed over time, and on the testimony of adults who were facing unrelated criminal charges.  School attendance and bus records show the crimes to be impossible.  Smith was sentenced to 30 to 90 years in prison and ordered to pay the costs of prosecution.  Allen was sentenced to five consecutive life terms.  No physical evidence existed that any child was molested.  (Crime Magazine) (JD29 p3)  [2/07]

Brown spent 19 years in prison for the rape and murder of a woman he knew only casually.  The victim's 6-year-old son, who caught a fleeting glimpse of the killer, testified against Brown.  DNA tests proved Brown innocent and also identified the real killer, who already was serving a life sentence for a 1982 rape and murder committed under similar circumstances.  Brown was freed in April 2001.  (CM) (IP084)  [5/05]

Elizabeth Golebiewski was convicted of murdering her 19-month-old daughter, Tennille.  Tennille was found wedged between her bed and a closet door.  The case against Golebiewski was largely circumstantial and hinged on testimony from a prison informant who had a long rap sheet.  (Toledo Blade)

Bob Gondor and Randy Resh were convicted of murdering Connie Nardi, 31.  Nardi had left the Upper Deck pub in Mantua with Troy Busta for a ride on his motorcycle.  Three hours later Busta returned to the pub alone.  They next day Nardi’s dead body was found in a pond.  She had been strangled.  At about the same time that Nardi and Busta left the pub, Gondor entered the pub and joined his friend Resh.  The two friends knew Busta from the pub, but did not consider him much more than an acquaintance.  The two left the pub to visit the nearby Village Tavern, but returned after an hour.

Authorities used Gondor and Resh’s absence from the pub to assert that they rendezvoused with Busta.  The three then allegedly attempted to rape Nardi, but killed her when she resisted.  Busta agreed to testify against Gondor and Resh and his testimony led to their convictions.  In 2002, a judge overturned the convictions because defense attorneys failed to locate exculpatory evidence in the prosecutor’s master file.  However, few believed the defense attorneys were that incompetent and instead believed the prosecution played hide and seek with the evidence.

The missed evidence revealed authorities coerced testimony, blurred timelines, and concealed forensic data.  Among this evidence is a taped interview with Busta in which he admits a willingness to say anything to avoid going to the electric chair.  The prosecutor, David Norris, left office in 1994 for cocaine possession, but his successor fought the judge’s ruling.  In Dec. 2006, the Ohio Supreme Court upheld the 2002 ruling and ordered new trials for Gondor and Resh.  Resh was acquitted on retrial in April 2007.  Gondor was scheduled for retrial, but nine days after Resh’s acquittal, charges against him were dropped.  (TruthInJustice)  [6/07]

Noling was sentenced to death for the murders of Bearnhardt and Cora Hartig, both 81.  Noling was involved in the robberies of two other elderly couples, so he might appear a suspect.  However, Noling, 18, was an amateur robber, who had fled from a robbery "like a scared rabbit" when his gun accidentally discharged into a victim's hardwood floor.  The robberies occurred in Noling's neighborhood while the Hartig murders occurred in a secluded area 15 miles away.  No physical evidence connects Noling.  In addition, nothing was stolen from the Hartig's even though the victims had wallets and rings on them.

Following the murders, the Hartig killer rifled through their documents as though he was looking for something.  Some documents were thrown on top of a shell casing.  The night before the murders, Bearnhardt Hartig told his doctor friend he planned to confront an insurance agent friend who had defaulted on a $10,000 loan that Hartig had given him.  Records of the loan were missing from Hartig's house.

The prosecution secured agreements for three alleged accomplices to testify against Noling, although one jumped ship at trial.  The testimony of the alleged accomplices disagreed with each other, known facts, and their earlier statements.  There were hundreds of discrepancies, both trivial and critical.  Noling also suffered from incompetent counsel.

Investigator Ron Craig and the now-disgraced prosecutor David Norris were also involved in the disputed convictions of Bob Gondor and Randy Resh.  A public defender investigator of both cases commented, "I thought something like that could only happen once.  I was wrong."  (http://tyronenoling.com) (Cleveland Scene)  [12/06]

Richey was sentenced to death for the murder of three-year-old Cynthia Collins.  Richey was allegedly angry at an ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend, so he allegedly set fire to the apartment above theirs, hoping the fire would burn through the concrete floor and injure them while they slept.  The prosecution advanced this theory even though they seemed to agree that Richey knew that Cynthia Collins was sleeping in that apartment.  During the fire, Richey had risked his life trying to rescue Cynthia, so his alleged actions do not make sense.  Cynthia's mother, Hope Collins, had left in the middle of the night with a convicted drug dealer.  When she came back after the fire, she faced prosecution for child abandonment, so she told authorities Richey had agreed to babysit Cynthia.

The prosecution also claimed Richey made vague statements at a party before the fire, saying the building was going to burn, almost as though they were statements about the party.  Curiously, the alleged statements imply a casual motive instead of the proffered one.  Whether true or not, vague statements are characteristic of perjured testimony.  Individuals who lie on the stand typically do not want to get caught and will only readily make statements they can back away from.  One witness later denied her testimony while another claimed Richey did not mean anything by the statement she testified to.  Richey denied making such statements and thought it was stupid that he would make them if he intended to do what the prosecution alleged.

It was later learned that Cynthia started two previous fires.  Carpet remnants from the burned apartment had been discarded and buried at the local dump.  After the police retrieved the buried remnants, the remnants were said to contain traces of accelerants, gasoline, and paint thinner.  The federal Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Richey's conviction in Jan. 2005.  However, the state appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which reinstated the conviction in Nov. 2005.  The Supreme Court remanded the case back to the Sixth Circuit Court, which again reversed Richey’s conviction in Aug. 2007.  In Dec. 2007, Richey was released after pleading no contest to involuntary manslaughter, child endangering and breaking and entering charges.  The plea involved no admission of guilt.  He received a time-served sentence.  (www.kennyrichey.org)  [12/06]

Krause confessed to the robbery and murder of an 81-year-old grocer after police convinced him there was no way he could be acquitted.  Four years later Krause's supposed accomplice gave a deathbed statement in which he named Curtis Kuermerle as his actual partner.  When officials failed to act on the information, Krause did it for them.  In 1940, he escaped from prison, tracked Kuermerle down, and convinced him to confess to authorities.  Krause then turned himself and Kuermerle in, fully expecting to be released.  Kuermerle was convicted of manslaughter.  However, Krause’s conviction was not vacated, but only commuted to second-degree murder, making him eligible for parole.  Krause was kept in prison for another 11 years before being paroled in 1951.  (TI) (Presumed Guilty p. 75-76)  [11/07]

Harry Dale Bundy was convicted of murdering Reynold P. Amodio during a robbery of the County Line Market north of Uniontown.  Amodio was the store manager.  A clerk, Paul E. Cain, was also killed during the robbery.  A few months after the crime, Bundy tipped off police that his friend, Russell T. McCoy, had murdered his half-sister and her husband in Muskingum County.  These murders occurred in Feb. 1957 after the Amodio-Cain murders.  McCoy was then implicated in the prior murders.  McCoy then repaid Bundy for tipping off police by implicating him as a participant in the prior murders.  Bundy was sentenced to death.

McCoy, however, had admitted sole responsibility for all murders in a discussion with a woman he had met.  The woman had asked him about his friends.  McCoy replied, “I have no friends.  I used to have a friend, but I am going to have to kill him.”  When the woman inquired further, McCoy replied, “I have killed four people, but this one I am going to have the state kill.”  The woman did not know what to make of McCoy’s remarks until she saw McCoy’s picture in a detective magazine accompanied by a story about his crimes.  Three days before Bundy’s scheduled execution, the woman came forward and provided evidence that Bundy was innocent.  Bundy’s conviction was overturned and on retrial in June 1958 he was acquitted.  [10/07]

John Grant Gillard was sentenced to death for shooting three people, killing two of them.  John’s brother, William Gillard, attended a New Year’s Eve party.  While there, Leroy Ensign beat William and forcibly ejected him from the party.  William returned later, after midnight, and fired a shot into the air.  Shortly thereafter, Ensign, Denise Maxwell, and Ron Postlethwaite were shot.  Ensign and Maxwell died.  Police put out an all points bulletin for a truck driven by William, the truck seen leaving the scene of the shootings.

Four hours after the shootings, the Ohio Highway Patrol caught William trying to flee the state.  He had high-velocity blood spatter on him that placed him within two feet of the victims at the moment they were shot.  Tests showed that blood spots found on him were consistent with all three victims.  Police did not issue an arrest warrant for his brother John until Jan 2.

Police later claimed they lost Postlethwaite’s original statement as to the identity of the shooter.  At trial, Postlethwaite identified John as the shooter.  Postlethwaite also testified that he had at least eight beers and was sleeping in a poorly lit room at the time of the shootings.  During trial, the state emphatically maintained that Postlethwaite identified John immediately after the shootings.  However, the lead investigator has since admitted that the investigation had focused originally on William.

John’s attorney, Louis Martinez, also represented William.  During John’s trial Martinez challenged the evidence against William, even though doing so prejudiced John.  William testified at John’s trial stating that he was not present at the shootings and he tried to explain away the physical evidence that implicated himself.  After entering into a plea agreement that allowed him to be immediately paroled, William testified at the trial of another man that he (William) was present when Ensign was shot, but fled prior to the other shootings.  (www.john-gillard.com)  [2/08]

Bennett was charged with vehicular homicide after the van he was in crashed and killed a fellow occupant, Ronald Young, 42.  The crash occurred on Baywood Street in Paris Township.  Neither Bennett nor Young were wearing a seat belt before the crash.  Bennett pleaded guilty to the charge after a witness report and the state crash expert, Trooper Toby Wagner, indicated that he was the driver.  After Bennett's amnesia cleared in prison, he realized that he was the passenger.  Bennett requested that the blood from the van be tested and such tests appear to exonerate him.  The van had a driver's side airbag and Young's injuries were consistent with hitting the airbag.  Bennett's injuries were consistent with hitting the windshield.  Another witness has come forward who said Young was the driver.  Bennett's conviction was overturned in 2006, and he faces a possible retrial.  (Akron BJ)  [9/06]

Jimmy “Spunk” Williams was convicted of the rape of a 12-year-old girl.  An attorney, appointed to represent him at a parole hearing in Dec. 2000, set up a meeting with the father of the victim.  Three months later the victim recanted her identification of Williams.  The victim originally claimed she was raped after her parents confronted her about sucker marks, which were on her neck.  The victim and a girlfriend testified they had been experimenting with sexual activity, and the girlfriend, who was also 12, had made the sucker marks.  At trial, doctors could not say that the victim was raped.  They could only say the victim was not a virgin.  The victim apparently still maintained she had been raped, but stated in court that she did not see her assailant’s face.  Williams was released in 2001 and awarded $750,000 by the state of Ohio in 2005.  (AP News) (Dredmund)  [9/07]

Christina Heaslet Beard accused a fellow University of Akron student, Nathaniel “Nate” Lewis, of raping her in her dorm room.  Several weeks prior to Lewis’ trial, someone anonymously mailed Lewis photocopied excerpts of Heaslet’s diary.  The excerpts were highly exculpatory of Lewis.  They included, “I think I pounced on Nate because he was the last straw... I'm sick of men taking advantage of me... and I'm sick of myself for giving in to them.  I'm not a nympho like all those guys think.  I'm just not strong enough to say no to them.  I'm tired of being a whore.  This is where it ends.”

After Heaslet was ordered to produce the diary, the trial judge reviewed it.  The diary also indicated a financial motive for the rape accusation:  “Speaking of money, I’m suing Nate.  I’m desperate for money!  My consience (sic) wouldn’t allow me to do that before, but I’m going to do whatever I have to to get out of debt.”  The judge excluded the most relevant parts of the diary from being introduced at trial.  He ruled that they were barred under Ohio’s rape shield law.  Faced with a conflict between, “he said the sex was consensual,” and “she said it was rape,” the jury convicted Lewis.

On appeal, the federal Sixth Circuit Court overturned Lewis’ conviction in 2002, ruling that the trial judge improperly interfered with Lewis’ right to confront his accuser.  The prosecution then dropped charges.  In 2004, a judge granted Lewis a declaration of innocence.  The judge cited several factors:  (1) Beard invited Lewis to her dorm room.  (2) She drank alcohol in Lewis' presence.  (3) She called her roommate to ensure she and Lewis would be alone.  (4) She took a birth control pill in front of Lewis.  The judge also wrote, “... Heaslet had several sex partners and occasionally had intercourse on first dates, which casts doubt on her previous assertions of only engaging in meaningful relationships.”  In 2005, Lewis was awarded $662,000, although $250,000 of it was fees for his lawyers.  (Akron BJ) (JD30 p16)  [9/07]

Hartmann was sentenced to death for the murder of Winda Snipes.  Snipes was brutally beaten, strangled, and stabbed over 135 times.  Her throat was cut and her hands were cut off.  Brutal murders like that of Snipes are typically committed by someone who is intimate with the victim and has a reason to feel great rage towards him or her.

Hartmann had sex with Snipes at about 3 a.m. on the day of her murder.  Snipes received a phone call at 3:31 a.m., which she did not answer.  A few minutes later, she asked Hartmann to leave because she said her boyfriend was coming over.  After Hartmann left, Snipes received another phone call at 3:36 a.m. which she did not answer either.  At Hartmann’s trial, Detective Joseph Urbank testified that the calls came from a pay phone in Kennmore, which is a few towns away.  Later investigation showed that they came from a pay phone less than 100 yards away from Snipes’ apartment, and almost in a direct line of sight of the apartment.

Winda was later seen on the streets of Akron and had picked up her paycheck.  She was apparently murdered around 4:38 p.m.  A cord she was strangled with had been taken from a clock, which apparently stopped at that time.  Hartmann found her later.  Because he did not want to be arrested for outstanding traffic warrants, he removed a shirt of his that was at the apartment as well as some trash he had left there the day before.  He did not dispose of the shirt.  He anonymously made two calls to 911.  Police arrived at the scene at 11 p.m.

While police were at the scene, Hartmann contacted them and informed them that he knew Winda and had been with her.  He was questioned the next day and as an officer was bringing him home, the officer was instructed to arrest Hartmann for the outstanding traffic warrants.  Hartmann then told the officer about finding the body, his 911 calls, and taking his shirt.  He consented to a search of his home.

Witnesses have reported that a month or so prior to Snipes’ death her boyfriend, Jeffrey Nichols, had threatened to “cut the bitch up, slit her throat.”  Police dismissed Nichols as a suspect, because of his alibi.  Allegedly, he was at home drinking beer with a friend.  Hartmann has phone records indicating he was home talking to a girlfriend at the time of the murder.  Hartmann was checked the day after the murder and he had no defense wounds or other marks of injury that could be construed as having occurred during the murder.

At Hartmann’s trial, testimony was presented that crime scene evidence was not tested for fingerprints, but reports later surfaced indicating that the evidence was tested for fingerprints.  The results are still not known.  The State’s case was marked by deliberate misleading statements, perjured testimony, sloppy investigation, and sloppy processing of evidence.  The coroner testified that Snipes’ murder could have occurred at 4:38 a.m. or p.m., when his own reports, hidden from the defense showed that the a.m. time frame was not a possibility.  Hartmann’s public defense team did little to defend him.  They never asked or accepted Hartmann's side of events, saying that they preferred to let the evidence tell them what happened, and then relied on the State's evidence for trial.

Hartmann’s prosecutor, Judy Bandy, had a record of misconduct.  Regarding a later case, a 2000 Beacon-Journal article stated, "In Bandy's zeal to win, evidence was hidden or otherwise kept from defense counsel, that individual defense attorneys were then targeted for investigation and threats.  If this were an isolated case, that would be one thing, but defense attorneys had been alleging Bandy's tactics for years."

Other officials were apparently no less corrupt.  Hartmann’s co-counsel was sentenced in 2002 to 4 years in prison for defrauding clients from 1993 on.  Hartmann’s trial judge, Michael Callahan, was implicated in a murder investigation.  A prostitute informant told her handler that a guy picked her up, took her to a room in the courthouse and gave her cocaine in exchange for oral sex.  She pointed out the chambers she was brought to and the car in which she was picked up.  Both belonged to Judge Callahan.  Six days later she was found murdered.  (End DP for BH)  [5/07]

Elkins was convicted of the rape and murder of his 58-year-old mother-in-law, Judith Johnson.  Johnson's granddaughter, Brooke, identified the perpetrator as "Uncle Clarence."  Later Brooke identified a local resident who was a dead ringer for her uncle and had a history of violent sexual attack.  Elkins' appeal on the new identification was denied.  Elkins' wife provided an alibi for Elkins and never believed he attacked her mother.  DNA tests excluded Elkins as the assailant in 2004, but prosecutor Sherri Walsh successfully argued that since DNA evidence was not used to convict Elkins at trial, it should not be used to exonerate him.

In order to procure evidence against the alternate suspect, who was then imprisoned with him, Elkins had to pick up a cigarette butt he discarded, and mail it to his own attorney for DNA testing.  DNA tests revealed a match, but prosecutor Walsh still refused to acknowledge Elkins innocence.  Even after Ohio attorney general Jim Petro expressed belief that Elkins was innocent, Walsh continued to be obstructionist and refused to meet with him regarding Elkins case.  She caved in 15 minutes before a 2005 press conference that Petro scheduled to announce DNA results.  Elkins was released soon afterwards.  (JD30 p18) (IP168) (Akron BJ)  [9/06]

Denny Ross was tried in Akron for the murder of 18-year-old Hannah Hill.  Hill appeared to have been raped before she was severely beaten and then strangled.  Her body was found stuffed in the trunk of her Geo Prizm six days after her death.

At jury trial deliberations, in Oct. 2000, a juror stated that an alternative suspect, Brad O'Born, had passed a lie detector test, and that therefore Ross had to be guilty.  He then changed his position on Ross' guilt to agree with the group because he had a problem at home and needed to finish his jury service that day.  The judge considered the evidence of the juror's misconduct and consulted with the prosecution and the defense.  The prosecution agreed to a mistrial but the defense opposed it unless it was declared with prejudice, which the judge refused to do.  Knowing that the jury was likely to acquit, the judge then declared a mistrial without prejudice.  However, by the time of his ruling the jurors' had filled out verdict forms acquitting Ross of the three most serious charges he was facing, including murder.  A new judge then barred a retrial on double jeopardy grounds. That decision was subsequently reversed in late 2002 by a state appellate court.  In 2005, a federal judge reinstated the decision barring a retrial.  However, in 2008, a federal appeals court reversed his decision.  Ross' attorneys plan to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.  The case was featured on an American Justice episode entitled, Who Killed Hannah Hill?  (LVRJ)  [6/08]

Michael Roper was convicted of the murder of Taleb “Tom” Husein.  Husein owned a Lakeshore Boulevard convenience store and was killed during an aborted robbery attempt.  Roper was identified as the murderer by Husein’s girlfriend and by a doughnut deliveryman.  A jail inmate also testified that Roper confessed to the killing.

Roper first three trials ended in hung juries as jurors could not agree on a verdict.  He was convicted at his fourth trial.  Since Roper’s conviction, evidence has surfaced identifying three alternative suspects, which prosecutors knew about prior to Roper’s trial.  One of the suspects is said to closely resemble Roper.  A source told Akron police a week after Roper's arrest, that the alternative suspect is “off his script (insane) and has a heart of coal and killing would (be) easy for him, if someone doesn't end up killing him first.”

Prosecutors say the alternative suspect evidence was in a file they shared with Roper’s defense attorneys, but the defense attorneys disagree.  Apparently prosecutors were playing “hide and seek” with the evidence.  According to defense attorney Jana DeLoach, “There's no question the jury would have found reasonable doubt as to Mr. Roper's guilt and they would have acquitted him had they been told about the other suspects.”  In 2005, a judge denied Roper’s request for a fifth trial.  (Akron BJ)  [10/07]

Harris, who was 12 at the time, was coerced into confessing to killing 5-year-old Devan Duniver.  The two were neighbors in a New Philadelphia apartment complex.  Harris was convicted by a Juvenile Court judge despite there being no physical evidence linking him to the crime.  His case was featured on the TV show “20/20.”  “20/20” has discovered that in the last two years before the show aired, nearly a dozen kids under the age of 17 confessed to murder, only to be later proven innocent.  (Akron BJ)  [6/05]

In order to get his girlfriend out of jail for helping him plan a botched escape attempt, Spirko claimed to know something about the robbery, abduction, and murder of Elgin, OH Postmaster Betty Jane Mottinger.  He heard about her on the TV news and read every newspaper article about her he could find.  Spirko told authorities a web of lies involving fictitious names.  When authorities suspected he was lying, he told them more lies.

In January 1983, a U.S. Postal investigator, Paul Hartman, showed him a mug shot of Delaney Gibson, a man Spirko once knew, and said a witness had positively identified Gibson as the man she saw in front of the Elgin Post Office on the morning Mottinger disappeared.  Hartman then accused Spirko of covering up for Gibson.  Spirko at first told the investigator that he was crazy because he had not seen Gibson in years.  However, the investigator pointed out that his girlfriend was due for sentencing in March and he would need something specific to keep her out of jail.  Spirko then told the investigator, “Yes, I saw Gibson and he told me about this crime.”  He also gave another false story about what he knew.

In March, after his girlfriend was sentenced to prison, Spirko was shocked and upset about her imprisonment.  He called postal investigators and they came to see him.  Spirko told them if they would let his girlfriend out of prison, he would tell them what they wanted.  The investigators said that they did not know if they could do that.  Spirko then told them that if they could not help his girlfriend, he could not help them.

In September, Spirko and Gibson were both charged with Mottinger’s murder.  At trial in July 1984, Gibson was at large because he had escaped from a Kentucky jail, so Spirko was tried alone.  The prosecution used Hartman’s statements to tie Spirko to the crime, along with testimony provided by two jailhouse informants.  Both informants later directly or indirectly recanted their testimony.  One eyewitness to the crime was 100% sure she saw Gibson.  She described Gibson as clean-shaven.  Another eyewitness was 70% sure he saw Spirko.  The prosecution also presented evidence that Gibson was in Elgin on the day of the murder.  Spirko had a good alibi that he was in Swanton 120 miles away on the day of the murder.  However, except for his sister’s testimony, he conceivably could have driven to Swanton following the murder.  Spirko was convicted and sentenced to death.

Years later, exculpatory evidence emerged that showed prosecutors had knowingly presented a false case to Spirko’s jury.  Gibson had a solid alibi, 500 miles away in North Carolina at the time of the murders.  There is also solid evidence that he was not clean-shaven, but had a full beard.  Although he was indicted for a capital crime, Gibson lived openly in neighboring Kentucky and had been in and out of jails there.  Prosecutors never placed a detainer on him.  They dropped all charges against him in May 2004.  In 2004, by a vote of two to one, the Federal Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals denied Spirko relief, but the dissenting judge noted that his case rested on "a foundation of sand."  In Jan. 2008, Ohio Governor Strickland commuted Spirko's death sentence to life without parole.  (www.johnspirko.com) (JD27)  [9/07]