Ohio
Prosecutor moves to clear 4 men convicted in 1991 killing
Four men who have maintained their innocence the past three decades since being charged and convicted in the beating death of an Ohio woman could soon be exonerated.
Two of the men have remained in prison since the mid-1990s while the other two spent more than 25 years behind bars before being released on parole in 2020.
A county prosecutor this week filed a motion to vacate the convictions, saying that the case against the four men relied largely on “a witness whose credibility has since unraveled entirely.”
“I found serious flaws in the case that cast overwhelming doubt,” Lorain County Prosecutor J.D. Tomlinson wrote in a letter explaining his decision after spending more than a month reviewing the case.
“It took me a while to get there,” Tomlinson said in an interview Wednesday. “I didn’t want to make assumptions.”
He now says he will immediately recommend dismissing charges against the men if a judge agrees to his request to grant them new trials.
The four — Alfred Cleveland, Benson Davis, John Edwards, and Lenworth Edwards — were convicted in the 1991 killing of Marsha Blakely in Lorain, a city that sits along Lake Erie just west of Cleveland.
Their convictions centered around statements from a witness who demanded money for his testimony and then recanted his story several times. In 2004, the witness voluntarily told the FBI that he had lied about what happened and implicated his father in the killing, according to court documents.
“This all hinged on testimony of man who tried to extort the prosecution,” Tomlinson said, adding there also were holes in the witness’ statements to police.
The witness had described how Blakely was savagely beaten in her apartment, saying chairs and a table had been overturned. But the crime-scene photos showed the furniture was upright with no signs of blood or a struggle, Tomlinson said. “That was my ‘aha’ moment,” he said.
There also was no physical evidence linking the men to the attack, he said.
The prosecutor said he didn’t see any evidence of misconduct by the original investigators and that his decision to seek a dismissal should not diminish Blakely’s death or the pain felt by her family.
“Justice demands action, even when it is difficult. It requires the humility to acknowledge when a case does not meet the high standards required by our legal system, and the courage to correct a mistake,” Tomlinson wrote.
Jonathan Rosenbaum, the former assistant prosecutor who won the original convictions, criticized the move in a statement to media outlets, saying Tomlinson was putting himself above the law.
Lauren Staley, an attorney with the Ohio Innocence Project, which has been seeking to overturn Alfred Cleveland’s conviction for 15 years, said earlier bids for a new trial were denied even after a federal appeals court said he had presented credible evidence of actual innocence.
Cleveland, who was released on parole four years ago, had maintained he was in New York at the time of the killing and had a witness who confirmed his story.
“It’s a little heartbreaking how many opportunities there were to stop this,” Staley said.
Florida
George Floyd protester injured by police gets $2 million in lawsuit settlement
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A protester who suffered eye damage when a rubber bullet fired by Fort Lauderdale police struck her in the face during a 2020 protest over George Floyd’s murder has received $2 million from the city to settle a federal lawsuit accusing the officer and the department of violating her civil rights, her attorneys announced.
LaToya Ratlieff, 38, was injured on May 31, 2020, when Detective Eliezer Ramos fired the rubber bullet into a Black Lives Matter protest, one of several that erupted in the country over Floyd’s videotaped slaying six days earlier by a Minneapolis police officer who knelt on his neck for at least nine minutes.
A bystander’s video shows Ratlieff was struck as she choked on tear gas that had been fired by officers and stumbled into a street. She suffered a broken right eye socket, nerve damage to that eye and a 20-stitch gash to her forehead that left a scar. She also suffers from migraines and mental trauma.
“There were moments when, both mentally and physically, I was ready to give up. But I tried to focus on the fact that this was important, not just for me, but for everyone who seeks to use their voice to create meaningful change,” Ratlieff said in a statement issued Wednesday. “While the financial settlement is important for the City to know that it cannot sweep these injustices under the rug, the corrective requirements will make sure that what happened to me must never happen to anyone else.”
The city said in a statement that it “remains committed to ensuring public safety and fostering trust” and that the settlement was “the best financial decision” because taking the case to trial risked additional costs.
“This decision allows us to move forward, focusing on the significant reforms already implemented in police practices, including changes to leadership, training and engagement protocols,” the statement says.
The round that struck Ratlieff was made of collapsible, hollow foam that is typically filled with a chemical irritant. According to its manufacturer, it is about the size of a golf ball, weighs slightly less and has an initial velocity of 200 mph (320 kph). The rounds are supposed to be aimed at the legs and buttocks as they can be lethal if they hit the head or chest.
A police department investigation cleared Ramos of wrongdoing, saying he was aiming at a man who had thrown a tear gas canister back at officers when Ratlieff walked into his line of fire. The department’s then-interim chief also issued an apology to Ratlieff.
The police investigation put the blame for the violence on some of the protesters, saying they had come to the city looking to start a confrontation with officers. Some bottles and rocks were thrown at officers — but Ratlieff’s attorneys say that only began after an officer pushed a kneeling woman to the ground.
A federal class-action lawsuit against the city and police department by others injured at the protest is awaiting trial.
Prosecutor moves to clear 4 men convicted in 1991 killing
Four men who have maintained their innocence the past three decades since being charged and convicted in the beating death of an Ohio woman could soon be exonerated.
Two of the men have remained in prison since the mid-1990s while the other two spent more than 25 years behind bars before being released on parole in 2020.
A county prosecutor this week filed a motion to vacate the convictions, saying that the case against the four men relied largely on “a witness whose credibility has since unraveled entirely.”
“I found serious flaws in the case that cast overwhelming doubt,” Lorain County Prosecutor J.D. Tomlinson wrote in a letter explaining his decision after spending more than a month reviewing the case.
“It took me a while to get there,” Tomlinson said in an interview Wednesday. “I didn’t want to make assumptions.”
He now says he will immediately recommend dismissing charges against the men if a judge agrees to his request to grant them new trials.
The four — Alfred Cleveland, Benson Davis, John Edwards, and Lenworth Edwards — were convicted in the 1991 killing of Marsha Blakely in Lorain, a city that sits along Lake Erie just west of Cleveland.
Their convictions centered around statements from a witness who demanded money for his testimony and then recanted his story several times. In 2004, the witness voluntarily told the FBI that he had lied about what happened and implicated his father in the killing, according to court documents.
“This all hinged on testimony of man who tried to extort the prosecution,” Tomlinson said, adding there also were holes in the witness’ statements to police.
The witness had described how Blakely was savagely beaten in her apartment, saying chairs and a table had been overturned. But the crime-scene photos showed the furniture was upright with no signs of blood or a struggle, Tomlinson said. “That was my ‘aha’ moment,” he said.
There also was no physical evidence linking the men to the attack, he said.
The prosecutor said he didn’t see any evidence of misconduct by the original investigators and that his decision to seek a dismissal should not diminish Blakely’s death or the pain felt by her family.
“Justice demands action, even when it is difficult. It requires the humility to acknowledge when a case does not meet the high standards required by our legal system, and the courage to correct a mistake,” Tomlinson wrote.
Jonathan Rosenbaum, the former assistant prosecutor who won the original convictions, criticized the move in a statement to media outlets, saying Tomlinson was putting himself above the law.
Lauren Staley, an attorney with the Ohio Innocence Project, which has been seeking to overturn Alfred Cleveland’s conviction for 15 years, said earlier bids for a new trial were denied even after a federal appeals court said he had presented credible evidence of actual innocence.
Cleveland, who was released on parole four years ago, had maintained he was in New York at the time of the killing and had a witness who confirmed his story.
“It’s a little heartbreaking how many opportunities there were to stop this,” Staley said.
Florida
George Floyd protester injured by police gets $2 million in lawsuit settlement
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A protester who suffered eye damage when a rubber bullet fired by Fort Lauderdale police struck her in the face during a 2020 protest over George Floyd’s murder has received $2 million from the city to settle a federal lawsuit accusing the officer and the department of violating her civil rights, her attorneys announced.
LaToya Ratlieff, 38, was injured on May 31, 2020, when Detective Eliezer Ramos fired the rubber bullet into a Black Lives Matter protest, one of several that erupted in the country over Floyd’s videotaped slaying six days earlier by a Minneapolis police officer who knelt on his neck for at least nine minutes.
A bystander’s video shows Ratlieff was struck as she choked on tear gas that had been fired by officers and stumbled into a street. She suffered a broken right eye socket, nerve damage to that eye and a 20-stitch gash to her forehead that left a scar. She also suffers from migraines and mental trauma.
“There were moments when, both mentally and physically, I was ready to give up. But I tried to focus on the fact that this was important, not just for me, but for everyone who seeks to use their voice to create meaningful change,” Ratlieff said in a statement issued Wednesday. “While the financial settlement is important for the City to know that it cannot sweep these injustices under the rug, the corrective requirements will make sure that what happened to me must never happen to anyone else.”
The city said in a statement that it “remains committed to ensuring public safety and fostering trust” and that the settlement was “the best financial decision” because taking the case to trial risked additional costs.
“This decision allows us to move forward, focusing on the significant reforms already implemented in police practices, including changes to leadership, training and engagement protocols,” the statement says.
The round that struck Ratlieff was made of collapsible, hollow foam that is typically filled with a chemical irritant. According to its manufacturer, it is about the size of a golf ball, weighs slightly less and has an initial velocity of 200 mph (320 kph). The rounds are supposed to be aimed at the legs and buttocks as they can be lethal if they hit the head or chest.
A police department investigation cleared Ramos of wrongdoing, saying he was aiming at a man who had thrown a tear gas canister back at officers when Ratlieff walked into his line of fire. The department’s then-interim chief also issued an apology to Ratlieff.
The police investigation put the blame for the violence on some of the protesters, saying they had come to the city looking to start a confrontation with officers. Some bottles and rocks were thrown at officers — but Ratlieff’s attorneys say that only began after an officer pushed a kneeling woman to the ground.
A federal class-action lawsuit against the city and police department by others injured at the protest is awaiting trial.
