WEBVTT - #519 Jason Flom with Marcus Blalock 0:00:03.560 --> 0:00:06.600 On March twenty fourth, two thousand and one, the body 0:00:06.640 --> 0:00:10.080 of Howard Rose was discovered inside a burnt out pickup 0:00:10.080 --> 0:00:15.160 truck on Interstate ninety in Pennsylvania. The night before, police 0:00:15.200 --> 0:00:18.759 had responded to suspicious activity outside the Ohio home of 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:23.640 Arquita Willis. Two men sped off and were apprehended, both 0:00:23.640 --> 0:00:26.560 of whom gave statements that Willis had killed Rose and 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:30.600 asked them to help dispose of his body. Soon after, 0:00:30.640 --> 0:00:33.760 Willis was arrested, threatened with a death penalty, and she 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:37.519 told police that her former fling, a guy named Marcus Blaylock, 0:00:37.840 --> 0:00:40.080 was the shooter and that he had disposed of the 0:00:40.120 --> 0:00:45.360 body on I ninety alone. Despite obvious falsehoods and multiple 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:50.160 changes to her story, not even nineteen alibi witnesses could 0:00:50.200 --> 0:01:02.120 save Marcus. This is wrongful conviction. You're listening to wrongful conviction. 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:04.520 You can listen to this and all the Lava for 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:08.199 Good podcasts one week early and ad free by subscribing 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:19.720 to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Welcome back 0:01:19.720 --> 0:01:22.880 to Wrangful Conviction, where today we have another case out 0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:26.600 of Kuyahoga County. I mean, they just keep on coming, 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:30.760 and this is one of the capitals, if not the 0:01:31.280 --> 0:01:35.840 wrongful conviction capital of this country. And joining us is 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:39.560 one of our favorite attorneys who's very active in this space. 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:41.600 Kim Coral, welcome. 0:01:41.240 --> 0:01:43.560 Back, Thank you, thanks for having. 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:47.400 Me and joining us from an Ohio correctional facility where 0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:51.680 he never belonged, but he's been there for over twenty 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:55.360 four long years. The man himself, Marcus Blaylock, Marcus, thank 0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:56.280 you for joining us. 0:01:56.560 --> 0:01:57.800 Sure, I appreciate it. 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:01.680 And Marcus was originally Bordingland, but soon moved out to 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:05.120 a nearby suburb called Maple Heights, or really a sub 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:06.360 section of that suburb. 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:09.840 We moved out to Maple Heights seventy five seventy six 0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:13.760 at the time. It's a predominantly white area and the 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:16.600 area that I grew up in was called President's Road. 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:21.280 The railroad tracks run behind it, so those houses are cheaper, 0:02:21.400 --> 0:02:23.200 so they put the blacks in that area. So the 0:02:23.240 --> 0:02:25.280 blacks in that area, they kind of stuck together. So 0:02:25.480 --> 0:02:29.480 I had a good childhood. I played sports, football, wrestle, 0:02:30.000 --> 0:02:33.880 ran track, and then at the age of fourteen, I 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:37.040 got a job working at the local hardware store, and 0:02:37.080 --> 0:02:40.519 the community stuck together in that area. I appreciated that. 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:44.760 But what I didn't appreciate was the police, because the 0:02:44.800 --> 0:02:49.920 police were very prejudiced. Not even a brown person, not 0:02:49.960 --> 0:02:52.919 a black person, not an Asian person, nothing, just all 0:02:53.000 --> 0:02:55.720 white police force. Just say, if a white kid across 0:02:55.760 --> 0:02:58.440 Broadway get their bike stolen, the first place they're coming 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:01.120 to look for that bike is in President's role. And 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:04.520 then it seems like I was being singled out. And 0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:07.280 it was one main cop who ended up turning into 0:03:07.320 --> 0:03:11.240 a detective. Why was he always asking me about this 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:13.640 and about that? But I come to find out that 0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:18.560 he was also working at Sears. My mother retired from Sears, 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:21.839 so he knew my mom. And the other cop who 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:25.240 ended up being the detective all Henderson went to high 0:03:25.280 --> 0:03:28.200 school with my oldest sister. So I got these cops 0:03:28.800 --> 0:03:31.880 asking me questions this periodically and if somebody's having a 0:03:31.960 --> 0:03:36.120 house party and a fight breakout. Seems like I was 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:39.800 always being targeted, like hey, Mark, who was doing all 0:03:39.800 --> 0:03:41.680 the fighting or who was doing this? And who? I 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:44.400 don't know. As I got older, I'm not saying I 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:47.040 was an angel. I got into mischief stuff, like my 0:03:47.160 --> 0:03:50.080 last year of high school. Even though I worked, I 0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:52.880 had a little hustle, I got caught with some marijuana 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:56.480 and some other drugs. I ended up getting probation or 0:03:56.480 --> 0:03:59.840 whatever for that, so Dad kept the police on me, 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:02.160 even when years later when I stopped. 0:04:02.400 --> 0:04:05.800 Now, we've seen a lot of cases where a connection 0:04:05.960 --> 0:04:09.960 to drugs made our guests the target of a frame job. 0:04:10.240 --> 0:04:12.440 But by two thousand and one, Mark was thirty two 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:15.800 years old and he had built a successful landscaping company. 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:19.200 That landscaping company ended up being very profitable for me. 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:21.919 I ended up having a lot of contracts with the county, 0:04:22.480 --> 0:04:25.400 so I'm with the city and helped me with money 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:27.479 to put down to buy a house for my family 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:28.960 that was off Libby. 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:32.359 And while Marcus had moved into the white part of town, 0:04:32.440 --> 0:04:35.200 it was some of his old acquaintances from President's Row, 0:04:35.640 --> 0:04:39.760 Dion Johnson, Ernest McCauley, and Arkeda Willis who dragged him 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:40.559 into this case. 0:04:41.440 --> 0:04:45.080 Arqita growing up, she just wasn't my type at the time, 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:48.000 but years later I ended up having a friends with 0:04:48.120 --> 0:04:51.000 benefits or so you want to say, relationship with her 0:04:51.160 --> 0:04:53.520 that turned into something else. And then when I cut 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:56.120 it off, it wasn't tooken in a great way. It 0:04:56.200 --> 0:04:58.920 was like she hated me after that. But Dion was 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:02.000 a friend and cuts hair. He's a barber, so used 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:05.479 to cut our hair and whatnot. And honest, he was 0:05:05.520 --> 0:05:08.160 a friend of mine. And when he was released from 0:05:08.200 --> 0:05:11.320 a federal prison after doing five years, I got this business, 0:05:11.360 --> 0:05:13.080 I got this home. I gave him a job. 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:16.080 He also gave him a cell phone that was registered 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:19.200 to Marx Landscaping Business, which was about to score a 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:20.440 major contract. 0:05:20.680 --> 0:05:24.560 And this contract was to service the children's playgrounds and 0:05:24.600 --> 0:05:28.000 the top lots in the city. But this contract was 0:05:28.080 --> 0:05:33.080 not publicized. The same Italian company, we're getting this contract 0:05:33.240 --> 0:05:37.200 for the last five years. So at the time, Maple 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:41.240 Heights had just elected their first black councilman. So he 0:05:41.440 --> 0:05:43.880 came to my mom and told my mom, Hey, have 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:47.360 Marcus call me. It's like they got this contract coming up. 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:50.279 They haven't even publicized it. They keep giving it to 0:05:50.320 --> 0:05:53.120 the same company. We're going to back you and make 0:05:53.160 --> 0:05:54.839 sure that you get this contract. 0:05:55.160 --> 0:05:57.760 And even though he had the lowest bid, the contract 0:05:57.800 --> 0:06:01.799 went to the incumbent company. The council member encouraged Marcus 0:06:01.839 --> 0:06:04.240 to contest that decision at the upcoming meeting. 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:07.080 Now, mind you, at this council meeting. You have the 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:11.479 chief of police, the mayor, seven council people, the fire chief. 0:06:11.600 --> 0:06:14.560 You have one of the two detectives that frame me 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:16.960 for this crime. I haven't had any run ins with 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:20.560 Maple Heist police or the police period. In over five years. 0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:23.880 Everything is going smooth for me. My business is going great. 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:26.599 So I'm kind of leary to go to this council meeting. 0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:29.320 So when they get to the awarding of the contracts 0:06:29.760 --> 0:06:32.520 and did anybody have anything to say, I stand up 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:34.719 and say yes I do. My name is Mark on 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:38.000 Mark's Landscaping. I had a lord bid, but I didn't 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:41.880 get the contract. Papers is shuffling. They shut the mics off. 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:45.080 They're looking up there whispering to each other. They cut 0:06:45.080 --> 0:06:47.680 the mic back on and was like, oh, it seems 0:06:47.680 --> 0:06:50.760 to be had been a mistake. The contract has already 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:54.560 been awarded. But Mark will make sure that your company 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:58.560 will get work in the future. Let me tell you something. 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:01.880 Two months later, I'm arrested for this case. 0:07:03.200 --> 0:07:05.480 So that brings us to the end of March two 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:08.120 thousand and one, when Marcus was growing his business and 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:10.760 supporting his family in their newly purchased home in the 0:07:10.800 --> 0:07:13.480 White part of town. He had also been fortunate enough 0:07:13.520 --> 0:07:15.560 to be able to help send his cousin to the 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:19.520 University of Cincinnati, so his cousin invited Marcus to an 0:07:19.520 --> 0:07:22.640 alumni event over the weekend of Friday, March twenty third 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:25.520 into Saturday, the twenty fourth of two thousand and one. 0:07:25.840 --> 0:07:29.840 They're having their first annual Black student reunion, hosting it 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:33.680 in Cleveland. He lived in Cincinnati, so he's coming to clean. 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:36.720 This is my cousin. I supported him all while he 0:07:36.760 --> 0:07:39.720 went through college. I know most of his fraternity friends, 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:43.000 people that he went to college with, so normally when 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:45.560 they have things, I'm always in attendance. 0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:49.360 Dean Johnson had even given Marcus a haircut during the 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:52.240 day on March twenty third, but after they parted ways, 0:07:52.280 --> 0:07:55.640 according to Johnson's police statement, he and Ernest McCauley were 0:07:55.640 --> 0:07:59.480 contacted by Archida Willis. She had been entertaining a known 0:07:59.560 --> 0:08:02.680 drug deal named Howard Rose, who had been fatally shot, 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:05.600 and Willis needed help with disposing of his body. 0:08:06.240 --> 0:08:09.600 So around eleven thirty, the next door neighbor and great 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:12.920 ann of Arkida Willis, Dorothy Evans, makes a call to 0:08:13.000 --> 0:08:16.880 police concerning suspicious activity. She states that she heard noises 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:19.880 like someone moving furniture outside her bedroom window near Arkida 0:08:19.920 --> 0:08:22.560 Willis's home, and then looked to see if Willis's car 0:08:22.640 --> 0:08:25.280 was in the driveway, but it wasn't. She saw a 0:08:25.360 --> 0:08:27.640 dark vehicle she didn't recognize in the driveway and she 0:08:27.720 --> 0:08:29.920 calls the police, and while on the phone with the 0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:33.520 nine one one dispatcher, she saw two individuals dressed in 0:08:33.559 --> 0:08:37.000 black exitding the home next door. A little while later, 0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:41.000 Willis arrives at the front door of Evan's home. Willis 0:08:41.040 --> 0:08:43.360 asked Evans if Evans had called the police, and when 0:08:43.400 --> 0:08:46.920 Evans asked Willis what was going on, Willis responded saying 0:08:46.960 --> 0:08:50.240 that someone was helping her do something and that's all 0:08:50.240 --> 0:08:54.680 she said. When the police officers arrive, they observe a 0:08:54.720 --> 0:08:58.040 car fleeing the scene and after a short chase, they 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:01.560 apprehend two individuals, Ernest mc collie and Dion Johnson. 0:09:02.000 --> 0:09:06.240 Johnson and McCauley were arrested for trespassing. While the police 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:09.640 did a safety check of Arkida's home and they saw 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:11.840 a puddle of blood on her driveway. 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:14.120 They returned to Willis's house and they're like, what is 0:09:14.160 --> 0:09:16.199 this puddle of blood in the driveway, they went to 0:09:16.280 --> 0:09:19.760 the backyard, they find a back window unlocked. They go 0:09:19.760 --> 0:09:22.560 to the bathroom and find lick candles around the bathtub, 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:28.160 a warm bathwater with Sophie residue and drying blood, and 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:30.800 a pager with blood on it, and this blood later 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:33.160 is tested and found to be the blood of Howard Rose. 0:09:33.679 --> 0:09:36.760 Now the police leave the bathroom move to the bedroom 0:09:37.080 --> 0:09:39.720 where they see a box spring without a mattress and 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:41.520 no bed linens visible. 0:09:41.960 --> 0:09:44.760 As of now, there was no body and according to 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:48.520 later statements from Marquita, at this time, Rose's body was 0:09:48.559 --> 0:09:51.360 in his truck parked on a side street while she 0:09:51.520 --> 0:09:54.720 went to work, where the police eventually tracked her down 0:09:54.840 --> 0:09:57.080 and they asked her to come to the station so 0:09:57.200 --> 0:09:59.800 they could ride to the house together, and she explained 0:09:59.800 --> 0:10:02.720 that Johnson and McAuley were not intruders. 0:10:03.120 --> 0:10:05.160 First she said she had some friends over there moving 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:07.520 some furniture. Then when they asked about the blood they 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:10.439 found in the driveway, where did it come from? She said, what, 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:12.680 a blood came from a dogfight. She was hosting a 0:10:12.720 --> 0:10:13.720 dog fight at her house. 0:10:14.240 --> 0:10:17.240 Oh, obviously, dog fighting. 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:20.720 It's as ridiculous as it is sinister. 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:23.880 It's not what I would have gone with, but that's 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:26.880 what our Keida Willis goes with. When they go to 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:30.520 her house, she's accompanied then with like a thin black 0:10:30.559 --> 0:10:33.800 mail with a Jamaican accent, by the name of Omar. 0:10:34.080 --> 0:10:37.440 He was present while police questioned Willis outside her home. 0:10:37.679 --> 0:10:40.040 Willis refused to allow the officers to do a second 0:10:40.080 --> 0:10:43.160 search of her home, and in the police reports they 0:10:43.200 --> 0:10:46.920 report that Willis is evasive and uncooperative and. 0:10:46.800 --> 0:10:50.400 Then they left. They appear to have lost all interest 0:10:50.559 --> 0:10:53.040 in Omar, and it's believed that at this point the 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:56.360 body was disposed of near Exit six on the Interstate 0:10:56.440 --> 0:10:57.720 ninety in Pennsylvania. 0:10:58.160 --> 0:11:00.600 In the early morning hours of March two, twenty fourth, 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:02.959 Pennsylvania police are called to the scene of a fire 0:11:03.000 --> 0:11:05.960 on I ninety. A pickup truck with Ohio plates is 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:10.640 engulfed in flames. Howard Rose is inside. He's identified through 0:11:10.640 --> 0:11:14.360 an autopsy and it's determined that the cause of death 0:11:14.440 --> 0:11:16.880 is a single gunshot wound to the head. The investigation 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:21.280 produced information that Willis was with Howard Rose on the 0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:24.440 day he was killed, and they determined that the death 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:27.840 they were investigating had initially taken place in Maple Heights, 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:31.640 and so reshifting our focus back to Ohio, Ernest McCully 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:34.240 and Dean Johnson, who had been arrested on the twenty third, 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:37.240 were released from Maple Heightst. Jail and for some reason 0:11:37.720 --> 0:11:40.840 their property is all returned to them, including the bloody 0:11:40.880 --> 0:11:42.160 clothing that they were wearing. 0:11:42.600 --> 0:11:46.120 Who knows why, perhaps since they had been so forthcoming 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:48.120 with whose blood it was, as well as that it 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:49.920 was Arkda who hads built. 0:11:49.679 --> 0:11:52.160 It, they all pointed the finger on herd as she 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:53.880 was the one that did it. She was the one 0:11:53.880 --> 0:11:56.480 that called them to help remove the body, clean up 0:11:56.520 --> 0:11:57.480 the whole nine. 0:11:57.600 --> 0:12:01.440 I guess cooperation can buy you a lot. Case in point, 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:07.040 Arquita was soon arrested, pressed again about her ridiculous dogfight explanation, 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:10.840 threatened with the death penalty, and somehow was still able 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:13.280 to come out of this with a plea deal for 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:17.200 obstruction and evidence tampering, receiving only four years. 0:12:17.400 --> 0:12:22.280 Willis is initially charged with aggravated murder, burglary, and kidnapping. 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:27.000 Those charges are dropped in exchange for her testimony against Playlock. 0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:29.320 All she had to do was write a statement, put 0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:31.280 the gun in my hand and sand that I killed 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:34.160 this guy over a drug deal gone bad, which was 0:12:34.240 --> 0:12:37.360 all alive because I never was at her house doing 0:12:37.400 --> 0:12:41.440 a drug deal before or after he was killed. It 0:12:41.480 --> 0:12:44.840 was her and a Jamaican guy that accompanied her to 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:48.240 PA and New York when she disposed of the body. 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:52.000 However, at this point, according to Arqida, Marcus had driven 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:56.000 the body out to Pennsylvania alone. But how does one 0:12:56.080 --> 0:12:59.360 return to Maple Heights when the burnt out pickup truck 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:03.520 was still out on I ninety. Well that would require 0:13:03.679 --> 0:13:08.400 another adjustment in her story, but for now. Upon this 0:13:08.559 --> 0:13:11.200 dubious statement, Marcus was arrested. 0:13:11.800 --> 0:13:14.760 It was April six, two thousand and one. I'm riding 0:13:14.800 --> 0:13:17.160 with my contractor. We just come back from home depot 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:19.760 from picking up some materials. It looked at like one 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:23.319 hundred toy soldiers. They ran out of my house, my garage, 0:13:23.559 --> 0:13:26.800 my neighbor's house with black on with masks on, telling 0:13:26.840 --> 0:13:28.319 me to get out the truck, get out the truck. 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:30.760 I get off the truck, and when a guy lift 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:33.680 this mask up. This guy's been messing with me for years, 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:36.480 he said, I finally got you. I wanted you to 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:38.520 make one false mode so I could have killed you. 0:13:39.520 --> 0:13:43.120 I'm looking at this stew like, are you serious. I 0:13:43.240 --> 0:13:45.400 get to the police station, they tell me what I'm 0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:48.160 being arrested for. I said, are you see? I said, 0:13:48.200 --> 0:13:50.360 I didn't have nothing to do with that. Let me 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:53.040 write a statement, did detective? And say, I'm not letting 0:13:53.040 --> 0:13:54.840 you write a statement. When I get done with you, 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:58.160 you're gonna be guilty. And that was the last conversation 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:02.200 I had with that guy, Oh besides him telling me 0:14:02.960 --> 0:14:05.440 who did I think I was to buy a house 0:14:05.480 --> 0:14:06.120 and made likes. 0:14:22.680 --> 0:14:25.840 On April ninth, Arkita Willis said that Marcus had taken 0:14:25.960 --> 0:14:29.320 her car to Pennsylvania, so they searched for car for 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:33.120 many physical ties to Marcus, and yeah, you guessed that 0:14:33.160 --> 0:14:37.560 they found nothing. But this still begs the question who 0:14:37.840 --> 0:14:41.800 actually drove the pickup then, which was answered in another 0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:44.400 narrative change at the preliminary hearing. 0:14:45.240 --> 0:14:48.280 Willis, at this point, according to the third version of 0:14:48.280 --> 0:14:51.280 her story, now claims that she and a person by 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:54.720 the name of Omar, followed the truck containing Howard Rose's 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:58.200 body driven by Blaylock, who she claims as a person 0:14:58.200 --> 0:15:02.160 who set the truck on fire. Claimed that after Blaylock's 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:03.880 hat the truck on fire, he got in the backseat 0:15:03.920 --> 0:15:06.760 of her car, and the three of them proceeded to 0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:11.240 New York City and stayed at Omar relative's home in 0:15:11.280 --> 0:15:11.840 the Bronx. 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:16.040 Curiously, this Omar character was never pursued. 0:15:16.440 --> 0:15:19.240 They never arrested this guy, but he's in my paperwork 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:22.560 with the prosecution. They sealed the investigative file before I 0:15:22.600 --> 0:15:27.320 even went to trial. My lawyers asked several times for discovery. 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:31.880 We never received the discovery before trial or at trial. 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:35.960 They have been withholding evidence since I was arrested in 0:15:36.000 --> 0:15:38.920 two thousand and one to this date, twenty twenty five, 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:44.040 they're still fighting my attorney from getting post discovery, pre 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:47.120 trial discovery and during trial discovery. 0:15:47.800 --> 0:15:49.960 So who knows what else they have and why they 0:15:50.000 --> 0:15:52.400 need to hide it and why did they completely let 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:55.080 this Omar guy off the hook. In addition to that, 0:15:55.120 --> 0:15:57.840 there's the grand jury, where evidence of probable cause is 0:15:57.880 --> 0:16:01.120 supposed to be presented to obtain the indict the transcripts 0:16:01.160 --> 0:16:04.880 of which are typically not made available to defendants, but 0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:07.840 Marcus's attorney had reason to fight to have it unsealed 0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:09.720 both before and after the trial. 0:16:10.400 --> 0:16:12.920 Somebody told my trial attorneys that they need to get 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:16.120 the grand jury transcripts if you want those charges thrown out. 0:16:16.320 --> 0:16:19.000 So they fought to get it. That judge said that 0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:21.640 she was doing an in camera inspection and if she 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:25.720 finds anything that will warrant the defense council to have 0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:28.360 it and she would turn it over to us. Well, 0:16:28.440 --> 0:16:30.040 she denied us having it. 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:33.560 And who knows what the judge's motivations were, because what 0:16:33.680 --> 0:16:36.800 they discovered in post conviction is wild. 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:39.320 What we see is that there's no probable cause for 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:41.280 him to have ever been indicted in the first place. 0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:45.240 At the time they went to the grand jury, the 0:16:45.240 --> 0:16:47.960 police only had three statements about the death of Howard Rose. 0:16:48.080 --> 0:16:50.920 Both McCully and Johnson's statements claimed that Willis told them 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:54.360 that she, and not Marcus Blaylock, shot Howard Rose in 0:16:54.360 --> 0:16:57.960 the back of the head, and only Willis's statement implicated Blaylock. 0:16:58.080 --> 0:17:02.480 Both McCully and Johnson's tasably entirely on Willis, and the 0:17:02.520 --> 0:17:07.800 only other evidence is Detective Joseph aerbar So, despite admitting 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:10.320 at the preliminary hearing that he has no idea who 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:14.399 shot Howard Rose, he tells the grand jury, based on 0:17:14.520 --> 0:17:18.280 nothing that's documented nowhere, that there were two lacerations on 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:21.560 Rose's body and opined in an inflammatory way that those 0:17:21.600 --> 0:17:25.160 lacerations were the result of pre mortem torture. Now it's 0:17:25.240 --> 0:17:27.919 later learned and trial that they were the result of 0:17:27.920 --> 0:17:32.120 the autopsy. But this misrepresentation was super prejudicial because you've 0:17:32.119 --> 0:17:35.400 got a detective saying without basis that it's Blaylock who 0:17:35.400 --> 0:17:37.520 did it, and that he tortured him before he died. 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:41.120 And it appears that this wasn't the only misrepresentation. 0:17:41.480 --> 0:17:44.280 They liedd a grand jury and said that they talked 0:17:44.280 --> 0:17:46.480 to me and I gave him a statement or I 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:49.320 admitted that I was there or whatever. I never talked 0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:51.560 to you like that. I never admitted. But Danny cleaned 0:17:51.600 --> 0:17:54.320 it up. This is detective Airbar, that's who testified. He 0:17:54.480 --> 0:17:59.159 came right back and said, well, we never heard from Blaylock. Now, 0:17:59.200 --> 0:18:02.040 which one is that I told you that I was there? 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:05.320 Or is it that you didn't hear from Blaylock. It's 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:07.080 the second one. You didn't hear from me because I 0:18:07.160 --> 0:18:10.000 never made any statements or anything. When I told you 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:12.560 that I will make a statement giving you my alibi, 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:13.920 you told me you didn't want to hear it. The 0:18:13.960 --> 0:18:15.639 only thing you want to hear is if I'm guilty. 0:18:16.040 --> 0:18:18.800 In addition, the grand jury questioned how Marcus became a 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:21.840 suspect at all, as Arkda is the only witness to 0:18:21.920 --> 0:18:25.240 mention Marcus, while the other two named only Arqda. 0:18:25.600 --> 0:18:30.000 They said they had other cooperating evidence besides Alkeda Willard's statement. Well, 0:18:30.040 --> 0:18:33.440 they didn't have anything else besides her statement. They didn't 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:37.280 have any coroborating evidence. I was indicted on the presumption 0:18:37.840 --> 0:18:41.040 that there will be other coroborating evidence to go along 0:18:41.080 --> 0:18:42.360 with Alqda's statement. 0:18:42.680 --> 0:18:45.520 Perhaps the judge was also fooled into thinking that they'd 0:18:45.560 --> 0:18:48.800 have corroborating evidence by the time of Marcus's trial. Maybe 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:52.520 even the prosecuting attorney, Richard Bomback, had fooled himself by now. 0:18:52.880 --> 0:18:55.480 They already tried to use cell phones and say my 0:18:55.560 --> 0:18:58.160 telephones was a cell phone that was contacting the girl 0:18:58.320 --> 0:19:00.800 Arqda all that day. I haven't talked to her in 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:04.280 almost two years. It's Ernest's phone, my friend who was 0:19:04.400 --> 0:19:07.080 just released from prison, who I went and purchased a 0:19:07.240 --> 0:19:10.920 cell phone for, was contacted her. You know, years ago, 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:13.199 you couldn't just go get a cell phone. You had 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:15.800 to have credit. His credit was messed up. I had 0:19:15.840 --> 0:19:18.560 a business account with all tail. I said, I'll just 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:20.240 put you on my account. You're about to be working 0:19:20.280 --> 0:19:24.760 for Marx Landscaping anyway. His family testify that yes, it 0:19:24.880 --> 0:19:27.800 is in Marx's landscape, but it's not Mark's phone, it's 0:19:27.920 --> 0:19:28.720 Earnest's phone. 0:19:29.119 --> 0:19:32.200 So all they ever had was Arquida. 0:19:32.560 --> 0:19:34.840 Well, she came in a courtroom. She get on the 0:19:34.920 --> 0:19:37.440 stand and they asked her, you know, did she see 0:19:37.480 --> 0:19:40.600 the accused or whatever? And she points at me. She's 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:43.960 fake crying on the witness stand. Not a teardrop fell 0:19:44.040 --> 0:19:47.440 from her eye. Everybody in the courtroom witnessed. It seemed 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:49.440 like the judge played right along into her because she 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:51.960 handed her a box of clean next. So she's blowing 0:19:52.040 --> 0:19:54.600 and wiping her nose and there's nothing coming out. I'm 0:19:54.760 --> 0:19:57.120 listening to her and looking at her like this is crazy. 0:19:57.320 --> 0:20:00.800 She can't really recall exactly what she's saying, so the 0:20:00.920 --> 0:20:03.720 prosecution grabbs her statements and he said, well, maybe I 0:20:03.800 --> 0:20:06.840 can give you this, and this can job your memory. 0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:09.400 He said, we all know that you lied. It came 0:20:09.440 --> 0:20:12.200 out that you lied in your previous statements or whatever, 0:20:12.240 --> 0:20:15.280 and you implicated Marcus Playlock. Later on why don't you 0:20:15.400 --> 0:20:18.000 read your statement to the jury and to the court 0:20:18.160 --> 0:20:21.240 and point out where you told the truth that and 0:20:21.359 --> 0:20:22.200 where you lie. 0:20:22.080 --> 0:20:25.200 At While under oath, she admits to telling a different 0:20:25.280 --> 0:20:27.920 version of her story to the police, to actually driving 0:20:28.040 --> 0:20:31.159 the truck that contained Howard Rose's body, going to Pennsylvania 0:20:31.160 --> 0:20:33.879 to dispose of Howard Rose's body, lying to the police 0:20:33.920 --> 0:20:37.120 and feinding ignorance about what happened to Rose, lying during 0:20:37.119 --> 0:20:39.960 the March twenty third interview, lying during the April sixth interview, 0:20:40.119 --> 0:20:42.800 lying during the April ninth interview, line during the June 0:20:42.920 --> 0:20:46.600 sixth interview, and lying in written statements. And she admits 0:20:46.640 --> 0:20:48.520 to lying because Willis did not want the crime to 0:20:48.560 --> 0:20:51.040 be found out. And she admits that she intended to 0:20:51.119 --> 0:20:54.200 lie to the police at each of those times. Super credible. 0:20:54.800 --> 0:20:58.520 It's very difficult to co sign a witness's credibility if 0:20:58.560 --> 0:21:01.360 anything they've said is false, but that's what they did. 0:21:01.840 --> 0:21:05.480 The testimony that was truthful, according to this admitted liar, 0:21:06.000 --> 0:21:09.919 was that before going to work, she arranged for Marcus 0:21:10.000 --> 0:21:13.080 to buy drugs from Rose at her house. When she 0:21:13.200 --> 0:21:16.359 didn't hear from Rose, she called Marcus, who eventually told 0:21:16.400 --> 0:21:18.680 her to come home from work, where she said that 0:21:18.840 --> 0:21:22.080 she saw Rose's body on her bed and Marcus admitted 0:21:22.119 --> 0:21:25.200 to shooting him. That McCauley and Johnson helped move the 0:21:25.280 --> 0:21:27.600 body to the truck, and that she parked the truck 0:21:27.640 --> 0:21:30.280 on a side street before calling her friend Omar to 0:21:30.359 --> 0:21:33.240 drive her back to work, and at some point her 0:21:33.320 --> 0:21:36.399