WEBVTT - Dear Mr. King 0:00:02.040 --> 0:00:06.320 Hey, Oh my god, I'm so excited. 0:00:07.800 --> 0:00:08.520 I'm not ready for you. 0:00:08.640 --> 0:00:13.360 I thought I want to talk about that's bullshit. 0:00:13.440 --> 0:00:14.400 We don't need setup. 0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:16.880 This is okay, That's what I thought. 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:20.639 One afternoon, I see a white envelope sitting in my 0:00:20.680 --> 0:00:25.680 mailbox in Brooklyn, stamped in red letters. It says mailed 0:00:25.680 --> 0:00:29.640 from a state correctional institution, and on the top left 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:36.519 of the envelope, I see his name, Oh Journey. I 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:39.839 had to call Kelsey right away. She was back in 0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:42.720 her home state of North Carolina after months of living 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:45.880 between Florida and Brooklyn, reporting on the Leo Schofield case 0:00:45.920 --> 0:00:53.800 with me. Okay, it looks like it's it's on prison 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:55.840 paper and it's not the original thing. 0:00:55.880 --> 0:00:57.360 I said, Okay, just read it. 0:00:57.520 --> 0:00:59.279 Jesus Christ, oh. 0:00:59.120 --> 0:01:04.880 My God, says I want you to know that Polk 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:07.640 County gave me a call about you. I don't think 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:11.199 you can come see me. Who knows what will happen? 0:01:11.600 --> 0:01:14.920 And that is sad when they can't see that. 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:17.720 I have kept my damn mouth shut for thirty one 0:01:17.800 --> 0:01:19.680 years Schofield case. 0:01:20.560 --> 0:01:25.160 Let's say he should be out. I've thought about writing 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:27.679 my story that no one wants to hear. I just 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:31.160 don't really know how gotta go Jay. 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:43.720 Scott moment. 0:01:46.520 --> 0:01:50.080 That has my field. 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:58.920 Sut sory in this vass. 0:02:00.760 --> 0:02:22.399 To see gralation, brag desbish to the world. 0:02:23.200 --> 0:02:24.400 Solding, s. 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:30.320 To the word solding, So. 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:56.280 Things Bone Valley, Chapter eight. 0:02:57.160 --> 0:03:11.560 Dear mister King, I'd started writing Jeremy because honestly, I 0:03:11.639 --> 0:03:14.919 didn't know what else to do. After working on this 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:18.440 story for a year, the evidence I'd seen pointed more 0:03:18.480 --> 0:03:25.200 and more towards Jeremy Scott as Michelle Schofield's killer. So 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:28.920 I sent my letters out hoping that Jeremy might decide 0:03:28.960 --> 0:03:31.680 to open up to me, to converse in a way 0:03:31.720 --> 0:03:35.440 that he hadn't with the lawyers, investigators, and cold case 0:03:35.520 --> 0:03:37.960 detectives who read him his rights and make him swear 0:03:38.080 --> 0:03:41.280 under oath. I just want to have a conversation with him, 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:45.160 to hear the story he says that no one wants 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:51.240 to hear. But we need to back up for a 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:55.120 minute to September of twenty nineteen, about ten months before 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:59.160 I got Jeremy's letter. So we're here at the Tampa 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:02.840 Law Center in Tampa, Florida. We're here for the second 0:04:02.960 --> 0:04:07.840 DCA Oral Arguments after studying every detail of Leo's case 0:04:07.920 --> 0:04:11.040 over the past year. This is the first legal proceeding 0:04:11.080 --> 0:04:13.760 we get to see for ourselves the deciding factor. But 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:18.560 this moment, this particular appeal, is everything for Leo. This 0:04:19.000 --> 0:04:21.800 could really kill all his chances of going forward at 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:23.320 this moment, and I think this is almost like his 0:04:23.480 --> 0:04:29.800 last chance. The reason we're here is because the judge 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:33.120 in the last hearing denied Leo a new trial, even 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:38.880 after watching Jeremy Scott confess to killing Michelle Schofield in court. So, 0:04:39.040 --> 0:04:42.040 in spite of the forensic evidence linking Jeremy Scott to 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:44.840 the crime scene, and despite the fact that there is 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:48.479 still no physical evidence and no direct evidence tying Leo 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:52.080 Schofield to the murder of his wife, a single judge 0:04:52.200 --> 0:04:55.800 ruled that Jeremy Scott was not credible and his confession 0:04:55.880 --> 0:05:00.599 to killing Michelle was not believable. But Leo those lawyers 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:02.920 appealed the judge's decision and won. 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:04.200 So. 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:08.479 Now, almost two years after Jeremy Scott confessed on the stand, 0:05:09.160 --> 0:05:11.600 Leo was given another chance to make his case in 0:05:11.720 --> 0:05:15.960 court to argue that he deserves a new trial. This 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:19.080 hearing will be before a panel of three judges seated 0:05:19.160 --> 0:05:22.240 on the Second District Court of Appeal. It's about to 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:25.240 start when we see Leo's wife Chrissy and their daughter 0:05:25.400 --> 0:05:27.000 Ashley walk through the door. 0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:32.799 Yeah, you know what you're like, trying to get somewhere 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:35.160 on time. Oh yeah, don't get stressed. 0:05:35.200 --> 0:05:35.680 But you made it. 0:05:36.200 --> 0:05:39.080 Everything's fine. They're just starting to see people. So you 0:05:39.120 --> 0:05:43.479 guys are in great shape. How are you am I today? 0:05:46.480 --> 0:05:49.360 Hmmm, I don't I don't know if I have a 0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:49.920 word for it. 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:51.880 Actually, just. 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:53.960 Hopeful. 0:05:55.880 --> 0:05:58.520 Hopeful, Yeah, that's probably. 0:05:58.240 --> 0:06:02.720 The best word. At Leo's last hearing, Chrisy witnessed how 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:07.320 Jeremy Scott withstood the prosecutor's verbal abuse. How by the 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:10.520 end of his testimony, Jeremy maintained that it was he 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:14.400 alone who killed Michelle Schofield back in February of nineteen 0:06:14.440 --> 0:06:17.880 eighty seven. Some of his last words in court that 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:19.800 day were, I killed her. 0:06:21.040 --> 0:06:26.480 It's maddening that we are still here all these years later, 0:06:27.000 --> 0:06:29.400 and I was thinking about it's been two years since 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:34.480 I got the call about the confession. Two years. He 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:38.080 described in detail what he did, how he did it, 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:40.640 what he was thinking when he did it, what Michelle 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:43.920 was saying when he killed her two years later and 0:06:44.040 --> 0:06:45.360 we're still talking about this. 0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:49.560 If these three judges don't grant Leo a new trial, 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:52.919 it will become even harder for him to successfully appeal 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:56.360 to a higher court and get another opportunity to prove 0:06:56.440 --> 0:07:00.320 his innocence. Leo isn't allowed here to watch the hearing, 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:02.600 and he won't find out how it went until he 0:07:02.680 --> 0:07:06.719 calls Chrissy later in the day. How are Leo's spirits lately? 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:17.000 He's hopeful, but he's also afraid. He's afraid that we'll 0:07:17.000 --> 0:07:20.680 get more of the same. He's afraid that he'll disappoint 0:07:20.760 --> 0:07:24.080 his family. When I think about that is when I 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:31.880 get choked up, because he doesn't disappoint us. But so 0:07:32.000 --> 0:07:32.680 that's where he is. 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:38.240 So that's that I think we should go in. 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:43.440 The room is more like a lecture hall than a courtroom, 0:07:44.000 --> 0:07:47.040 but there's a tenseness in the air. More than a 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:50.760 dozen people have come in support of Leo. They are 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:54.240 all aware that this may be Leo's last chance for justice. 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:57.280 You know my name is, said Seth Miller from the 0:07:57.320 --> 0:07:59.840 Edison's Project Flores, my co counsel mis Stolen, who will 0:07:59.840 --> 0:08:00.760 not arguing. 0:08:00.520 --> 0:08:05.120 Today, First, Leo's attorney, Seth Miller from the Innocence Project 0:08:05.200 --> 0:08:08.360 of Florida, gets up and begins his oral argument about 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:11.600 the new evidence of Jeremy Scott's confession to killing Michelle. 0:08:12.560 --> 0:08:15.040 He only has twenty minutes to present his case, but 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:17.920 the judges can interrupt at any point to ask questions. 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:19.440 We have additional fact. 0:08:19.560 --> 0:08:22.800 That Seth brings up. How there are certain details Jeremy 0:08:22.920 --> 0:08:26.520 knows that only the murderer could know, how Jeremy's story 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:30.120 is consistent with the forensic evidence, and how Michelle was 0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:32.800 found in the same spot that Jeremy used to take 0:08:32.840 --> 0:08:37.480 his girlfriend Jamie Nellams. But just a minute into his argument, 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:42.480 the judges are already interrupting with questions, and before long 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:47.360 they veer away from Jeremy Scott's confession and instead dredge 0:08:47.400 --> 0:08:50.720 up the same so called evidence from the original trial, 0:08:51.720 --> 0:08:54.840 like Leo's father's weird behavior. 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:58.480 His ex girlfriend Jamie Nellens testified that he used to 0:08:58.520 --> 0:08:59.040 bring her to. 0:08:59.480 --> 0:09:05.880 Then few mornings after the incident, the defendant's father had 0:09:05.920 --> 0:09:09.559 a premonition that that's where the body was and led 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:12.200 police to that location. 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:17.480 Is what really bothers me listening to the judges questions, 0:09:18.040 --> 0:09:20.839 is that Leo Senior's story about a vision from God 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:24.120 continues to be treated as a fact in this case, 0:09:25.240 --> 0:09:27.520 as if he woke up that morning with a premonition 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:30.600 and then led police to some random ditch in Polk 0:09:30.679 --> 0:09:34.719 County where Michelle's body just happened to be. That's not 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:38.800 what happened. Leo Senior had been searching for Michelle for 0:09:38.920 --> 0:09:42.360 nearly three days and nights. He didn't lead police to 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:45.920 the body. He found her body, then flagged down a 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:50.319 passing trucker who alerted the police. And it wasn't until 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:53.040 after the police showed up that he claimed to have 0:09:53.160 --> 0:09:57.080 had this clairvoyant vision from God. It was a story 0:09:57.280 --> 0:10:02.079 told by a distraught and troubled man. And so, with 0:10:02.280 --> 0:10:05.880 only twenty precious minutes to argue his case, Seth gets 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:10.240 stuck explaining Leo's father's premonition instead of arguing to the 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:14.840 judges why Jeremy Scott's confessions deserve to be considered by 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:18.640 a new jury at a new trial. Impact and that's 0:10:18.720 --> 0:10:21.839 all Leo and his lawyers are asking for. They're not 0:10:22.040 --> 0:10:25.320 asking for Leo to walk out of prison today. They're 0:10:25.440 --> 0:10:28.200 just asking for a new jury to decide his fate. 0:10:30.000 --> 0:10:32.920 After Seth takes a seat, the attorney for the state 0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:37.800 makes his argument, and it's basically this, Jeremy Scott is 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:42.160 not credible and nothing he says should be believed. But 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:45.720 there is one time the state says that you can 0:10:45.880 --> 0:10:49.480 believe Jeremy when he says he didn't kill Michelle. 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:53.520 His version of events, which was deemed credible by his 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:57.199 court in twenty ten, that he stole the stereo equipment 0:10:57.240 --> 0:11:00.000 and found the abandoned car and did not kill michelle'sko field, 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:03.640 matches much more logically with the evidence known in the 0:11:03.720 --> 0:11:06.079 case than his version of events. 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:09.240 This is the preposterous position the state is forced to 0:11:09.320 --> 0:11:12.840 defend that a man who has confessed to three different 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:16.120 murders in Polk County that he is forensically linked to 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:20.920 is suddenly nothing more than a car stereo thief. It's 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:23.960 like they're refusing to acknowledge the fact that the State 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:28.439 Attorney's office has already prosecuted Jeremy Scott twice for murder. 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:32.800 If this court does not have any further questions, I 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:35.280 would ask that you affirm the trial court's denial of 0:11:35.400 --> 0:11:37.800 the motion for newly discovered evidence thank you very much. 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:46.040 The hearing doesn't last long, about thirty minutes, and then 0:11:46.080 --> 0:11:49.280 it's over. We all walk out into the lobby and 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:52.079 don't know how to feel. It's hard to read what 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:56.040 the judges are thinking, and Leo's family wants to remain optimistic. 0:11:57.000 --> 0:12:01.760 But now the waiting begins. For the next eight months. 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:04.520 We will all wake up in the morning and refresh 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:07.840 the second DCA's website to see if their decision has 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:12.040 been posted online, to see if the court has ruled 0:12:12.520 --> 0:12:14.680 that Leo should be granted a new trial. 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:28.800 Hi, I'm Jason Flamm, CEO and founder of Lava for 0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:32.280 Good podcasts, home to Bone Valley, Wrongful Conviction, The War 0:12:32.400 --> 0:12:35.719 on Drugs, and many other great podcasts. Today we're asking you, 0:12:36.040 --> 0:12:38.960 our listeners, to take part in a survey. Your feedback 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:41.839 is going to help inform how we make podcasts in 0:12:41.920 --> 0:12:44.800 the future. Your complete and candid answers will help us 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:48.520 continue to bring you more insightful and inspiring stories about 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:50.480 important topics that impact us all. 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:51.720 So please go to. 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:55.240 Lava for Good dot com slash survey and participate today. 0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:57.000 Thank you for your support. 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:04.400 Bone Valley is sponsored by Stand Together. Stand Together is 0:13:04.440 --> 0:13:08.520 a philanthropic community that partners with America's boldest change makers 0:13:08.600 --> 0:13:11.600 to tackle the root causes of our country's biggest problems, 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:15.520 including the failed War on drugs that has criminalized addiction, 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:21.640 fuelled over incarceration, and shattered communities. At eleven years old, 0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:25.880 Scott Strode drank his first beer. At fifteen, Scott went 0:13:25.920 --> 0:13:29.080 to a mental health facility because of suicidal thoughts, where 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:30.120 he tried cocaine. 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:34.080 Like many others who experience addiction, Scott. 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:37.079 Was using drugs and alcohol to numb the pain he 0:13:37.280 --> 0:13:41.400 was trying to numb childhood trauma. In his early twenties, 0:13:41.720 --> 0:13:44.280 Scott was invited into a boxing gym by a friend. 0:13:45.040 --> 0:13:45.560 That's where he. 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:49.079 Discovered the healing power of sport and community that helped 0:13:49.160 --> 0:13:53.400 propel him towards sobriety. In two thousand and six, Scott 0:13:53.520 --> 0:13:57.679 founded The Phoenix, a free, sober, active community that uses 0:13:57.720 --> 0:14:01.079 the transformative power of sport to help people treat and 0:14:01.200 --> 0:14:05.160 heal from addiction and imagine new possibilities for their lives 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:09.400 through fitness. The program restores compassion to a system that 0:14:09.480 --> 0:14:12.640 has long relied on locking people up to solve the 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:17.960 addiction crisis. Scott Strode is one of many entrepreneurs partnering 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:23.560 with Stand Together to drive solutions in education, health care, poverty. 0:14:23.240 --> 0:14:24.280 And criminal justice. 0:14:25.280 --> 0:14:28.040 To learn more about addiction and the War on drugs, 0:14:28.520 --> 0:14:29.480 listen to the War on. 0:14:29.600 --> 0:14:33.960 Drugs podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:45.040 While Leo and his family wait for the judges to 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:47.720 release their decision about whether or not Leo will be 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:51.840 granted a new trial, Leo has one other chance for freedom, 0:14:52.880 --> 0:14:54.960 not through a new trial that will allow him to 0:14:55.000 --> 0:14:59.720 clear his name, but through parole. Parole is basically the 0:14:59.760 --> 0:15:03.680 state way of saying you committed a crime, served your sentence, 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:06.680 and kept out of trouble in prison, so as long 0:15:06.760 --> 0:15:08.640 as you keep checking in with us now and again, 0:15:09.000 --> 0:15:11.840 we no longer think you're a present danger to society. 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:16.480 But parole is not ideal for Leo because even if 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:19.360 it's granted, he'll still be a convicted murderer in the 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:23.520 eyes of the state. On the other hand, if he's paroled, 0:15:24.000 --> 0:15:28.360 he'd at least eventually be home with his family. In 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:31.720 a lot of ways, Leo is the perfect candidate for parole. 0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:36.000 He's a model inmate who's obtained multiple college degrees and 0:15:36.120 --> 0:15:39.320 leads the prison ministry program God behind Bars. 0:15:40.400 --> 0:15:44.240 I've graduated college, I've gotten awards from the toast Masters. 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:46.640 I can't do anything else. There's nothing else to do here. 0:15:46.880 --> 0:15:49.120 I've been the pastor of the Messionic community here since 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:54.400 twenty eleven. I invented programs to graduate from and. 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:58.200 Leo hasn't had a single disciplinary infraction in fourteen years. 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:02.040 In fact, over his thirty years in prison, he's been 0:16:02.080 --> 0:16:05.680 written up just five times, and only for minor infractions, 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:09.000 like once he missed a day of work because of 0:16:09.040 --> 0:16:12.600 an injury and another time he handed out one of 0:16:12.720 --> 0:16:16.440 Chrissy's mary K Cosmetics cards to a corrections officer he 0:16:16.560 --> 0:16:20.720 was friendly with. In addition to presenting their prison records, 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:23.640 inmates are expected to show that they'd be a benefit 0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:27.320 to society and that they'd have stable housing and jobs. 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:31.520 Leo has all of that lined up. He has dozens 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:34.440 of letters of support from friends and family, and even 0:16:34.520 --> 0:16:38.560 corrections officers who have known him for years. Leo even 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:41.760 has a letter of support from Michelle's brother Jesse. Sam 0:16:43.160 --> 0:16:45.520 Chrisy got in touch with him after the fingerprints and 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:49.440 Michelle's car were matched to Jeremy Scott and Chrissy started 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:51.920 sending Jesse documents, so. 0:16:52.000 --> 0:16:53.320 I read through it and I was like, dang man, 0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:58.640 this stuff's pretty substantial. Fingerprints was a big deal. Jeremy's 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:01.240 history was a big deal. By the fact that he 0:17:01.320 --> 0:17:05.359 had murdered other people and that he was around that 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:11.119 same area frequently was a big deal. And and a 0:17:11.200 --> 0:17:12.840 lot of that stuff just started adding up. 0:17:13.920 --> 0:17:17.040 Do you believe that Jeremy Scott killed your sister? I 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:17.440 think so. 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:21.000 I think he did. Yeah, And I think that Leo's 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:22.560 been wrongfully in prison this whole time. 0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:26.840 And you know, it's it. 0:17:27.240 --> 0:17:32.040 It bothers me. It makes me sad, you know that 0:17:32.440 --> 0:17:36.399 they won't try to pursue the evidence that's boiled up 0:17:36.720 --> 0:17:42.159 after all these years and at least process it, you know, 0:17:42.880 --> 0:17:45.760 and then we'll all know, you know, if he did 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:48.560 or not. I mean, dude, we're all just searching for 0:17:48.680 --> 0:17:55.600 the answer, you know, So why wouldn't we pursue it? 0:18:02.280 --> 0:18:05.240 Yeah, the parole hearing, it started pretty early in the morning. 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:10.520 Got there, saw Chrissy and Ashley and you know, the 0:18:10.560 --> 0:18:11.120 whole gang. 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:16.200 It's January eighth, twenty twenty, about four months after the 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:19.560 second DCA hearing that would determine whether or not Leo 0:18:19.600 --> 0:18:23.000 will get a new trial, but there's still no decision 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:28.960 in time for Leo's parole hearing. I had something scheduled 0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:31.840 that day, so Kelsey made arrangements to fly down to 0:18:31.920 --> 0:18:36.280 Tallahassee to cover the hearing herself, and I knew Kelsey 0:18:36.359 --> 0:18:37.760 was kind of nervous about this trip. 0:18:38.720 --> 0:18:41.960 Texted Gilbert, I said, don't see Hill yet. 0:18:43.200 --> 0:18:46.000 Jerry Hill was John Aguero's boss at the time of 0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:50.000 Leo's trial back in nineteen eighty nine. He's a tough 0:18:50.080 --> 0:18:53.680 talking law and order prosecutor who ran unopposed in his 0:18:53.840 --> 0:18:58.800 last seven elections. Parole is different from Leo's other hearings 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:02.040 because a representative from the state doesn't have to be there. 0:19:03.080 --> 0:19:05.440 But Jerry Hill in his office have made a point 0:19:05.560 --> 0:19:08.840 of showing up to these hearings. Even though he retired 0:19:08.920 --> 0:19:12.439 in early twenty seventeen after serving thirty two years as 0:19:12.520 --> 0:19:16.719 state attorney, he still drives hours to attend these parole hearings, 0:19:17.440 --> 0:19:21.760 and he's taken a special interest in Leo's case. We 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:26.200 tried emailing Jerry Hill, but we received no response. We 0:19:26.320 --> 0:19:28.840 had a lot of questions and since nobody from the 0:19:28.880 --> 0:19:31.920 state Attorney's office would agree to be interviewed. We knew 0:19:31.960 --> 0:19:34.960 our only chance to talk to Jerry Hill might be 0:19:35.160 --> 0:19:39.760 after the hearing, and with me unable to attend, Kelsey 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:41.480 was going to have to be the one to try 0:19:41.520 --> 0:19:42.840 to corner him support. 0:19:42.920 --> 0:19:44.280 We have a number of those people here and I'd 0:19:44.320 --> 0:19:44.840 like to call on. 0:19:45.280 --> 0:19:45.800 Some of them. 0:19:45.960 --> 0:19:48.840 Seth Miller from the Innocence Project makes the case for 0:19:48.960 --> 0:19:52.159 Leo's parole. He has just ten minutes and he has 0:19:52.240 --> 0:19:55.080 to share that time with Leo's family members and people 0:19:55.119 --> 0:19:58.000 whom Leo mentored in the prison, all of whom have 0:19:58.160 --> 0:19:59.879 shown up to speak on his behalf. 0:20:00.480 --> 0:20:02.080 He's a leader, a mentor. 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:05.320 He encouraged me to participate in programs, and here I 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:06.200 am today. 0:20:06.560 --> 0:20:10.240 With so many speakers in so little time. Even Chrissy 0:20:10.280 --> 0:20:12.920 and Ashley are given less than a minute to explain 0:20:13.000 --> 0:20:15.960 to the commissioners who they are and why they want 0:20:16.119 --> 0:20:16.760 Leo home. 0:20:18.160 --> 0:20:18.640 Good morning. 0:20:19.160 --> 0:20:22.240 My name is Chrissy Schofield. I've been in prison with 0:20:22.400 --> 0:20:25.040 Leo for about twenty eight years now, and one thing 0:20:25.080 --> 0:20:27.520 that I do know about the Department of Corrections is 0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:29.520 it's not designed to build better men. 0:20:30.440 --> 0:20:33.080 But there are a few that do rise and Leo's 0:20:33.080 --> 0:20:33.800 one of those guys. 0:20:35.560 --> 0:20:37.040 Hi, my name is Ashley. 0:20:38.600 --> 0:20:41.280 All I have to say is I will take advantage 0:20:41.320 --> 0:20:46.320 of every opportunity every family outing, everything that they teach us, 0:20:46.400 --> 0:20:50.080 I will take in just so when my dad gets home, 0:20:50.160 --> 0:20:52.480 we can have the best life that we possibly can. 0:20:53.359 --> 0:20:54.280 That's all I have to say. 0:20:56.359 --> 0:20:59.439 The ten minutes are up. Everyone who speaks on Leo's 0:20:59.480 --> 0:21:02.920 behalf a seat. Then it's the other side's turn. 0:21:03.960 --> 0:21:04.120 Think. 0:21:04.200 --> 0:21:08.760 I look to my right. I glanced up and I 0:21:08.920 --> 0:21:12.680 saw Jerry Hill walking down the aisle approaching the podium. 0:21:13.240 --> 0:21:18.600 So I immediately like stopped breathing for a minute. It 0:21:18.800 --> 0:21:20.960 was just like kind of in shock, like, oh my god, 0:21:21.040 --> 0:21:21.520 he's here. 0:21:22.520 --> 0:21:26.240 Borning commissioners. Jerry Hill on behalf of Brian Haas, the 0:21:26.240 --> 0:21:27.080 state attorney for the. 0:21:27.080 --> 0:21:34.240 Dense Circuit, texted Gilbert again, JK. Hill is here. Gilbert says, Okay, 0:21:34.400 --> 0:21:35.639 stay cool, you got this. 0:21:37.000 --> 0:21:39.480 The next ten minutes of the hearing is supposed to 0:21:39.520 --> 0:21:41.880 be allotted to any of the victims' loved ones who 0:21:41.960 --> 0:21:44.840 want to speak or have a letter read. They usually 0:21:44.920 --> 0:21:47.600 asked the parole board not to release the convicted person 0:21:47.720 --> 0:21:52.520 that's up for parole, but Jesse Michelle's brother had written 0:21:52.600 --> 0:21:55.080 a different kind of letter to the state, and he 0:21:55.280 --> 0:21:58.480 asked for it to be read at the hearing. He wrote, 0:21:59.119 --> 0:22:02.120 I do not have confidence in the conviction of Leo 0:22:02.240 --> 0:22:07.960 Schofield and I support his request for parole. But Jesse 0:22:08.119 --> 0:22:13.040 Salm's letter is never presented. Instead, the retired state attorney 0:22:13.280 --> 0:22:17.119 Jerry Hill uses the time to argue that Leo Schofield 0:22:17.400 --> 0:22:18.640 should never get out. 0:22:18.560 --> 0:22:22.159 Of prison, and he starts talking about the facts of 0:22:22.240 --> 0:22:22.680 the case. 0:22:23.880 --> 0:22:26.760 The defendant's car and his wife's car was abandoned on 0:22:26.840 --> 0:22:31.720 a F four. It was discovered by the father and 0:22:31.960 --> 0:22:34.440 Leo before law enforcement could find it. 0:22:35.960 --> 0:22:38.520 By this point, I was getting used to the state 0:22:38.680 --> 0:22:42.560 twisting the facts and injecting bad evidence into every proceeding. 0:22:43.440 --> 0:22:48.119 But then Jerry Hill takes it to another level. Instead 0:22:48.160 --> 0:22:51.040 of the usual mention of Leo's father's vision from God, 0:22:51.800 --> 0:22:54.320 jerry Hill gets it wrong in a major way. 0:22:55.400 --> 0:22:57.480 Leo said he was driven by an interforce to go 0:22:57.600 --> 0:23:00.280 back to the pit area again. Leo's say that he 0:23:00.320 --> 0:23:02.480 felt drawn to that area and felt that Michelle was 0:23:02.600 --> 0:23:03.440 calling out to him. 0:23:04.480 --> 0:23:07.120 He makes it sound like it was Leo himself who 0:23:07.200 --> 0:23:08.600 had the premonition. 0:23:09.240 --> 0:23:13.679 Leo said he began to search. The closer he got 0:23:13.720 --> 0:23:15.960 to Michelle, the worst's head hurt. 0:23:17.440 --> 0:23:20.280 It's not the job of the three parole commissioners to 0:23:20.440 --> 0:23:24.359 know all the facts of Leo's case. In fact, the 0:23:24.440 --> 0:23:26.520 point of the hearing isn't supposed to be about the 0:23:26.600 --> 0:23:29.920 facts of the case at all. Most of the people 0:23:30.000 --> 0:23:32.679 who are hoping to be granted parole have admitted their 0:23:32.760 --> 0:23:36.200 guilt in the crimes they've been convicted of the point 0:23:36.240 --> 0:23:39.800 of parole is to evaluate how they've conducted themselves in prison, 0:23:40.520 --> 0:23:43.080 to see if the inmate can be safely released back 0:23:43.160 --> 0:23:48.240 into society after having served their minimum sentence. But listening 0:23:48.320 --> 0:23:52.120 to Jerry Hill, these commissioners probably thought it was suspicious 0:23:52.320 --> 0:23:54.760 that the guy who was convicted of killing his eighteen 0:23:54.840 --> 0:23:58.119 year old wife also claimed that a vision from God 0:23:58.640 --> 0:24:02.840 led him to discover her boy. But of course none 0:24:02.880 --> 0:24:06.600 of that ever happened. It wasn't Leo but his father 0:24:06.840 --> 0:24:11.240 who had this supposed vision from God. Maybe it was 0:24:11.359 --> 0:24:14.320 just an honest mistake by a retired state attorney who 0:24:14.440 --> 0:24:16.800 is no longer familiar with the facts of the case 0:24:16.920 --> 0:24:20.040 from back in the nineteen eighties. But these kind of 0:24:20.119 --> 0:24:24.920 misrepresentations happen over and over at every stage of Leo's case, 0:24:25.520 --> 0:24:29.080 from his trial through all his appeals and now parole. 0:24:29.800 --> 0:24:33.440 The state, attorneys, the judges, they just keep getting the 0:24:33.520 --> 0:24:36.560 facts wrong. And it's hard to know if it's just 0:24:36.760 --> 0:24:40.800 carelessness or if the state is intentionally misleading in order 0:24:40.880 --> 0:24:45.880 to keep Leo locked behind bars. Either way, someone's freedom, 0:24:46.440 --> 0:24:54.120 someone's life is on the line. And Jerry Hill isn't 0:24:54.160 --> 0:24:55.360 done with his argument yet. 0:24:57.000 --> 0:25:01.280 I listened to that presentation, how this individual has taken 0:25:01.359 --> 0:25:06.199 advantage of a lot of opportunities, But folks, I got 0:25:06.320 --> 0:25:11.040 to point out an absolute glaring hole in that presentation. 0:25:12.440 --> 0:25:18.520 I didn't hear one word about regret. Sarah wish I 0:25:18.600 --> 0:25:23.119 hadn't done it. I was a different person. Then this 0:25:23.320 --> 0:25:31.720 guy is an unrepentant, jury convicted first degree murderer, proven 0:25:31.800 --> 0:25:35.400