Lorain County Prosecutor J.D. Tomlinson is seeking to exonerate four people who were convicted of killed Marsha Blakely in 1991.
Published: Dec. 02, 2024, 5:13 p.m.CLEVELAND, Ohio – Lorain County Prosecutor J.D. Tomlinson is seeking to exonerate four men who were convicted of murdering a woman in 1991. Tomlinson on Monday said that he filed a joint motion with defense attorneys seeking new trials for Alfred Cleveland, Benson Davis, John Edwards and Lenworth Edwards, who were convicted of murdering Marsha Blakely.
If a judge agrees to a new trial, Tomlinson said he would drop the charges, according to a news release. “Justice demands action, even when it is difficult,” Tomlinson wrote. “It requires the humility to acknowledge when a case does not meet the high standards required by our legal system.” Davis and John Edwards are still incarcerated. Lenworth Edwards and Davis have since been paroled, defense attorneys said. The four were also suspected, but not charged, in the killing of Floyd Epps, who was Blakely’s roommate and was found dead near her and was killed in a similar manner. The convictions largely centered around the testimony of William Avery Jr., who has since recanted his testimony.Tomlinson said Avery’s testimony changed several times, was made only after learning about a $2,000 reward in the case and was at odds with physical evidence investigators collected at the scene. In 2004, Avery implicated his father as a suspect in the murder of Blakely, and said his father told him to lie about the case, according to Tomlinson. Jonathan Rosenbaum, the assistant county prosecutor who secured the convictions in the 1990s, blasted Tomlinson and his chief of staff, James Burge. Rosenbaum said in a statement that the two are playing politics at the expense of justice.In 2022, after a judge granted a new trial to the infamous Lorain Head Start defendants Nancy Smith and Joseph Allen,Though the primary evidence Tomlinson cited has been around for years, the case gained a new level of prominence when John Edwards’ attorney, Joshua Dubin, the executive director of the Perlmutter Center for Legal Justice, appeared on the popular “These cases take on a life of their own in terms of momentum,” Dubin said in a phone interview. “I think we had a massive outpouring of support.”“These guys have suffered for more than three decades, and I think they’ll breathe their final sigh of relief once the order is signed,” Dubin said.Kimberly Corral, who is representing Edwards, was with him when the announcement came through, and described him as being in a state of “otherworldly relief.”“I think it would be difficult for a judge, when he’s presented with a motion jointly supported by all the parties involved... to have any basis to reject that filing,” Corral said. If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation.and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our
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