testimony and we wouldn t be able to use that evidence effectively if we couldn t cross examine him live on the stand. michael and gordon proposed an unorthodoxed solution. after freeman s testimony was read into the record they would cross-examine the empty witness stand as if he were on the stand. we took the evidence of the lies and put them in the form of questions. you told the jury you didn t know that john thompson was going to rob someone. isn t it true, however, that you set out to rob someone? silence hung in the air after each question was posed, giving the jury time to imagine freeman s response. you suggested in your testimony that you stole nothing from mr. liuzza at all, but you admitted you stole all of his property, didn t you? we asked a series of questions like that, culminating in the final one, which was isn t it true, mr. freeman, that you and you alone murdered ray liuzza. the jury knew where we were coming from, they were able to
very, very different stories in 1985 before the trial as compared to what they said on the witness stand. we began to see how their stories were contrived to secure a conviction of an innocent man. there were numerous pieces of evidence inconsistent with john s guilt or consistent with freeman s guilt and that showed that freeman had lied at trial in his testimony on behalf of the state. after testifying he saw thompson murder ray liuzza, kevin freeman was given a plea deal and only served ten months in prison. we also received leads about potential witnesses who would be helpful. there was a woman who lived across the street from mr. liuzza, she got a very good look at the perpetrator. ms. kelly and other witnesses who testified they saw a man with a blue steel revolver, 6 0 tall with close cut hair running past them. john thompson was 5 8 with a
head in his hands. we thought he was getting out of jail the next day. and now we found out that he had to stand trial with a risk of spending the rest of his life in prison. on the morning of may 7th, 2003, john thompson stood before the same judge in the same courtroom where he had been sentenced to death 18 years earlier. michael and gordon had a problem. they couldn t attack the damaging testimony of kevin freeman, the man they believed murdered ray liuzza. freeman was shot dead in 1995 while committing a robbery. with freeman dead, his previous testimony stood as evidence that thompson had committed the liuzza murder. we had all this evidence that freeman had lied in his original
john s guilt or consistent with freeman s guilt and that showed that freeman had lied at trial in his testimony on behalf of the state. after testifying he saw thompson murder ray liuzza, kevin freeman was given a plea deal and only served ten months in prison. we also received leads about potential witnesses who would be helpful. there was a woman who lived across the street from mr. liuzza, she got a very good look at the perpetrator. ms. kelly and other witnesses who testified they saw a man with a blew steel revolver, six feet tall with close cut hair running past them. kevin freeman was 6 0 went by the nickname kojak because of his close cut hair. once all the evidence was examined it was clear beyond imagination that kevin freeman, acting alone, murdered ray
an unorthodox solution. after freeman s testimony was read into the record they would cross examine the empty witness chair as if freeman was on the stand. we took the evidence of the lies and put them in the form of questions. you told the jury you didn t know that john thompson was going to rob someone. isn t it true, however, that you set out to rob someone? silence hung in the air after each question was posed, giving the jury time to imagine freeman s response. you suggested in your testimony that you stole nothing from mr. liuzza at all, but you admitted you stole all of his property, didn t you? we asked a series of questions like that, culminating in the final one, which was isn t it true, mr. freeman that you and you alone murdered ray liuzza. the jury knew where we were coming from, they were able to see the lies in kevin freeman s original story. informant richard perkins