five days after the murder. we re involved in other cases. not the only case we have. my goodness. we ve got all kinds of work to do. so there was no reason for my partner and i to actually go back there to see what we could see. but we did go back there just to see where the heck it happened. the two original detectives were never called to testify at joe s trial. the prosecutor suggested a defense trial counsel that they didn t need to talk to anybody else except detective allen, which is pretty suspicious conduct, trying to keep the views of the officers first on the scene away from defense counsel. kuz also reported about the lack of physical evidence in the case. you had no forensic evidence, blood, tissue, hair on the knife that was supposedly used that killed tony klann. you had no blood that was found in the pickup truck. you had no blood on mike keenan s clothes or joe d ambrosio s clothes.
along the river bank. based in part on that, the two detectives were adamant that tony klann had been murdered elsewhere, not at the river bank as eddie espinoza had claimed. if the location of the murder is different from what the key prosecution witness is claiming, that s a pretty big discrepancy. but the lead detective on the case, leo allen, did not visit the river bank until four or five days after the murder. we re involved in other cases. not the only case we have. my goodness. we ve got all kinds of work to do. so there was no reason for my partner and i to actually go back there to see what we could see. but we did go back there just to see where the heck it happened. the two original detectives were never called to testify at joe s trial. the prosecutor suggested a defense trial counsel that they didn t need to talk to anybody
joe was sentenced to death. my trial was the shortest death penalty trial in ohio s history. 2 3/4 days. from let s start to you die. that s how fast it was. mike keenan also received the death penalty. eddie espinoza got 15 years. in march 1989, joe d ambrosio arrived on death row at lucasville prison in southern ohio. he maintained his innocence. it s a nightmare. it s got to be a nightmare. and i have to wake up. i really, really do. and you don t wake up. and it just goes on. no matter who i wrote and how much i begged. no one listens to a convicted murderer. they all say they didn t do it.
in my courtroom, someone had been sitting on death row for over two decades. this is very serious. because of mistakes that were made, a process was flawed. all i wanted to do was make sure that the process was fair. but just days before the trial was to begin, prosecutors disclosed they had found additional evidence in their files. despite having a federal court order, in fact there was physical evidence that had not been turned over to joe s trial council. not only in 1988, but in this particular proceeding itself. it was a circus. and i m sitting out there watching it in total disbelief, total disbelief. the sudden release of new evidence would delay joe s retrial even more. so joe s attorneys petitioned the court for bail. the state of ohio said, it would be unheard of for a judge to let a man off of death row on bond. and i said, i agree.
so there was no reason for my partner and i to actually go back there to see what we could see. but we did go back there just to see where the heck it happened. the two original detectives were never called to testify at joe s trial. the prosecutor suggested a defense trial counsel that they didn t need to talk to anybody else except detective allen, which is pretty suspicious conduct, trying to keep the views of the officers first on the scene away from defense counsel. kuz also reported about the lack of physical evidence in the case. you had no forensic evidence, blood, tissue, hair on the knife that was supposedly used that killed tony klann. you had no blood that was found in the pickup truck. you had no blood on mike keenan s clothes or joe d ambrosio s clothes. that s a lot of question marks. kuz s article also highlighted a discrepancy in eddie espinoza s story about