klann. i felt from the neck wound to the scene at the crime, it seemed like at every other turn there was more that was being discovered. neil was also shocked to learn that in 1988 ohio law did not require the state authorities to share all their evidence with defendants. what would happen back in those days is that the prosecutor would look at their files and they would determine to the defense attorneys and that s what they would get. the sixth amendment protects your right to an attorney. the right is no good if your attorney doesn t have the information. in addition to ohio s draconian discovery laws, neil would also learn that the prosecutor in joe s case, carmen marino, had his own controversial reputation. with carmen marino there are ten cases where he had been reprimanded by the courts. i summarized it as cheating to win. get a conviction at all costs
Transcripts for CNN Death Row Stories 20150530 05:23:15 archive.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from archive.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
i drank. i drank like a fish. right across the street from where i was living was a bar called the saloon. and i was in there throwing darts one day and ed espinoza, the foreman for mike keenan, came in and threw out a general question, who needs a job? and he hired me as a landscaper plus home repair work. i started work the next day, september 1st. september 26th, i m sitting in jail. in contrast to joe s story, neil discovered that the man who put joe on death row, eddie espinoza, had a very checkered past. eddie espinoza was someone who in court admitted that he was an alcoholic. also a drug abuser, a welfare he was someone who was known to drink a 12-pack of beer, would
rejected. his execution could come at any time. our legal system is just designed to make it very, very difficult to prove that someone didn t commit a crime after they ve already been convicted. you re talking the most uphill of uphill battles. father neil was desperate to help prove joe s innocence. but in order to get a new trial they had to find new evidence. so neil took a new approach. i thought, one of the things i need to do to get help is media attention. one of the first media outlets that i got was the cleveland scene magazine. neil kookoothe came into the office a couple weeks after i joined the staff. neil didn t oversell what he believed to be joe s case of actual innocence. he came to me with pieces of the
joe and his lawyers believed that at the very least the withheld evidence provided reasonable doubt the crime could have happened differently than the state presented at trial. in july 2004 joe s team went before judge o malley to obtain a new trial. we put up all our witnesses. the newly discovered people, the newly discovered evidence. by far the most powerful witness at the hearing was chris longenecker, stoney lewis s alleged rape victim, who had been found living in florida. neil convinced chris that his testimony could save joe s life. i wasn t able to do anything for tony because and so i figured, if i could help someone else, then i ll do that. chris, who is legally blind