Rally message: Drop the charges against 'The Ohio 4' in 1991 Lorain murder

ELYRIA — For the second time in three weeks, supporters of a group of men convicted in a 1991 murder in Lorain gathered in downtown Elyria to call for their freedom. And they aren't going anywhere, they said Wednesday during a rally that started on Ely Square and ended on the steps of the Lorain County Justice Center a block away. Convicted killers Alfred Cleveland, Benson Davis, John Edwards and Lenworth Edwards have come to be known by supporters as "The Ohio 4." They and their supporters say they are innocent and should be exonerated. Wednesday's rally on their behalf, attended by two of the men and about a dozen exonerees from at least three states, crossed Second Street from Ely Square to the front of the Justice Center. There, the crowd chanted slogans on the courthouse steps: "No justice? No peace!" "What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now! If we don't get it, shut it down!" In their attempts to get exonerated, The Ohio 4 have an ally at least until Jan. 6 when he leaves office. Outgoing Lorain County Prosecutor J.D. Tomlinson has taken the Ohio 4's side, joining defense attorneys in filing motions in Common Pleas Court seeking emergency hearings for permission to seek a new trial, the granting of a new trial, and a dismissal of the charges in the August 1991 murder of Marsha Blakely. The controversial convictions of the four Black men have withstood years of appeals and hearings in state and federal courts. All of their attempts at new trials, appeals, and relief petitions have been denied. Tomlinson and defense attorneys have since declared that the case can't survive the admission of state's witness William Avery Jr. that he lied when he testified against the four men. Avery said he lied at trial, was jailed for it, changed his testimony, and in 2004 finally told the FBI he lied. In 2006, he signed a sworn statement to that effect. Tomlinson — who was out of town Wednesday and didn't attend the rally — previously called Avery's admission that he lied the "fatal error" that requires the convictions be overturned. Cleveland and Lenworth Edwards already have been paroled, but Benson Davis and John Edwards remain in prison. "I would park out here and live in a tent until they are free," said Alfred Cleveland, one of the two members of the Ohio 4 who are on parole. "Let these two guys go," Cleveland said, because they are serving prison sentences "for crimes they didn't commit." Lenworth Edwards said it's hard to talk about the case that put him in prison for 29 years and four months for a crime he said he didn't commit. He was behind bars from age 18 to age 48, he said. "Basically we was kidnapped," he said. "There's no other way to put it. Kidnapped. Held hostage." The Ohio Innocence Project, Ohio Public Defender's Office Wrongful Conviction Project, the Perlmutter Center for Legal Justice at Yeshiva University's Cardozo School of Law in New York City, and local attorney Kimberly Kendall Corral are representing members of the Ohio 4. Attorney Joanna Sanchez of the Ohio Public Defender's Office's Wrongful Conviction Project, who represents Benson Davis, said there have been more than 100 men and women sentenced to prison in Ohio for crimes they didn't commit who have since been exonerated. "These four men deserve that justice today," she said. Corral, who represents Lenworth Edwards, said the convicted men have served a total of 126 years in prison for the Blakely murder, "a horrendous and heinous crime, which they had nothing to do with," she said. Blakely deserves justice, and Tomlinson's office is standing with the attorneys for the Ohio 4 "and have asked this court to grant the unopposed motion(s)" for permission to seek a new trial, for a new trial and for a dismissal of the charges. Lorain County Common Pleas judges have the power to grant this, "and the time to do the right thing is now," Corral said. Nancy Smith, who along with Joseph Allen was exonerated in 2022 of child sex abuse charges in the 1990s Head Start case through the efforts of Tomlinson's office, wept as she spoke in support of the Ohio 4. Tomlinson "finally cleared my name" after 28 years, she said through tears. "J.D. is about justice, not about a win." "Do the right thing," Smith said was her message to Lorain County's judges. Jeffrey Deskovic, a New York man, was exonerated through DNA testing after spending 16 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. Now an attorney with The Deskovic Foundation, which he created using the money he won as compensation for his time in prison, Deskovic said he works to exonerate the wrongfully convicted and bring attention to wrongful convictions. Appellate courts, like the state and federal ones that have consistently upheld the convictions of The Ohio 4, are "not good at catching and correcting wrongful convictions," Deskovic said. More conviction integrity units are needed in prosecutor's offices nationwide, he said, citing success stories in Dallas, Philadelphia and Brooklyn, New York. "I applaud (Prosecutor) Tomlinson for agreeing to the motion" to free the Ohio 4, Deskovic said. Multiple Michigan exonerees with the Organization of Exonerees, including Marvin Cotton Jr. (19 years, seven months in prison for a murder he didn't commit) and Kenneth Nixon (16 years in prison for a fatal firebombing he didn't do), also showed up to support The Ohio 4. "We stand strong with you," Cotton said. "We do not believe that justice has state lines." Cleveland said anyone with questions about the case should visit the website FreeTheOhio4.com, where they can see statements from Tomlinson, the Ohio 4 themselves, evidence and exhibits in their cases. To anyone who might know something about the case, Cleveland encouraged them to contact the attorneys involved or contact him directlly on social media. "Dozens of attorneys have looked at this case, and along with Prosecutor Tomlinson have come to recognize that this is a wrongful conviction and we need to act now, because justice delayed is justice denied," Sanchez said. A Democrat, Tomlinson leaves office after losing the Nov. 5 election to Republican Tony Cillo. Attendees at Wednesday's rally said they don't trust Cillo to consider the case fairly when he takes office, saying judges need to act now. If the exonerations don't happen before he takes office, Cillo has said he would fairly review the case and all the original trial transcripts once he takes office. The Ohio Attorney General's Office also inserted itself into the case, filing a brief seeking a delay so Blakely's family can weigh in and in the interest of protecting justice, it wrote. A former assistant attorney general, Cillo said Wednesday he wasn't the one who alerted his former employer to Tomlinson's efforts to overturn the convictions, though he had discussed the case with officials in Attorney General Dave Yost's office. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.