TOLEDO, Ohio — The Lucas County Prosecutor’s Office admitted in a court filing late Monday that key evidence in a 1993 murder trial was not released to the defendant’s lawyer.
The filing said the Toledo Police Department did not turn over evidence to prosecutors.
The admission comes days before Eric Misch’s hearing on receiving a new trial in the murder of Vernon Huggins, who was beaten to death in Wilson Park on Aug. 4, 1992. Misch and four other men – Louie Costilla, Joseph Rickard, Larry Vasquez, and Mel Vasquez – were found guilty of the murder.
Misch was paroled on April 23, 2020, after spending more than 25 years in prison. The other men have also been paroled. All five men claim they are innocent.
During trials, prosecutors and witnesses said the five men were part of a Toledo gang known as The Bishops that would target black men and other minorities, beating up or assaulting them. A gang member testified in Misch’s trial that he was at the park and saw Misch stop Huggins and ask him something before Costilla, Rickard, and Larry and Mel Vasquez attacked him from behind.
Misch, who was 16 at the time, initially confessed to detectives, but later recanted and insisted he had nothing to do with the crime. The initial confession was not taped, and Misch testified that he was given details of the murder and was told other members of the gang had implicated him in the killing. He also has said detectives told him that if he did not admit to being involved, they would have him locked up until he was 50 years old. He said fear led him to make a statement and admit involvement.
Beginning in 2011, the Wrongful Conviction Project began reviewing Misch’s case and submitted multiple record requests to the Toledo Police Department. Over the next seven years, five requests were submitted, until finally in 2018, more than 100 pages of previously undisclosed records were provided to Misch’s attorney.
In addition, other evidence was discovered by Jay Gast, an investigator for the prosecutor’s office, and turned over to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation on Nov. 10, 2020. BCI provided that evidence to Misch’s team in October 2021.
Previously undisclosed evidence included interviews with Huggins’ family members, who said Huggins was confronted by members of his girlfriend’s family hours before his death. A tipster told police that Huggins broke into his girlfriend’s home in the days before his murder, stole money and threatened his girlfriend and mother. One of the members of Huggins' girlfriend's family who confronted Huggins was reportedly carrying a broken-off, wooden table leg. An autopsy indicated Huggins was beaten to death with a blunt object. Huggins hid in his family’s home and was seen alive hours after prosecutors said the Bishops killed him.
In addition, another tipster said Huggins was seen in a bar with Lee Jeffries on the night of Aug. 3. In January 1993, Jeffries was convicted of killing Emma Dolberry on Aug. 3. The tipster said Jeffries also killed Huggins that night to prevent him from talking.
Another witness said Huggins was badly beaten by marijuana dealers in the weeks before his murder.
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None of this information was turned over to Misch’s attorney, Paul Geller, or to prosecutors. The first month of the investigation was led by Detective Gary Burks, before it was handed over to Detectives James Anderson and Robert Leiter. Burks is listed as a possible witness for the defense in Monday’s hearing.
After receiving evidence from the Toledo Police Department, BCI conducted DNA testing on multiple items, including a bottle found near Huggins’ body. On March 11, 2022, the lab reported that recovered DNA on the bottle matched that of David Woodson, a man who told a Wrongful Conviction Project investigator that he had never heard of Huggins. However, Huggins’ family said Woodson was a known friend.
Monday’s hearing is in the courtroom of Lucas County Common Pleas Court Judge Gary Cook, who recently presided over a hearing for Wayne Braddy and Karl Willis. The men were the subject of “Guilty without Proof,” a wrongful conviction investigation by 11 Investigates. Cook released the men after they agreed to plead to lesser charges in the 1998 murder of a 13-year-old boy. Like Misch, they have continued to proclaim their innocence.
In June, Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken said he would push for a conviction integrity unit in Lucas County after seeing multiple stories from 11 Investigates on the topic and issue of wrongful convictions.
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