July 11, 2024 • 36 mins
On April 8, 1995, Reggie Lewis’s body was found in a creek behind the Dalebridge Apartments in Warrensville Heights, OH. He had two gunshot wounds to the back of his head. Willie and Ashunte Smith are serving life sentences for his murder based on testimony by their own cousin, William Marshall. Marshall recanted in 2022 and now swears it was actually his uncle who committed the crime but Marshall was so frightened at the time—by his uncle and the police—he was pressured into lying under oath and sending his cousins to prison.
The Ohio courts recently granted Willie and Ashunte a new trial.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
In February of nineteen ninety five, on the East side
of Cleveland, sixteen year old William Marshall survived in arm robbery.
Rumors swirled about a usual suspect named Reggie Lewis. On
March twenty eighth, nineteen ninety five, the victim's cousins, Willie
and Ashante Smith, ran into Reggie, who denied involvement, offering
(00:26):
to go with them to their cousins and clear his name.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Over a week.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Later, Reggie Lewis's body was found in a wooded area,
and eventually William Marshall blamed Willie and Ashante.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
But this is wrongful conviction.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Wrongful conviction has always given voice to innocent people in prison,
and now we're expanding that voice to you. Call us
at eight three three two o seven four and tell
us how these stories make you feel and what you've
done to help the cause, even if it's something as
simple as telling a friend or sharing on social media,
and you might just hear yourself in a future episode.
(01:12):
Call us A three three two seven four six sixty six.
Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction, where we have a Cleveland
family that was ripped apart, literally ripped apart by the
(01:33):
wrongful conviction of Ashante and Willie Smith. But before we
introduce them, I want to welcome back their appella, attorney
Kim Carral, thank you for having me, and of course
the two men who continue to endure the effects of
their own cousins lie, both of whom are calling in
(01:54):
from correctional facilities in Ohio. First, the younger of the two,
Ashante Smith, thank you for having me. And his older
brother Willie, thank you guys both.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
For joining us.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Absolutely no problem.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
And this goes back to mid nineties nineteen ninety five,
when so called tough on crime politicians had been elected
around the country to prosecute the war on drugs, which
was really just a war on people, the American people,
when what we had was a humanitarian crisis which became
(02:28):
known as the crack epidemic.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
Not only were we talking about tough on crime politicians
in the nineties, but we were talking about like these
super criminals, particularly juveniles, and so that kind of sets
a tone for this case. Because Willy and a Shanty
were fifteen and nineteen. And when I say that, as
Shanty was like, there're a fifteen year old who looked
like adults and fifteen year old who look like ten
year olds. That's how I would describe as shanty at
(02:50):
that time. I mean he was fifteen, but he was
very young.
Speaker 5 (02:53):
I was fifteen years old when I left, so I
didn't experience much like My mother was a single parent,
grady four children. My parents divorced when I was I
was just about four or five years old.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
My father, he was kind of a fusive dude. We
would be eating at the table and he might come
in and just flip the whole God damn playball, you
know what I'm saying. Food everywhere. And my mother eventually divorced.
We were living on Kingsmen when I stayed across from
my grandmother. That's before the divorce, and we were moved
down to the projects project housing called Longwood Estates, and
(03:24):
they basically got settled.
Speaker 5 (03:25):
On East time of the Firs Street. In you, it's
fourth of us.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
I was a third child.
Speaker 5 (03:28):
My second brother is right.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
She and my sister Satan and where I'm the oldest
of three other siblings. My mother comes from a big family,
so she had her sisters Andretta kid Agatha and one
of her sisters who was murdered collect Marshall, being you
had her brother who had committed suicide back before I
was born.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
My understanding is Lucretia Ashantine, Willie's mom. She basically was
the one to find him and that further solidified her
position as I the black sheep in the family. So
Lucretia and her sisters all have children, but really her
(04:09):
children are other than some of the other cousins. And
when one of Lucretia's sisters dies, Grandma takes that child in.
That's William Marshall.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
There was always a different type of treatment towards us
being sneels versus how my other cousins was treated by
my grandmother.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
But William Marshall really is the golden boy in this
group of cousins to Grandma.
Speaker 5 (04:37):
And our cousins came around, you know, we spent time
with them, and we're all relatively in the same age bracket.
My one cousin, William, one year older than me, and
then my older cousin Laney, is a few years older
than my.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Brother, Sean Laney, and his mother and Dretta William Marshall
and his grandma Sarah Marshall, and then Kit Laster who
married Don laster. They all lived close to each other,
while the Smiths lived about five miles away near the
victim in this case, Reggie Lewis.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
I didn't know.
Speaker 5 (05:06):
I've seen you around the neighborhood. He was definitely a
reputation because at around his time, guys in the neighborhoods
with robbing people, Stars jackets, Chicago bulls, jackets, raiders, jackets,
or they were robbing and shooting killing people for him. So,
mister Lewis, he was grappling with a drug addiction, which
I believe that led him out into the streets to
rob people to feed his addiction.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Have you ever seen a wire?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Not trying to, you know, disparage him, but I would
describe Reggie as being like what Omar was. He was
a terror. He was on drugs and he was calls
in habit, making a lot of enemies and doing a lot.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Then in February nineteen ninety five, William Marshall was in
the Smith's neighborhood when a mass gunman attacked.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
I believe it was over like a Mooney Tunes jacket.
Speaker 5 (05:52):
He got shot in his back and I think he
came out his neck. He went through surgery. It was serious.
He almost lost his life.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
And so a kid gets rob a gunpoint and no
one's trying to figure out who did it or what happened,
except for the other members of the family, the sort
of cousin group who's trying to protect their own.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
The Knight of William shooting Sean. Ronnie Johnson, the friend
of Sean Laney and a few other guys went through
my neighborhood and they jumped out on a few guys
in rough house a little bit, and they came up
with Reggie Lewis name.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
And then on March twenty eighth, nineteen eighty five, Willie
and Ashante were driving around with their friends Rasheen Bledsoe
and Clarence Brown, and they ran into Reggie in front
of their friend Chanel Owens his house.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Chanela Owens comes to the car and basically expresses that
another drug addict named Scott lad Rocket had just jumped
on Reggie beat him up a little bit, and she
was like, I want Reggie Lewis by my jar and
he won't leave. Everybody jumped out the car, but I
remember the name. I said, ain't you the one supposed
to be? And he says, I didn't shoot nobody. You
got me le fed up and we got to fighting.
(06:58):
And then the course of us fighting, he basically like,
I didn't do it, but I know who did. And
base vlase you could take me to your cousin. He
is seated. I ain't the one that shot in. I
don't know why everybody put my name in that shit.
I ain't had nothing to do with it. It was somebody else.
So I'm like, okay, well let's go. So we get
it to the car. He's not being restrained, he's not
(07:19):
being pushed into the no damn car, none of that.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
And we roll out and Chanelle Owen's immediate statement to
the police is that he goes Willingly with Willie and
Ashanti and their two friends. Later, she testifies that they
all get into a fight and they kidnap him.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
It was doing today. So I'm assuming that William is
at school or wherever the hell he's supposed to be,
but he's nowhere around. I go to the van various
station Warrensville to go run down on my cousin Sean.
He walks up to the car. He said, that's Reggie.
I say it's Reggie, right, here. He said, he didn't
have nothing to do with that. Why is y'all putting
(07:57):
his name in it? And he basically like, oh right, well, look,
we're gonna find out then. So he gets in the
car and we all go to my uncle's house, Donald
Lasser's house in kid Marshall's house down the street from
my grandmother's house, Sarah Marshall. So we rolled up in there,
me and the chante and Sean proceeded to my aunt's house.
(08:18):
You know, he wasn't gonna walk up in there with
all these people. She had a fit. And as soon
as we get up in the house, the whole tone
changed with Sean like, that's the dude, who did it?
Why did you bring you down? Now? He nowhere our
aunt's day. My aunt chimes in, kid laughter chimes in
at the time like yeah, if he shoot him, he
(08:39):
has shoot us. And you know, I'm saying, hold on, man,
the man said he didn't do it, So you know
what I'm saying, I'm not about to do nothing to
this duty. And I asked him, I say, look, man,
go and check it out with Williams. If he didn't
do it, he cool. Sean says, well, I'll take care
of her from here.
Speaker 5 (08:55):
Man and Missus Lewis got the car with Sean Leney,
Missus Johnson's the food truck. My brother, myself and our
two friends. We left. We didn't see what it.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
We didn't even see them leave, and so that is
the end of their engagement with what turns out to
be a murder.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
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Speaker 5 (09:39):
Of Horse we ate my grandmother. My brother and I
did see her at a hall restore around three thirty
four o'clock of the evening with our two friends. To say,
two frands, the same white car. We Drepp be driving
these all day.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Actually she saw them on the other side of town before.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
She goes home, which corroborated Willie and Chante's version of events.
They saw their grandmother shortly after leaving Reggie Lewis with
their cousins. Meanwhile, as that day turned into the next,
Reggie's mother began to wonder where her son was.
Speaker 5 (10:08):
His mother said at trial that we need to hear
from me. He clawed down to the police department and
found police before and he said a few days later
the body was recovering.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
It's April eighth, nineteen ninety five. A kindergarten class is
walking through a public park in Warrensville, which is about
twenty minutes from where the crime occurred, and in the
ravine they find a pretty decomposed human body. Kindergarteners and
so this gets a ton of attention. So once they're
able to identify that it's Reggie Lewis, they start like
(10:40):
a backwards investigation of like, who doesn't like Reggie Lewis,
And they become aware that he's in a fight in
Chanelle Owen's yard, And when they first talked to Shanelle Owens,
she says, yes, he was in a fight in my
yard with this person. And then he was in a
fight my yard with Willie Nashanti Smith and their two friends,
and he got in the car with that and then
they drove off.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
On April nineteenth, nineteen eighty five, despite Chanelle's initial statement
that Reggie had gotten into the car Willingly, both Willie
and Ashante were arrested for kidnapping and had an additional
assault charge attacked on.
Speaker 5 (11:14):
The kick During about six thirty seven o'clock in the morning,
our team ran in the house and masked on machine guns.
Was terrified and told me and my brother was were arrested.
Our questions and I was fifteen years old at the time,
but they questioned me anyway before my mother even got there.
But I didn't have that to offer other than the
fact that he got in a fight and we dropped
the guy off, and that was the truth.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
I walked through the door. The interrogation wrong that check
this Spira says, slid out. We know you didn't kill him,
we know you just dropped him off. The first one
to talk is this one to get the deal. So
what are you saying? If I don't talk, you're going
to put a case on me.
Speaker 5 (11:49):
We didn't completely come out and say who we dropped
him off to. That's true. We didn't do that, and
maybe we should have said we saw mister Lewis leave
with our cousin and his friend and become a listen
and dead. You know one plus two equals what it does, right?
Speaker 3 (12:04):
I told them, I said, well, shit, it seemed like
you already know everything. So if you know I dropped
him off then you know he was alive, and well,
then what am I here for? You talking to the
wrong dude, And it was like, well that's not like
hot his words, And my mother and my grandfather on
my father's side of the family happened to come in
(12:27):
and sit down and see seeing where it was going,
and told me not to say another word. And I
have not said another word into this interview today.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
Now they do a search in a Chante's room. They
find a gun, but it doesn't match the bullets that
shot Reggie.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
At that time, Me and a Chante are only charged
with kidnapping it, and Shant has an additional charge of assault.
Speaker 5 (12:53):
I was you and now own of county jail. They
had me the most their adultter he once until they
found out I was you and now and a salemate
who was about will was about like twenty eight years old.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
William Marshall has not been involved or picked up or
charged yet.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
An alleged anonymous tip led Detective Sparra to William Marshall.
Speaker 5 (13:15):
Whoever made the tip said that they witnessed the murder
in the basement of William's homes that he lived with
from a grandmother, and he identified to Sean Laney, William
Marshall and my uncle's and this would led them to
execute the warrant at the home.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
They searched William Marshall's house and find blood bullets. I mean,
the house has been cleaned, but there's still remnants of
blood all over the basement, all over.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
A nine millimeter bullet was collected and the prology came
back consistent with Reggie Lewis's blood, leading to William Marshall's arrest,
as well as a renewed offer to a Chante and
Willie catcha Sparah.
Speaker 5 (13:57):
Was told me he had told my mother that he
knew that me and my brother did not commit this crime.
He said he knew that we were not there, but
he told me he could not help us if we
could not help him. He implied to me that if
I put myself there and say I saw what happened,
he could help me and my brother. But neither I
(14:17):
nor my brother was willing to put ourselves in that
basement and say that we saw something that we didn't see.
WILLI was willing to do it.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
And they basically tell William Marshall they think it had
to have been William Ashanti and they tell William Marshall,
you are going to get raped in prison. Your asshole
will be the size of a grapefruit. We cannot protect
you in adult prison. If you agree to this one
year deal in the juvenile detention center and testify against
your cousins, you can be done with this. And there's
(14:46):
like the family dynamic here. Grandma wants to protect William Marshall,
who she is raising. Meanwhile, we sort of have black
sheep Lucretia's two sons, and his grandma tells him take
the deal.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Donald Last and Sarah Marshall were having visits with him,
and we're not having visits with a chante, and they
were prepping him on what to say and what not
to say, and they were getting ready to put the
screws and fuck us all the way around.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
And the statement was carefully crafted to kind of make
William into a passive observer. That Willy and a Shante
dragged Reggie Lewis into their grandma's basement, ordered William to
find some twine. William then gave them phone court and
then went upstairs to be a lookout. They tied Reggie
up shot him ordered William to get some sheets to
(15:33):
wrap the body, and then Willie and a shunte dragged
the body out to the trunk of a car and
William cleaned.
Speaker 5 (15:40):
Up the basement that day.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
I had never ever saw William Marshall. William Marshall never
saw me. The only person that saw me that day
was Sean Lanny, Ronnie Johnson, hit Laster, and my grandmother,
Sarah Marshall, who saw us for when she was coming
out of the hardware store, which inadvertently solidify my alibi.
(16:08):
I feel because if you saw us with these two guys,
and my aunt saw us at her house with these
two guys, that was with us when we dropped this
man off alive, and well, why am I going to trial?
Speaker 4 (16:22):
Willie is tried first, And that's largely because Willy is
an adult and ashunty first had to go through the
bindover program. It'd be bound over from juvenile court to
adult court. William Marshall, because he takes this deal, never
gets bound over. He gets a one year sentence for
his role in a murder and then he's done. But
unfortunately for Willie, he didn't have much of a defense.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Oh no, the streets and the other suspects. Was getting
teed that I was convicted of his crime. By making
sure that nobody, no witnesses came up at my trial.
I was naive to believe that you got a subpoena.
Ay no, not come in the court. Oh excuse me, shit,
because I said, subpoenas out to kid laughter Raa Sheen Blasso,
Clarence Brown. In my mind, it was time to list
(17:09):
ey voice to sing, and you know, nobody showed.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Up without an alibi. William Marshall's statement went unchallenged. Rather,
it was supported by Chanelle Owens, who had changed her
story to say that Reggie had not gone with the
Smiths willingly. So Willie was convicted in September nineteen ninety five.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
You got to put yourself at the time when all
this is going on too. So it was a little
bit of hostility going on because of the oj situation,
you know, and his verdict that it just transpired three
days prior to my verdict. You got you know, CEOs
Deputy Shares making comments, even got the judge chiming in
about that. Basically everybody felt like he got away with something.
(17:50):
So I'm hearing, you know, with this one, won't you know?
When the jury came back and said that I was
guilty of kidnapping, I knew that it was a lie.
When they said I was not guilty of the first
kind of aggravated murder, I was relieved. And then when
he went to the third kind of aggravated murder and
said I was not guilty of prior calculation and design,
(18:10):
not guilty of the gun specification, and not guilty of
being the principal offender, I was like, whoa hold on,
that's a lot of not guilty. And then they turned
around and went to having a weapon under disability charge
and found me not guilty as that as well, and
an argument ensued with my attorneys with the judge. They
(18:32):
was like, hold on, the state's theory was that this
guy was executed by this guy, and the jury just
said that he didn't have a gun. He's not the
main guy. Did I did not commit this crime with
prior calculation of design, but yet I ended up with
a thirty the life sentence. I ended up going to
jail for a crime that I didn't commit, and that
(18:53):
basically a jury of my peers took the gun out
of my hand. That William Marshall was so willing to
put in my hand.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
It sounds like there was a conflict among jurors who
reached a compromise. But hell of a compromise it was.
The result was still thirty the life. And then Ashante
went to trial the following spring of nineteen ninety six.
Speaker 5 (19:15):
I was petrified, I got to be honest with you.
I was going to lie and trying to take a deal.
I was thinking about doing it just to save myself,
because people do this every single day in this system,
just to save themselves. This is how cool the system is. Well,
I went to trial for my brother to know that
the truth can get out because I was thinking I
was under disillusion that if you told the truth and
(19:36):
it's staying.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
By the time Ashante went to trial, his family and
other alibi witnesses were now willing to testify.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
Maybe they thought Willy would be fine because he didn't
do it and they didn't need to put themselves out there,
and so they didn't show up for him. But then
when Willy was convicted, they were like, Oh, this is
our come to Jesus moment. We need to show up
for a Shanti. I don't know what happened but could
be attributable to like more time went by and the
family had some time to process what was happening. But
by the time as Shunty goes to trial, he has
(20:05):
uncle don Kit has all of these people coming in
to testify that Shunty and Willie were with Reggie Lewis,
but that they laughed.
Speaker 5 (20:14):
Yeah, both of our friends was with us the entire time.
They testified to this. At my trial, they testified that
they witnessed mister Lewis get out of the white car
and get into the Booch truck with our cousin and
his friend. I'm thinking to myself that okay, if the
truth is here, they have to see it now. I'm
going to be found not guilty, and I'm thinking that
(20:36):
they would have some positive ramification for my brother as
well too. Though the opposite happened. The prosecutor played it
as they said, if our two friends. This is seeming
to the bar imagination, despite the fact that six additional
witnesses is saying the same thing that testified at the trial.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
And Grandma trying to play the middle ground. She did
if actually she saw them on the other side of
town before she goes home. She testifies she sees him
on the other side of town, so it couldn't have
been them. But the state comes in with their star witness,
William Marshall, who has been given the sweetheart deal of
a lifetime.
Speaker 5 (21:11):
He gets upon a stand and he tells a story
that makes absolutely no sense.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
William Marshall testifies that he and Willian Ashanti brought Reggie
Lewis over to his grandma's house, took him into the basement,
tied him up, shot him, killed him, and then took
his body to Warrensville. Now, how that all was feasible,
how it all went down, There's a thousand gaps and
holes in his testimony.
Speaker 5 (21:37):
There was no physical evidence that links me and my
brother to that basement or two victims. So we get
to the victims clothes and the victim's body, no hair fiber,
no finger prints in nothing.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
But it was just treated as true. William and Shunty
were convicted and it's essentially been thirty years.
Speaker 5 (21:56):
Did you come back in and they say guilt till
no charges? And I heard my mother and I heard
my sister behind me, and they were stopping. I heard tall.
My mother kept saying it's not there, it's not there,
It's just not there. And then I had to kick me.
When I knew that my life was evaluable, I knew
(22:20):
that the system did not care at all. I knew
the truth. But it's not necessary. Ain't thinking about a conviction?
Who get it in that.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
I'm sitting in the Lorraine Correctional Institution, which is reception
when you come to prison. I'm waiting to be classed
and see what prison I'm gonna go to. And then
you know, they woke me up in the middle of
the night and told me I was going to s OCF.
And I've seen all the older guys ship their head
from undercovers because they knew where that was the time.
That's Lucasville. So I'm I'm going maximum security, and you know,
(23:07):
you gotta do what you gotta do to survive. You know,
my brother he had to go to Madison because I
think that was where they was housing the juveniles at
the time.
Speaker 5 (23:17):
I stayed in to Madison until I was eighteen years old,
and then they sent me to Lucas Hill.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
I guess after they gave him enough milk, it was
time to send him to the big house too.
Speaker 5 (23:29):
I wat to a place that was petrifying, sir, I'm
talking about. I walked to the place that looked like
it was just one of those old if you look
at yourself on PEV with the bars and the powers
and the mean faceguards and then you know, with the
glee clubs in the hand, and you know, don't talk,
don't say nothing, you just keep the high forty they speak,
you don't speak in I just that's that's what.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
That's what was my first in its experience, we saw
each other. And I'm so proud of my brother because
I saw a lot of guys his age come in
and be destroyed, you know, basically lose their mind. And
my brother, you know, he educated hisself and he basically
became the man that he is today. And you know,
I mean, in a situation like this, I hate to
(24:12):
be in it with anybody, but if I had to
go through it, I'd ready to go through it with
one of the strongest people I know.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
But Shunte has even written a book.
Speaker 5 (24:21):
Well the book is called A Life Portrayed and it's
about me and my brother, and it chroniclizes my childhood
and my early experiences in the home is just growing
up the neighborhood and going to school, my struggles at school,
and my discoveries about myself as far as his case
went forward, and how I went to prison. I taught
myself how to read and tap myself how to write,
and began to read books. I became a voracious reader
(24:44):
and began to write and study. Found my voice. And
that's what book is about. And I've been trying to
rEFInd it a little bit, to get it together in
the manuscript form so I can get it out here
to the puppet.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
If anyone would like to help in that process. We're
going to have ways to reach a Shante linked in
the description. And you know, there's even more to their
story that we have time to cover while getting the
word out about their innocence, which of course they've been
fighting to do that ever since their initial appeals about
the insufficiency of the evidence, which is almost impossibly high bar.
(25:17):
After a jury's verdict and they were denied, then Willie
had the opportunity to get the alibi witnesses available to
a Shunte on the record. But it appears kit Laster
had even more to say.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
I was calling home and my mother was confiding to
me that her sister's kit Laster was having nightmares and
could not get a good night's sleep knowing everything that
had just happened. It destroyed the family any trust or
any love for each other. But she did have a
conscious where a lot of people did not have a
(25:51):
conscious in this situation. And it was to the point
where she kept calling my mother and she's like, I
got to do something. This shit ain't right. My mother
was basically well, order Alfa David, come forward, tell them
what you know, and she did, and she even convinced
her husband to come forward.
Speaker 4 (26:11):
So in nineteen ninety nine, Willie files a post conviction.
He got a hearing on it.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
My evidentiary hearing that happened in January third of two thousand.
Alpha Davis were presented from Lachine and Clarence basically attested
today was threatened and you know that's why they didn't
come to court. They came down there and admitted who
threatened them. Kit Laster testified to the fact that the
knight of the murder that her husband Don Laster, had
(26:43):
confided in her and told her that Residad Lewis was
in fact dead, when they hadn't solved the body and
said April.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
An open court, you have testimony of witness tampering and
that Don Laster knew about Reggie's death before the body
was discovered.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
It's kind of like in that situation, but it's like
a fark. Once you throw it in the room, you
can't act like you don't smell it.
Speaker 4 (27:07):
And then it was denied. The quick summary of it is,
it wasn't enough to change the outcome of a Shanty's
case when it was available to him, So you can't
show here that it would be enough to change outcome
of your case.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Even though that evidence far exceeded what was available to
a Shunta a trial. And then, unfortunately and unsurprisingly, that
hearing was the last positive thing to happen in this
story for quite some time. After twenty one years, Willie
was flopped at the parole board for another eight long years,
(27:39):
and then Kim signed on to help a Shuntay with
his parole.
Speaker 4 (27:43):
So in twenty eighteen, a Shanty started to reach out
to me to do a parole packet for him. And
he is a profoundly impressive person who went into the
system at age fifteen. He could barely read and write
but now he's written for the call and post for
the plane Dsler. He has developed and initiated and promoted
(28:04):
and produced programs within the prison system. If there were
a person who exhibited and arguably he didn't need rehabilitation
because he was innocent of this crime, but who has
exhibited the rehability function of prison, it would be a shunty.
I didn't even lead with their innocent because a Pearl
board never wants to hear that I talked about. They
deny involvement, and there's the lack of evidentce your support
(28:25):
of their involvement, but they do take responsibility for what
role he did play in terms of the fight and
thinking there's zero chances man is not getting parole. And
then they were basically like, well, you admitted to beating
up and kidnapping that man, and now you're denying that
you did this.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Even though they never admitted the kidnapping.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
They think the States theories the kidnapping happens on Chanelle
Owen's lawn.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Even though their statements and Chanell Owens' initial statement all
said that Reggie Lewis went with them willingly anyway.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
Pearl denied, but by then I had sunk in my
teeth into the case and I couldn't let it go.
It took some time to really develop family relationships, get
to understand how this all works together, and William Marshall
eventually came forward.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Sean's mother died and that's when William had saw my
mother for the first time since the trials and broke
down and started crying and sobbed and what have you.
After that, he I guess he probably couldn't sleep, and
that's when he came forward.
Speaker 4 (29:26):
William Marshall wrote an AffA David, telling us the truth that
he had always known Ashanti and Willie weren't involved, that
they didn't come with him back to his grandmother's house
with Reggie Lewis, and that he had been bullied and
pressured into saying it was them, because basically the police
were like, you will be gang raped every day, best
of luck to you. We're not going to protect you
(29:48):
from that. They use the term your asshole will be
as big as a grapefruit, and this was something that
as a child he was terrified of. Then he had
family members coming and saying, like his grandmother, you need
to take that deal to protect yourself. So he lied
against Ashanti and Willie, which I think is obvious without
him admitting it, But now with him admitting it, that's
the new evidence you need to go forward.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
He added that was Uncle Don's brother Al who ultimately
shot Reggie Lewis. It's not lost on us that he
was lying back then, and what would stop him from
lying again now? The point is he never was credible,
but there's one big difference this time his word was
corroborated by everyone else.
Speaker 4 (30:27):
And so we filed that. I filed it for a Shanty,
and the state came back and there were a couple
of defenses, all of them equally preposterous. Well, this affidavit
is not believable one because it's possible William Marshall is
involved in the murder. Therefore he's not credible. He was
credible when he was being bought with his life, which
(30:49):
is nowhere in their whole response. They say Willie and
a Shanty are responsible for the murder, which to me is
the point we should just win on that. If the
state is not confident writing that down, then they know
what we know, which is that they're innocent. Number two,
they said this Affidavid's not believable because there's another defendant
in this case, Willy Smith, and he didn't file this
APPA David, which means it's not believable. I respond and say,
(31:12):
Willi Smith doesn't have counsel. I will happily represent him.
I sent a letter to Willie Smith saying do you
mind if I represent you in your innocent's claim. Of
course he is no, I do not mind. Thank you,
thank you, thank you, And we start to represent him,
and then the state suddenly is you have a conflict.
You can't represent both of these people and called us
in like literally, this prosecutor gets in my face about
(31:35):
this conflict, and I'm like, it's not your conflict to raise.
You don't have standing to raise it. I don't know
why we're here in court. I don't know what your
point is, but you don't have standing to raise it.
Willy can raise it a shunt, he can raise it.
But they didn't. They waived it, and here we are.
And so both of them were denied without a reason,
just flat out denied by the court, and we took
(31:56):
it to the Court of Appeals, and one that appeal
we were all doing quite literally a happy dance in
our office. When we got to call them both, the
state filed for reconsideration, those were dismissed, and now we're
looking forward to having our day in court and bringing
these guys home.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
The state still needs to exhaust all of their appeals
in order to have a hearing in which the state's
only evidence is no longer available.
Speaker 4 (32:20):
How these prosecutors could literally read a case where the
only evidence is now being recanted and say it doesn't
even warrant a two hour hearing.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
Right unless they persist in continuing to disingenuously posit that
these men admitted to kidnapping Reggie Lewis on Janelle Owens's lawn,
which they simply did not do. So with that, we're
going to go to closing arguments, where, first of all,
I'm just going to tell you guys, I appreciate you
so much for sharing this story. I know it's not
(32:53):
easy and we're all just hoping for justice in this case.
And now I'm going to turn my microphone off and
kick back on my chair and just listen anything else
you want to say. Kim, let's kick it off with
you and then a shunte and Willie, if you could
take us off into the sunset.
Speaker 4 (33:12):
My final thoughts on the matter are that we're getting
our day in court. Finally, we would love to fill
the court room with support. Hit me up on my
Instagram at Kim Law Krim Law if you have any
information about this, if you want to show support in
some way. But it's important that we engage the community
so that we can let these elected officials know that
(33:33):
we both are entitled to and expect that justice and
due process be served.
Speaker 5 (33:39):
I have to say that this has been taxing, sir.
Never in my wowdest imagination what I ever thought I
would be in a situation like this. Also, to have
my relatives to be the people that will be inspired
and they get in system. You know, it's heart wrenching,
truly was it is. And I'm telling you to be
(34:00):
in here, thrown away since I was fifteen years old
in this place, this experience has tried to strip me
of everything sacred, which is my humanity, which is my decency,
which is my self respect. And I watch every day
people lose that. I watch the men and lose themselves
(34:21):
every single day. And I've been fighting and resisting it,
and I'm tired, and my brother's tired and my mother's tired,
and it's time for justice. Time for truth and justice.
That's what we're fighting for. That's what we're striving for,
the truth and justice. I will pray and hope that
anyone that is decent and kind and that wants to
live in a society that's just equitable, fair, who wants
(34:42):
to participate in this process to help me and my brother.
We claim our freedom because it's just our right. We
should have never lost it to begin with. That's all
I have to say for to day.
Speaker 3 (34:54):
Well, I guess I'm wanna quote Doctor King injustice anyway.
Where is a threat to justice everywhere. A huge injustice
is taking place in this case between me and my brother,
and you know, I know it's covered in shit. Somebody
got to be brave enough to work to shovel. And
(35:18):
I'll leave you with that.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
You can listen to.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
This and all the Lava for Good podcasts one week
early by subscribing to Lava for Good Plus.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
On Apple Podcasts.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
I want to thank our production team, Connor Hall and
Kathleen Fink, as well as my fellow executive producers Jeff Kempler,
Kevin Wartis and Jeff Clibern. The music in this production
was supplied by three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph.
Be sure to follow us across all social media platforms
at Lava for Good and at Wrongful Conviction. You can
also follow me on Instagram at it's Jason Flamm. Wrongful
(35:58):
Conviction is the production of Life Ober for Good podcasts
and association with Signal Company Number one
In February of nineteen ninety five, on the East side
of Cleveland, sixteen year old William Marshall survived in arm robbery.
Rumors swirled about a usual suspect named Reggie Lewis. On
March twenty eighth, nineteen ninety five, the victim's cousins, Willie
and Ashante Smith, ran into Reggie, who denied involvement, offering
(00:26):
to go with them to their cousins and clear his name.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Over a week.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Later, Reggie Lewis's body was found in a wooded area,
and eventually William Marshall blamed Willie and Ashante.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
But this is wrongful conviction.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Wrongful conviction has always given voice to innocent people in prison,
and now we're expanding that voice to you. Call us
at eight three three two o seven four and tell
us how these stories make you feel and what you've
done to help the cause, even if it's something as
simple as telling a friend or sharing on social media,
and you might just hear yourself in a future episode.
(01:12):
Call us A three three two seven four six sixty six.
Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction, where we have a Cleveland
family that was ripped apart, literally ripped apart by the
(01:33):
wrongful conviction of Ashante and Willie Smith. But before we
introduce them, I want to welcome back their appella, attorney
Kim Carral, thank you for having me, and of course
the two men who continue to endure the effects of
their own cousins lie, both of whom are calling in
(01:54):
from correctional facilities in Ohio. First, the younger of the two,
Ashante Smith, thank you for having me. And his older
brother Willie, thank you guys both.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
For joining us.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Absolutely no problem.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
And this goes back to mid nineties nineteen ninety five,
when so called tough on crime politicians had been elected
around the country to prosecute the war on drugs, which
was really just a war on people, the American people,
when what we had was a humanitarian crisis which became
(02:28):
known as the crack epidemic.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
Not only were we talking about tough on crime politicians
in the nineties, but we were talking about like these
super criminals, particularly juveniles, and so that kind of sets
a tone for this case. Because Willy and a Shanty
were fifteen and nineteen. And when I say that, as
Shanty was like, there're a fifteen year old who looked
like adults and fifteen year old who look like ten
year olds. That's how I would describe as shanty at
(02:50):
that time. I mean he was fifteen, but he was
very young.
Speaker 5 (02:53):
I was fifteen years old when I left, so I
didn't experience much like My mother was a single parent,
grady four children. My parents divorced when I was I
was just about four or five years old.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
My father, he was kind of a fusive dude. We
would be eating at the table and he might come
in and just flip the whole God damn playball, you
know what I'm saying. Food everywhere. And my mother eventually divorced.
We were living on Kingsmen when I stayed across from
my grandmother. That's before the divorce, and we were moved
down to the projects project housing called Longwood Estates, and
(03:24):
they basically got settled.
Speaker 5 (03:25):
On East time of the Firs Street. In you, it's
fourth of us.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
I was a third child.
Speaker 5 (03:28):
My second brother is right.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
She and my sister Satan and where I'm the oldest
of three other siblings. My mother comes from a big family,
so she had her sisters Andretta kid Agatha and one
of her sisters who was murdered collect Marshall, being you
had her brother who had committed suicide back before I
was born.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
My understanding is Lucretia Ashantine, Willie's mom. She basically was
the one to find him and that further solidified her
position as I the black sheep in the family. So
Lucretia and her sisters all have children, but really her
(04:09):
children are other than some of the other cousins. And
when one of Lucretia's sisters dies, Grandma takes that child in.
That's William Marshall.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
There was always a different type of treatment towards us
being sneels versus how my other cousins was treated by
my grandmother.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
But William Marshall really is the golden boy in this
group of cousins to Grandma.
Speaker 5 (04:37):
And our cousins came around, you know, we spent time
with them, and we're all relatively in the same age bracket.
My one cousin, William, one year older than me, and
then my older cousin Laney, is a few years older
than my.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Brother, Sean Laney, and his mother and Dretta William Marshall
and his grandma Sarah Marshall, and then Kit Laster who
married Don laster. They all lived close to each other,
while the Smiths lived about five miles away near the
victim in this case, Reggie Lewis.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
I didn't know.
Speaker 5 (05:06):
I've seen you around the neighborhood. He was definitely a
reputation because at around his time, guys in the neighborhoods
with robbing people, Stars jackets, Chicago bulls, jackets, raiders, jackets,
or they were robbing and shooting killing people for him. So,
mister Lewis, he was grappling with a drug addiction, which
I believe that led him out into the streets to
rob people to feed his addiction.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Have you ever seen a wire?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Not trying to, you know, disparage him, but I would
describe Reggie as being like what Omar was. He was
a terror. He was on drugs and he was calls
in habit, making a lot of enemies and doing a lot.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Then in February nineteen ninety five, William Marshall was in
the Smith's neighborhood when a mass gunman attacked.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
I believe it was over like a Mooney Tunes jacket.
Speaker 5 (05:52):
He got shot in his back and I think he
came out his neck. He went through surgery. It was serious.
He almost lost his life.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
And so a kid gets rob a gunpoint and no
one's trying to figure out who did it or what happened,
except for the other members of the family, the sort
of cousin group who's trying to protect their own.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
The Knight of William shooting Sean. Ronnie Johnson, the friend
of Sean Laney and a few other guys went through
my neighborhood and they jumped out on a few guys
in rough house a little bit, and they came up
with Reggie Lewis name.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
And then on March twenty eighth, nineteen eighty five, Willie
and Ashante were driving around with their friends Rasheen Bledsoe
and Clarence Brown, and they ran into Reggie in front
of their friend Chanel Owens his house.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Chanela Owens comes to the car and basically expresses that
another drug addict named Scott lad Rocket had just jumped
on Reggie beat him up a little bit, and she
was like, I want Reggie Lewis by my jar and
he won't leave. Everybody jumped out the car, but I
remember the name. I said, ain't you the one supposed
to be? And he says, I didn't shoot nobody. You
got me le fed up and we got to fighting.
(06:58):
And then the course of us fighting, he basically like,
I didn't do it, but I know who did. And
base vlase you could take me to your cousin. He
is seated. I ain't the one that shot in. I
don't know why everybody put my name in that shit.
I ain't had nothing to do with it. It was somebody else.
So I'm like, okay, well let's go. So we get
it to the car. He's not being restrained, he's not
(07:19):
being pushed into the no damn car, none of that.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
And we roll out and Chanelle Owen's immediate statement to
the police is that he goes Willingly with Willie and
Ashanti and their two friends. Later, she testifies that they
all get into a fight and they kidnap him.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
It was doing today. So I'm assuming that William is
at school or wherever the hell he's supposed to be,
but he's nowhere around. I go to the van various
station Warrensville to go run down on my cousin Sean.
He walks up to the car. He said, that's Reggie.
I say it's Reggie, right, here. He said, he didn't
have nothing to do with that. Why is y'all putting
(07:57):
his name in it? And he basically like, oh right, well, look,
we're gonna find out then. So he gets in the
car and we all go to my uncle's house, Donald
Lasser's house in kid Marshall's house down the street from
my grandmother's house, Sarah Marshall. So we rolled up in there,
me and the chante and Sean proceeded to my aunt's house.
(08:18):
You know, he wasn't gonna walk up in there with
all these people. She had a fit. And as soon
as we get up in the house, the whole tone
changed with Sean like, that's the dude, who did it?
Why did you bring you down? Now? He nowhere our
aunt's day. My aunt chimes in, kid laughter chimes in
at the time like yeah, if he shoot him, he
(08:39):
has shoot us. And you know, I'm saying, hold on, man,
the man said he didn't do it, So you know
what I'm saying, I'm not about to do nothing to
this duty. And I asked him, I say, look, man,
go and check it out with Williams. If he didn't
do it, he cool. Sean says, well, I'll take care
of her from here.
Speaker 5 (08:55):
Man and Missus Lewis got the car with Sean Leney,
Missus Johnson's the food truck. My brother, myself and our
two friends. We left. We didn't see what it.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
We didn't even see them leave, and so that is
the end of their engagement with what turns out to
be a murder.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
You're listening to Romful Conviction. You can listen to this
and all the Lava for Good podcasts one week early
and ed free by subscribing to Lava for Good Plus
on Apple Podcasts.
Speaker 5 (09:39):
Of Horse we ate my grandmother. My brother and I
did see her at a hall restore around three thirty
four o'clock of the evening with our two friends. To say,
two frands, the same white car. We Drepp be driving
these all day.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Actually she saw them on the other side of town before.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
She goes home, which corroborated Willie and Chante's version of events.
They saw their grandmother shortly after leaving Reggie Lewis with
their cousins. Meanwhile, as that day turned into the next,
Reggie's mother began to wonder where her son was.
Speaker 5 (10:08):
His mother said at trial that we need to hear
from me. He clawed down to the police department and
found police before and he said a few days later
the body was recovering.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
It's April eighth, nineteen ninety five. A kindergarten class is
walking through a public park in Warrensville, which is about
twenty minutes from where the crime occurred, and in the
ravine they find a pretty decomposed human body. Kindergarteners and
so this gets a ton of attention. So once they're
able to identify that it's Reggie Lewis, they start like
(10:40):
a backwards investigation of like, who doesn't like Reggie Lewis,
And they become aware that he's in a fight in
Chanelle Owen's yard, And when they first talked to Shanelle Owens,
she says, yes, he was in a fight in my
yard with this person. And then he was in a
fight my yard with Willie Nashanti Smith and their two friends,
and he got in the car with that and then
they drove off.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
On April nineteenth, nineteen eighty five, despite Chanelle's initial statement
that Reggie had gotten into the car Willingly, both Willie
and Ashante were arrested for kidnapping and had an additional
assault charge attacked on.
Speaker 5 (11:14):
The kick During about six thirty seven o'clock in the morning,
our team ran in the house and masked on machine guns.
Was terrified and told me and my brother was were arrested.
Our questions and I was fifteen years old at the time,
but they questioned me anyway before my mother even got there.
But I didn't have that to offer other than the
fact that he got in a fight and we dropped
the guy off, and that was the truth.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
I walked through the door. The interrogation wrong that check
this Spira says, slid out. We know you didn't kill him,
we know you just dropped him off. The first one
to talk is this one to get the deal. So
what are you saying? If I don't talk, you're going
to put a case on me.
Speaker 5 (11:49):
We didn't completely come out and say who we dropped
him off to. That's true. We didn't do that, and
maybe we should have said we saw mister Lewis leave
with our cousin and his friend and become a listen
and dead. You know one plus two equals what it does, right?
Speaker 3 (12:04):
I told them, I said, well, shit, it seemed like
you already know everything. So if you know I dropped
him off then you know he was alive, and well,
then what am I here for? You talking to the
wrong dude, And it was like, well that's not like
hot his words, And my mother and my grandfather on
my father's side of the family happened to come in
(12:27):
and sit down and see seeing where it was going,
and told me not to say another word. And I
have not said another word into this interview today.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
Now they do a search in a Chante's room. They
find a gun, but it doesn't match the bullets that
shot Reggie.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
At that time, Me and a Chante are only charged
with kidnapping it, and Shant has an additional charge of assault.
Speaker 5 (12:53):
I was you and now own of county jail. They
had me the most their adultter he once until they
found out I was you and now and a salemate
who was about will was about like twenty eight years old.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
William Marshall has not been involved or picked up or
charged yet.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
An alleged anonymous tip led Detective Sparra to William Marshall.
Speaker 5 (13:15):
Whoever made the tip said that they witnessed the murder
in the basement of William's homes that he lived with
from a grandmother, and he identified to Sean Laney, William
Marshall and my uncle's and this would led them to
execute the warrant at the home.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
They searched William Marshall's house and find blood bullets. I mean,
the house has been cleaned, but there's still remnants of
blood all over the basement, all over.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
A nine millimeter bullet was collected and the prology came
back consistent with Reggie Lewis's blood, leading to William Marshall's arrest,
as well as a renewed offer to a Chante and
Willie catcha Sparah.
Speaker 5 (13:57):
Was told me he had told my mother that he
knew that me and my brother did not commit this crime.
He said he knew that we were not there, but
he told me he could not help us if we
could not help him. He implied to me that if
I put myself there and say I saw what happened,
he could help me and my brother. But neither I
(14:17):
nor my brother was willing to put ourselves in that
basement and say that we saw something that we didn't see.
WILLI was willing to do it.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
And they basically tell William Marshall they think it had
to have been William Ashanti and they tell William Marshall,
you are going to get raped in prison. Your asshole
will be the size of a grapefruit. We cannot protect
you in adult prison. If you agree to this one
year deal in the juvenile detention center and testify against
your cousins, you can be done with this. And there's
(14:46):
like the family dynamic here. Grandma wants to protect William Marshall,
who she is raising. Meanwhile, we sort of have black
sheep Lucretia's two sons, and his grandma tells him take
the deal.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Donald Last and Sarah Marshall were having visits with him,
and we're not having visits with a chante, and they
were prepping him on what to say and what not
to say, and they were getting ready to put the
screws and fuck us all the way around.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
And the statement was carefully crafted to kind of make
William into a passive observer. That Willy and a Shante
dragged Reggie Lewis into their grandma's basement, ordered William to
find some twine. William then gave them phone court and
then went upstairs to be a lookout. They tied Reggie
up shot him ordered William to get some sheets to
(15:33):
wrap the body, and then Willie and a shunte dragged
the body out to the trunk of a car and
William cleaned.
Speaker 5 (15:40):
Up the basement that day.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
I had never ever saw William Marshall. William Marshall never
saw me. The only person that saw me that day
was Sean Lanny, Ronnie Johnson, hit Laster, and my grandmother,
Sarah Marshall, who saw us for when she was coming
out of the hardware store, which inadvertently solidify my alibi.
(16:08):
I feel because if you saw us with these two guys,
and my aunt saw us at her house with these
two guys, that was with us when we dropped this
man off alive, and well, why am I going to trial?
Speaker 4 (16:22):
Willie is tried first, And that's largely because Willy is
an adult and ashunty first had to go through the
bindover program. It'd be bound over from juvenile court to
adult court. William Marshall, because he takes this deal, never
gets bound over. He gets a one year sentence for
his role in a murder and then he's done. But
unfortunately for Willie, he didn't have much of a defense.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Oh no, the streets and the other suspects. Was getting
teed that I was convicted of his crime. By making
sure that nobody, no witnesses came up at my trial.
I was naive to believe that you got a subpoena.
Ay no, not come in the court. Oh excuse me, shit,
because I said, subpoenas out to kid laughter Raa Sheen Blasso,
Clarence Brown. In my mind, it was time to list
(17:09):
ey voice to sing, and you know, nobody showed.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Up without an alibi. William Marshall's statement went unchallenged. Rather,
it was supported by Chanelle Owens, who had changed her
story to say that Reggie had not gone with the
Smiths willingly. So Willie was convicted in September nineteen ninety five.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
You got to put yourself at the time when all
this is going on too. So it was a little
bit of hostility going on because of the oj situation,
you know, and his verdict that it just transpired three
days prior to my verdict. You got you know, CEOs
Deputy Shares making comments, even got the judge chiming in
about that. Basically everybody felt like he got away with something.
(17:50):
So I'm hearing, you know, with this one, won't you know?
When the jury came back and said that I was
guilty of kidnapping, I knew that it was a lie.
When they said I was not guilty of the first
kind of aggravated murder, I was relieved. And then when
he went to the third kind of aggravated murder and
said I was not guilty of prior calculation and design,
(18:10):
not guilty of the gun specification, and not guilty of
being the principal offender, I was like, whoa hold on,
that's a lot of not guilty. And then they turned
around and went to having a weapon under disability charge
and found me not guilty as that as well, and
an argument ensued with my attorneys with the judge. They
(18:32):
was like, hold on, the state's theory was that this
guy was executed by this guy, and the jury just
said that he didn't have a gun. He's not the
main guy. Did I did not commit this crime with
prior calculation of design, but yet I ended up with
a thirty the life sentence. I ended up going to
jail for a crime that I didn't commit, and that
(18:53):
basically a jury of my peers took the gun out
of my hand. That William Marshall was so willing to
put in my hand.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
It sounds like there was a conflict among jurors who
reached a compromise. But hell of a compromise it was.
The result was still thirty the life. And then Ashante
went to trial the following spring of nineteen ninety six.
Speaker 5 (19:15):
I was petrified, I got to be honest with you.
I was going to lie and trying to take a deal.
I was thinking about doing it just to save myself,
because people do this every single day in this system,
just to save themselves. This is how cool the system is. Well,
I went to trial for my brother to know that
the truth can get out because I was thinking I
was under disillusion that if you told the truth and
(19:36):
it's staying.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
By the time Ashante went to trial, his family and
other alibi witnesses were now willing to testify.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
Maybe they thought Willy would be fine because he didn't
do it and they didn't need to put themselves out there,
and so they didn't show up for him. But then
when Willy was convicted, they were like, Oh, this is
our come to Jesus moment. We need to show up
for a Shanti. I don't know what happened but could
be attributable to like more time went by and the
family had some time to process what was happening. But
by the time as Shunty goes to trial, he has
(20:05):
uncle don Kit has all of these people coming in
to testify that Shunty and Willie were with Reggie Lewis,
but that they laughed.
Speaker 5 (20:14):
Yeah, both of our friends was with us the entire time.
They testified to this. At my trial, they testified that
they witnessed mister Lewis get out of the white car
and get into the Booch truck with our cousin and
his friend. I'm thinking to myself that okay, if the
truth is here, they have to see it now. I'm
going to be found not guilty, and I'm thinking that
(20:36):
they would have some positive ramification for my brother as
well too. Though the opposite happened. The prosecutor played it
as they said, if our two friends. This is seeming
to the bar imagination, despite the fact that six additional
witnesses is saying the same thing that testified at the trial.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
And Grandma trying to play the middle ground. She did
if actually she saw them on the other side of
town before she goes home. She testifies she sees him
on the other side of town, so it couldn't have
been them. But the state comes in with their star witness,
William Marshall, who has been given the sweetheart deal of
a lifetime.
Speaker 5 (21:11):
He gets upon a stand and he tells a story
that makes absolutely no sense.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
William Marshall testifies that he and Willian Ashanti brought Reggie
Lewis over to his grandma's house, took him into the basement,
tied him up, shot him, killed him, and then took
his body to Warrensville. Now, how that all was feasible,
how it all went down, There's a thousand gaps and
holes in his testimony.
Speaker 5 (21:37):
There was no physical evidence that links me and my
brother to that basement or two victims. So we get
to the victims clothes and the victim's body, no hair fiber,
no finger prints in nothing.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
But it was just treated as true. William and Shunty
were convicted and it's essentially been thirty years.
Speaker 5 (21:56):
Did you come back in and they say guilt till
no charges? And I heard my mother and I heard
my sister behind me, and they were stopping. I heard tall.
My mother kept saying it's not there, it's not there,
It's just not there. And then I had to kick me.
When I knew that my life was evaluable, I knew
(22:20):
that the system did not care at all. I knew
the truth. But it's not necessary. Ain't thinking about a conviction?
Who get it in that.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
I'm sitting in the Lorraine Correctional Institution, which is reception
when you come to prison. I'm waiting to be classed
and see what prison I'm gonna go to. And then
you know, they woke me up in the middle of
the night and told me I was going to s OCF.
And I've seen all the older guys ship their head
from undercovers because they knew where that was the time.
That's Lucasville. So I'm I'm going maximum security, and you know,
(23:07):
you gotta do what you gotta do to survive. You know,
my brother he had to go to Madison because I
think that was where they was housing the juveniles at
the time.
Speaker 5 (23:17):
I stayed in to Madison until I was eighteen years old,
and then they sent me to Lucas Hill.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
I guess after they gave him enough milk, it was
time to send him to the big house too.
Speaker 5 (23:29):
I wat to a place that was petrifying, sir, I'm
talking about. I walked to the place that looked like
it was just one of those old if you look
at yourself on PEV with the bars and the powers
and the mean faceguards and then you know, with the
glee clubs in the hand, and you know, don't talk,
don't say nothing, you just keep the high forty they speak,
you don't speak in I just that's that's what.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
That's what was my first in its experience, we saw
each other. And I'm so proud of my brother because
I saw a lot of guys his age come in
and be destroyed, you know, basically lose their mind. And
my brother, you know, he educated hisself and he basically
became the man that he is today. And you know,
I mean, in a situation like this, I hate to
(24:12):
be in it with anybody, but if I had to
go through it, I'd ready to go through it with
one of the strongest people I know.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
But Shunte has even written a book.
Speaker 5 (24:21):
Well the book is called A Life Portrayed and it's
about me and my brother, and it chroniclizes my childhood
and my early experiences in the home is just growing
up the neighborhood and going to school, my struggles at school,
and my discoveries about myself as far as his case
went forward, and how I went to prison. I taught
myself how to read and tap myself how to write,
and began to read books. I became a voracious reader
(24:44):
and began to write and study. Found my voice. And
that's what book is about. And I've been trying to
rEFInd it a little bit, to get it together in
the manuscript form so I can get it out here
to the puppet.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
If anyone would like to help in that process. We're
going to have ways to reach a Shante linked in
the description. And you know, there's even more to their
story that we have time to cover while getting the
word out about their innocence, which of course they've been
fighting to do that ever since their initial appeals about
the insufficiency of the evidence, which is almost impossibly high bar.
(25:17):
After a jury's verdict and they were denied, then Willie
had the opportunity to get the alibi witnesses available to
a Shunte on the record. But it appears kit Laster
had even more to say.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
I was calling home and my mother was confiding to
me that her sister's kit Laster was having nightmares and
could not get a good night's sleep knowing everything that
had just happened. It destroyed the family any trust or
any love for each other. But she did have a
conscious where a lot of people did not have a
(25:51):
conscious in this situation. And it was to the point
where she kept calling my mother and she's like, I
got to do something. This shit ain't right. My mother
was basically well, order Alfa David, come forward, tell them
what you know, and she did, and she even convinced
her husband to come forward.
Speaker 4 (26:11):
So in nineteen ninety nine, Willie files a post conviction.
He got a hearing on it.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
My evidentiary hearing that happened in January third of two thousand.
Alpha Davis were presented from Lachine and Clarence basically attested
today was threatened and you know that's why they didn't
come to court. They came down there and admitted who
threatened them. Kit Laster testified to the fact that the
knight of the murder that her husband Don Laster, had
(26:43):
confided in her and told her that Residad Lewis was
in fact dead, when they hadn't solved the body and
said April.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
An open court, you have testimony of witness tampering and
that Don Laster knew about Reggie's death before the body
was discovered.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
It's kind of like in that situation, but it's like
a fark. Once you throw it in the room, you
can't act like you don't smell it.
Speaker 4 (27:07):
And then it was denied. The quick summary of it is,
it wasn't enough to change the outcome of a Shanty's
case when it was available to him, So you can't
show here that it would be enough to change outcome
of your case.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Even though that evidence far exceeded what was available to
a Shunta a trial. And then, unfortunately and unsurprisingly, that
hearing was the last positive thing to happen in this
story for quite some time. After twenty one years, Willie
was flopped at the parole board for another eight long years,
(27:39):
and then Kim signed on to help a Shuntay with
his parole.
Speaker 4 (27:43):
So in twenty eighteen, a Shanty started to reach out
to me to do a parole packet for him. And
he is a profoundly impressive person who went into the
system at age fifteen. He could barely read and write
but now he's written for the call and post for
the plane Dsler. He has developed and initiated and promoted
(28:04):
and produced programs within the prison system. If there were
a person who exhibited and arguably he didn't need rehabilitation
because he was innocent of this crime, but who has
exhibited the rehability function of prison, it would be a shunty.
I didn't even lead with their innocent because a Pearl
board never wants to hear that I talked about. They
deny involvement, and there's the lack of evidentce your support
(28:25):
of their involvement, but they do take responsibility for what
role he did play in terms of the fight and
thinking there's zero chances man is not getting parole. And
then they were basically like, well, you admitted to beating
up and kidnapping that man, and now you're denying that
you did this.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Even though they never admitted the kidnapping.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
They think the States theories the kidnapping happens on Chanelle
Owen's lawn.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Even though their statements and Chanell Owens' initial statement all
said that Reggie Lewis went with them willingly anyway.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
Pearl denied, but by then I had sunk in my
teeth into the case and I couldn't let it go.
It took some time to really develop family relationships, get
to understand how this all works together, and William Marshall
eventually came forward.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Sean's mother died and that's when William had saw my
mother for the first time since the trials and broke
down and started crying and sobbed and what have you.
After that, he I guess he probably couldn't sleep, and
that's when he came forward.
Speaker 4 (29:26):
William Marshall wrote an AffA David, telling us the truth that
he had always known Ashanti and Willie weren't involved, that
they didn't come with him back to his grandmother's house
with Reggie Lewis, and that he had been bullied and
pressured into saying it was them, because basically the police
were like, you will be gang raped every day, best
of luck to you. We're not going to protect you
(29:48):
from that. They use the term your asshole will be
as big as a grapefruit, and this was something that
as a child he was terrified of. Then he had
family members coming and saying, like his grandmother, you need
to take that deal to protect yourself. So he lied
against Ashanti and Willie, which I think is obvious without
him admitting it, But now with him admitting it, that's
the new evidence you need to go forward.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
He added that was Uncle Don's brother Al who ultimately
shot Reggie Lewis. It's not lost on us that he
was lying back then, and what would stop him from
lying again now? The point is he never was credible,
but there's one big difference this time his word was
corroborated by everyone else.
Speaker 4 (30:27):
And so we filed that. I filed it for a Shanty,
and the state came back and there were a couple
of defenses, all of them equally preposterous. Well, this affidavit
is not believable one because it's possible William Marshall is
involved in the murder. Therefore he's not credible. He was
credible when he was being bought with his life, which
(30:49):
is nowhere in their whole response. They say Willie and
a Shanty are responsible for the murder, which to me is
the point we should just win on that. If the
state is not confident writing that down, then they know
what we know, which is that they're innocent. Number two,
they said this Affidavid's not believable because there's another defendant
in this case, Willy Smith, and he didn't file this
APPA David, which means it's not believable. I respond and say,
(31:12):
Willi Smith doesn't have counsel. I will happily represent him.
I sent a letter to Willie Smith saying do you
mind if I represent you in your innocent's claim. Of
course he is no, I do not mind. Thank you,
thank you, thank you, And we start to represent him,
and then the state suddenly is you have a conflict.
You can't represent both of these people and called us
in like literally, this prosecutor gets in my face about
(31:35):
this conflict, and I'm like, it's not your conflict to raise.
You don't have standing to raise it. I don't know
why we're here in court. I don't know what your
point is, but you don't have standing to raise it.
Willy can raise it a shunt, he can raise it.
But they didn't. They waived it, and here we are.
And so both of them were denied without a reason,
just flat out denied by the court, and we took
(31:56):
it to the Court of Appeals, and one that appeal
we were all doing quite literally a happy dance in
our office. When we got to call them both, the
state filed for reconsideration, those were dismissed, and now we're
looking forward to having our day in court and bringing
these guys home.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
The state still needs to exhaust all of their appeals
in order to have a hearing in which the state's
only evidence is no longer available.
Speaker 4 (32:20):
How these prosecutors could literally read a case where the
only evidence is now being recanted and say it doesn't
even warrant a two hour hearing.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
Right unless they persist in continuing to disingenuously posit that
these men admitted to kidnapping Reggie Lewis on Janelle Owens's lawn,
which they simply did not do. So with that, we're
going to go to closing arguments, where, first of all,
I'm just going to tell you guys, I appreciate you
so much for sharing this story. I know it's not
(32:53):
easy and we're all just hoping for justice in this case.
And now I'm going to turn my microphone off and
kick back on my chair and just listen anything else
you want to say. Kim, let's kick it off with
you and then a shunte and Willie, if you could
take us off into the sunset.
Speaker 4 (33:12):
My final thoughts on the matter are that we're getting
our day in court. Finally, we would love to fill
the court room with support. Hit me up on my
Instagram at Kim Law Krim Law if you have any
information about this, if you want to show support in
some way. But it's important that we engage the community
so that we can let these elected officials know that
(33:33):
we both are entitled to and expect that justice and
due process be served.
Speaker 5 (33:39):
I have to say that this has been taxing, sir.
Never in my wowdest imagination what I ever thought I
would be in a situation like this. Also, to have
my relatives to be the people that will be inspired
and they get in system. You know, it's heart wrenching,
truly was it is. And I'm telling you to be
(34:00):
in here, thrown away since I was fifteen years old
in this place, this experience has tried to strip me
of everything sacred, which is my humanity, which is my decency,
which is my self respect. And I watch every day
people lose that. I watch the men and lose themselves
(34:21):
every single day. And I've been fighting and resisting it,
and I'm tired, and my brother's tired and my mother's tired,
and it's time for justice. Time for truth and justice.
That's what we're fighting for. That's what we're striving for,
the truth and justice. I will pray and hope that
anyone that is decent and kind and that wants to
live in a society that's just equitable, fair, who wants
(34:42):
to participate in this process to help me and my brother.
We claim our freedom because it's just our right. We
should have never lost it to begin with. That's all
I have to say for to day.
Speaker 3 (34:54):
Well, I guess I'm wanna quote Doctor King injustice anyway.
Where is a threat to justice everywhere. A huge injustice
is taking place in this case between me and my brother,
and you know, I know it's covered in shit. Somebody
got to be brave enough to work to shovel. And
(35:18):
I'll leave you with that.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
You can listen to.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
This and all the Lava for Good podcasts one week
early by subscribing to Lava for Good Plus.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
On Apple Podcasts.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
I want to thank our production team, Connor Hall and
Kathleen Fink, as well as my fellow executive producers Jeff Kempler,
Kevin Wartis and Jeff Clibern. The music in this production
was supplied by three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph.
Be sure to follow us across all social media platforms
at Lava for Good and at Wrongful Conviction. You can
also follow me on Instagram at it's Jason Flamm. Wrongful
(35:58):
Conviction is the production of Life Ober for Good podcasts
and association with Signal Company Number one
Hosts And Creators
Lauren Bright Pacheco
Maggie Freleng
Jason Flom
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