December 17, 2025 • 33 mins
Willie discusses the announcement made by Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich about the Elwood Jones case with the men who prosecuted the case Joe Deters and Mark Peipmeier.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
By Billy Cunningham, the Great America and a studio with
me now is Joe Eaters former how many County prosecutor
also on the High Supreme Court now and Mark Petemar,
who spent how many years prosecuting criminals? Are Mark?
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Did you spend forty four year for six months when
I was activated for Desert storm?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
So you know it's where the bodies are buried? Forty
four years? Bhi Joe.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
First of all, you want to make a statement, Well,
I just want to make sure that your listeners know
that I am on the Supreme Court and this has
got nothing to do with the Supreme Court. I voluntarily
recused myself from anything to do with.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
The Jones case, and.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
I felt compelled to write this letter bill that you
have now and I think it's on your website too,
laying out my concerns with MS. Pillage's press conference is
clearing Elwood Jones of the murder of Roode Nathan, and
I appreciate the opportunity to come in here talk to
you about it. I brought Mark with Ian. Mark was
(01:00):
the trial attorney in this case. I don't know that
many people know Mark's reputation and I wish he wasn't
here to listen to this, but it's stellar. He was
the lead prosecutor in all the Lucasville Right cases. He
was in that office forty years about maybe the best
(01:21):
prosecutor in the state of Ohio. And Mark was the
trial attorney. And I send to be here with us
just in case you had questions about the facts of
this thing.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Mark Pete Meyer did Eldwood Jones murder wrote a Nathan.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yes, tell me why, well, a lot of evidence. In fact,
I was speaking of Joe before. You know, we've tried
some tough cases where you really rely on eyewitnesses only,
and those are the kind of the tough cases. And
people criticize this because it was only quote only, a
circumstantial evidence case. And to me, circumstantial evidence is unrefuted facts,
(01:57):
and these are the unrefuted facts. Elwood Jones was working
on the second floor of the Embassy Suites hotel in
the afternoon of I think it was a Friday afternoon,
setting up a banquet room when a couple arrived to
go into the room next door to where he was working.
That was Joe Kaplan and Elaine Shube. Elwood could have
easily seen them go into that room, and our theory
(02:18):
as he did see them, knew that it was a
couple staying in that room. Later that night, after Elwood
got off of work, rode to Nathan, our victim showed up.
Elwoodt did not realize now that there are three people
in the room. The next morning, the couple that first
arrived went down to breakfast and rote of Nathan is
in the room. She's going to take a shower, and
(02:40):
Elwood is also working in the room right next door.
That day, it's a banquet room with the door open,
and Elwood is a thief. He's a career thief. And
our belief is is that he saw an opportunity, went
in the room because he thought it was open and confronts.
Wrote to Nathan. Rode to Nathan is savagely beaten. He
died of blunt force trauma. There was very little blood
(03:03):
at the scene because it was just beaten to death.
About a half hour later, the couple comes back from breakfast,
open the door and they find Roda Nathan laying on
the floor. All she had on her was a bath towe.
They think, oh my god, she must have had a
heart attack. And they call paramatics and they come and
they're treating her, trying to revive her from what they
(03:23):
believed was a heart attack. Two other things were noticed
by the couple at the time. There was a distinctive
handweight made necklace that Roda always wore around her neck
and it was missing. Also, Elaine Schub noticed there were
hundreds of dollars of cash that she had in her
purse that was taken. One other thing is this is
(03:44):
a you know, thirty years ago or so, and back
then they didn't have the electronic key cards. You needed
a key to get in the door, and the door
latsed automatically, but Joe Kaplan was sure when he left
the room, he did what most people do, checked to
made sure it was securely locked, because they didn't one
it opened with Rooda in. They're taking a shower. When
(04:04):
Rhoda gets to the hospital, she dies. They take her
to the coroner's office and lo and behold, they find
that she died from blunt for's trauma. A couple other
things about her body. There was a couple of distinctive
bruises that were developed on her body. One was very
consistent with a walkie talkie, which some of the workers
in the hotel were issued. Elwood Jones was one of those.
(04:25):
There was also a door chain a latch, which is
kind of an unusual mark to have on a body.
She also had that on her body, and it told
us that whoever did this three things we know for sure.
The person had to have a master key. The person
also had to have a walkie talkie, and the person
also had to have one of these door latches. We
(04:46):
also know that the person that did this took Rhoda's necklace.
When Elwood Jones arrived at work that morning, everybody noticed
he was fine. A couple hours later, people noticed that
his left hand was bandaged, and people said, Elwood, what
happened to your hand? And one person he said, oh,
I was taking some trash out and I fell and
I cut it. And somebody else asked him he says, well,
(05:07):
when I was up on the second floor taking down
that banquet room, a piece of the floor and fell
on my hand and he cut it.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
So some inconsistent things.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Immediately, when Blue Ass started investigating, they realized one very
important thing. Whoever did this had to be in the
hotel that morning and had to have a master key,
and that limited the suspect pool from hundreds of people
in the hotel to about four people. You know what
I'm saying this, I feel like I've given an opening
statement again. But these are the facts, and this is
(05:36):
what we presented to the jury. About four or five
days later, Elwood's hand got very infected and he's thinking,
I'd better do something about this, and he goes to
some clinic and there's a doctor, John McDonough, who taught
at UC Med School, and he was one of the
best hand surgeons in the country. And one day a
(05:56):
month he would volunteer to go to this clinic and
treat people basically for free. It's almost like God said,
I want you there that day because I want someone
to see what Elwood has. And Elwood comes in and
his left hand has severely sworn. It's Elwood, what what
happened to your hand? And he gives them a couple
other stories. And the doctor knows that anytime you've got
(06:16):
a cut in one of your knuckles, chances are you
pop somebody in the mouth. He also knows that inside
the human gum line there's a bacteria Aikinella crodins I
don't know science very well. Hell, I want to Roger
Bacon I Joe couldn't get in, but he had to
settle for saying it's just sad, you know, but we
(06:37):
have standards like you. Anyway, he knew that if I
don't treat this hand for Konella crones or tests for it,
he's going to lose his hand. So even though Elwood
said I cut it on something, he tested for this
bacteria that's in the gum line. Lo and behold, it's
Akonela crodins. In fact, he was so sure of this
he took a picture of Elwood's hand to teach to
(07:00):
his medical students and said, if anybody ever comes in
with a hand swollen like this, you've got to test
for that bacteria because if you don't, they're probably gonna
lose their hands. So when this came out, everybody started
focusing on Elwood. Blue Ash police got a search warrant
for his car, for his home, for his trunk of
his car. A couple things they found. Number one, they
(07:21):
found Milwaukee talkie that actually Joe and I went to Washington,
d C. And had the FBI lab look at it,
and they were able to match it again it's Alwaukee talkie.
There were more than one in that hotel, but it
matched all the rivets and everything matched exactly. The mark
on road in Nathan's check chest. Also in his toolbox
(07:42):
there was one of these door latches and that also
matched the toolmark. The impression of that door lock on
her chest, which is again that's a lot more unusual
than Milwaukee talkie. But the absolute thing that clinched it
all was that pendant of Rooda Nathan. There were a
(08:02):
picture of taking of Roda Nathan wearing that, and it
matched exactly that pendant found in the trunk of Elwood
Jones's car. I think that's a pretty darn good case.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Rhoda is almost reaching back from the grave saying the
evidence of my killing is in possession of the murderer,
and that man was Edward Jones. And Rotea had that
virus in her mouth.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
That was so that's how the infection occurred.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Joe. When I read and you looked at the news
conference of our new prosecutor, Connie Pillage, she uses words
like cheat it in quotes that you and Mark cheated.
She also used terms that you withheld evidence well, in
other words, she's accusing you two of making sure that
an innocent man is convicted and the guilty guy gets
(08:51):
all free. Whoever, this mystery man is with OJ Simpson
in a sand trap. So how do you respond to
this allegation of Connie Pillach, who never tried a criminal
case in her life, that you cheated.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
I'm, frankly, I'm dumbfounded by the allegation. She's further stated
she's cleared him because of modern medical scientific evidence. I
don't know what she's talking about. If she is talking
about hepatitis B. The defense's own witness, in his request
for a new trial, said there was about a thirty
(09:26):
three percent chance of him getting that by punching her
in the mouth.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
So it's not.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
How can you exclude.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Somebody when there's a seventy or sixty seven percent chance
that that could still be true. But the allegation, Look,
I said this in the letter. I hope the people
that are listening to this could have a chance to
read the letter.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
It's not that long.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
It's on our website, it's on your website.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
It's just so offensive.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
If she wants to let this guy go, maybe she says, oh,
you know what, thirty years is enough, the litigation is enough.
In mercy for whatever reason decides to let him go.
I got no problem with that. She's the prosecutor. She
can do whatever she wants. What I take umbrage to
is accusing the prosecutor's office of what I mean, seriously,
(10:22):
she's accusing people of a crime here hiding evidence. I mean,
that is outrageous to make that allegation. There's no proof
of it. And even that, Look, we had the trial,
it went through all the judges in state court, affirmed, affirmed, affirmed,
Then they go to federal court. And when they went
(10:43):
to federal court, they asked for all these documents from
Blush police. We're basically questionnaires given to everybody stay at
the hotel. The vast majority was we didn't see anything.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
That's the thousands of pages of evidence that was hidden,
and then police runs to the hotel. The Federal Court
of Appeals, the judge of at the trial level said
that the material was in fact immaterial and it would
not have affected the outcome of this trial. Then it
(11:16):
went all the way to the six Circuit Court of Appeals,
Federal Court Appeals on the same issues exact same issues,
and they unanimously affirmed that too. So this has been
litigated before, and to claim now that we've hid evidence
or that you can exclude this guy is total bull crap.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Also, she said the modern scientific when she said that, I,
you know, I think about DNA.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
That's what I thought.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
There's no DNA. She was talking about a hepatitis B
that one third of the time is communicated two thirds
of time not Also, Mark Petemyer, you were in charge
of providing to the defense in this case all available evidence.
You've been accused of playing a game of Lucy Hyde
the football, and that you had these thousands and thousands
of pages of inculpatory or exculpatory evidence that you refuse.
(12:10):
You knew what was in there, and you didn't want
to give it to the defense because it proved that
Elwood was innocent. That's the allegation of Connie Pillage. You're
the guy in charge of giving the papers. What do
you say about that one? That's just not true.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
And Bill, you've tried a lot of cases too, including
murder cases, and the rules of discovery back then is
the basically everything you had you gave to the defense.
One thing they were not entitled to were witnesses statements.
Now since then the law has been changed. But as
you know, if I called Joe Deaders as a witness
and he's made a prior statement before you cross examine him,
(12:45):
you can ask the judge to review his prior statement,
and the judge will do that, and if there's anything
in there inconsistent here, say hey here, Bill, you can
cross examined leaders on this because he said some things
different that happened during the trial a couple times.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
That's the only thing that was not given. But again
they had access to it during the trial. All this
other stuff, these questionnaires at Blue ass sent out that
meant nothing. As far as I know, we never got
and we certainly never got afterwards. We never subpoenaed the
records of all the crimes that ever took place in
that hotel. I remember they had some prostitution ring if
(13:19):
you going on back there years ago, that a lot
of people were prosecuted for that, they had some undercover
cops in there.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Those are the kind of records they also subpoened. So
the vast, vast majority of this stuff we never had.
But the federal judge got all this all this stuff
that they said proved he was innocent and that we withheld. Again,
we didn't even have it. The judges looked at it
and says, there's nothing here. This is absolutely nothing that
(13:46):
exculpates Elwood Jones.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
And that's why it's already been ruled on. That's why
when a common police judge basically overruled the federal judge
and the Federal six Circuit Court of Appeals, it's like,
what's going on. Judge Cross never been on the bench before.
She's a brand new judge from the Public Defender's Office,
and she held a four day hearing on emotion for
a new trial, essentially the appetitis B issue and not
(14:11):
giving over the document she used to explain, what's the motivation?
Joe Dieters, what's the motivation?
Speaker 4 (14:16):
I have no idea why you would do this.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
I mean, she's parroting the talking points of the defense attorneys,
which is a good thing sometimes, well for you maybe,
But she's supposed to be representing the state of Ohio.
And you know, and I know this is kind of
personal in nature, but I was the prosecutor and I
litigated this case for twenty five years, and she clearly
(14:42):
talked to the defense attorneys.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
She was in a press commerce.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
She said, oh why send them a screenshot of my
emotion to dismiss the whole case, you know, almost gleefully.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
And she never called me one time.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
I've met her.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
One time, I said, if you need thing, feel free
to call me. Be happy to talk to you about
the office. But so she talks to the I don't
know who she talked to besides these defense attorneys that
she said she talked to. But anyone who thinks that
Ellwood's been excluded, Uh, I'm trying to be judicious about this.
(15:21):
It's either dead wrong or they're lying. You know, they
just don't understand what this What exclusion means, it's gonna turn.
It means he can't possibly be the guy. That's what
Connie Pillage said.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
This cannot be the guy Mark Petemer based upon the
layout of the case. This can and in fact, there's
somebody out there who committed this other than El would
now talk about his record many you didn't talk about it.
He was in his early forties when he committed these crimes.
And you know, I watched the Curtis Fuller interview at
Channel five and almost seem like a he was a
boy scout leader. When we come back, I want you
(15:58):
to talk about the previous record Eldwood Jones. Well, this
misbehavior is consistent, which includes, by the way, assault on
a police officer. We'll talk about that on the other side.
And by the way, the letter is on our Twitter account.
Let's continue with more. Bill Cunningham with Mark Pete Meyer
and Joe Eaters on news Radio seven hundred WLWN. Let's
(16:22):
continue now we have in the studio Joe Meeters and
also Mark Pete Meyer left it kind of hanging because
many times this is such a vicious beating. Some of
wrote his teeth was found in her stomach.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Correct, there was one on the floor of the hotel
room and one was found in her stomach.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Yes, Now, what was the previous criminal record of Elwood Jones.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
You know, it's interesting because when they did the podcast,
the inquiry reported to the original podcast, she says, well, well,
wouldn't no, you're not a saint, or he goes, oh no, no,
I gotta admit I'm a thief. I'm a thief, and
it was all they laughed about that, like it's okay.
But he was more than a thief. He was arrested
five or six times for assault, you know, beating someone,
once for domestic violence, which would have been beating his wife,
(17:05):
once for assault on a police officer. But he was
also arrested four times, four different times for aggravated burglar,
which is breaking into someone's residence to steal something. After
I guess the first couple. He actually was convicted on
one of those and went to prison, apparently convinced the
par board that hey, I've been scared straight, I learned
my lesson. You're not going to see me again. They
(17:27):
cut him loose early, and with a short amount of
time he was arrested and convicted of another burglary and
went down to prison. So Elwood Jones was a career criminal,
and what better place for a guy like him to
work at a nice hotel with a master key.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
It's like a kid in a candy store. One of
the other allegations of County pillage was that there was
someone else who would confessed to the murder of Elwood Jones.
Can you ferret out the facts in that matter?
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Yes, this was first came to light, I think from
one of his attorneys twenty years after the murder happened,
but they had a lady who said back around that
shortly after this happened, she was locked up in the
justice center and her cell mate was a lady I
think her name was Linda Reid. And they get to
be talking, kicking a little bit, and Linda Reid tells
(18:14):
this lady, I have to tell you something. You know
that person that's been arrested on that embassy suite's case. Yes, yes,
well my husband the one is really did it, and
the Blue Ash Police framed that guy for it, but
my husband is really the one.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
That is important stuff right now, Yeah, this is big.
Well somebody confessed to it. So you're Mark Petmer's your
ears looked like a rabbit. Well this is you know,
it is twenty years later, but still, who is this guy?
I mean, I never remember number one. He didn't work
for Blue ass Police. Number two, there's no association with
him in the hotel. And then we find out at
the time this lady is locked up and she's telling
(18:49):
her cellmate this. She's going through a divorce with her husband.
So I'm thinking, well, that's kind of red flag number one.
But I don't say, you know what, I'm gonna go
over and pull the domestic relations court case and see,
maybe this guy is a violent guy and he's constantly
beating the crap out of her, and maybe it's something
like that. When I pull the file, I see it's
Ken Peller, guardian for Ken Peller's a local attorney, guardian
(19:12):
for Linda Red versus mister Reed. And I'm thinking, why
does she have a guardian? I mean, why is she
not participating in the divorce. So I look further and
actually contacted Ken Peller. He says she was incompetent. She
was mentally incompetent to participate. That's the hook upon which
Connie Pillage hanged part of this. Well.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
First of one, it's double hearsay because the guy that
really did it is dead. His wife is really dead,
So the person that did it telling his wife is
hearsay it, and his wife telling this other lady is
double hearsay. So number one, it's legally admissible, inadmissible. But
this lady that said it was found crazy by the
court so much that she couldn't even participate in.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Her own divorce. No way in the world that is evidence.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
But that is the third prong Again, Number one is
the evidence that we withheld that the court said no.
Number two is the hepatitis, which only a third of
the people. In fact, the study that I referred to
us people that use needles of other people, and you're
very likely probably.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
To get it there, but a third of those people
get it. Only a third.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
So anyway, those are the three prongs based on that
he's cleared.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
He's yeah, someone else confessed, Joe talk about hepatitis b
because you told me off there. There was some reference
in the optops optops the well, the defense.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
Initially said, we hid the fact that she had hepatitis.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
Did you do that?
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Well, it was in the autopsy report that they got.
It was in black and white. Yes, it was inlaps,
he said. And I don't have to tell them what
defense to pursue. They can do whatever they want. You know,
it's not my job. But they received information she had hepatitis.
You know the reason I wanted to come her bills.
I was so offended by that press conference.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
I mean, it was.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Factually and fundamentally incorrect, and it was so offensive to
accuse my office of hiding evidence to convict an innocent man.
It I don't know that she realizes the magnitude of
that statement. I mean, if people actually did that, they should.
Speaker 4 (21:21):
Be in jail.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
That it's just beyond defensive to me. And she I
think she owes the prosecutors an apology for this, but
you know she's obviously talking to defense attorneys and that's
who she talks to. So I guess that's the message
(21:44):
you get out of this whole case.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
And Mark Pete Myer. As far as Elwood Jones himself,
I watched an interview on Channel five he did of
a Curtis Fuller positioning himself as a guy who's made
a few mistakes in the past, like beating up your
wife and hitting cops and serving time in prison for
burglaries twice, and now he's seen the light. And when
she uses the term cheated, that you cheated in this case,
(22:07):
how does that strike your heart? It really offends me.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
And again I was asked by Connie Pillitts to stick
around and help with the transition for the office, which
I agreed to do.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
And I you know, she's the other party.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
I supported Missy Powers, and I thought, you know, people
are going to come in and take over the senior positions.
That really have never done this stuff. In fact, within
the first month, I think we had two different police shootings,
and I always went on both of those, on all
of those. So I took the new people out to
show you how we get involved in these police shootings,
what we do when we don't do, how we make decisions.
(22:38):
So you know, I did my best to help with
the transition, you know, just so because I cared about
the office.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
I cared about the county forty four years, yes, And
for them to imply that, and Seth Tiger was the
other person that tried the case, I saw much younger
Mark Petemyer and a much younger Seth Tiger standing up
in nineteen ninety Yes, yes, ninety five or six was
the trial.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
And now we're bent over with walkers. It's not the
same game. But again I just I was stunned. I mean,
I just where did this come from?
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Now another aspect of the case is I can sense
things are often about money, and the county prosecutor is
in charge of representing judges and prosecutors because the county
prosecutor has civil responsibilities, thinking as a civil attorney, which
I think neither maybe you two or none. I don't
know you're on the Supreme Court and you're retired more
(23:26):
or less. What does it do when the county prosecutor
representing the judges and the prosecutors and the sheriff, et cetera,
come in open forums and say, you know what, we
cheat it not we, but you guys cheated, you withheld
evidence and there's new stuff that isn't new stuff. What
(23:47):
does that do for the liability of Hamilman County.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
To me, you're saying we are liable. You know, there's
two things in a civil suit. A is are you
liable for it? And b as how much money do
you get? And she is the has a civil division
that represents the county against lawsuits, and she's basically saying,
we didn't accidentally we may have intentionally sent an innocent
man to death row. I don't think it's if it's
(24:14):
when Ellwood's going to file this huge civil suit against
the county, and if i'm them, witness number one is
County Pillage. Hey, you said he's exonerated and the office cheated.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
I might I sent this letter to the Attorney General's
office today also because if he makes his ridiculous claim
though at least no where to go to talk to
about the facts of the case. I just want to
make it very clear to your listener's bill, my office
doesn't cheat. To make that statement is highly offensive. Elwood
(24:53):
Jones is a murderer. We had the right guy, absolutely
positively sure, and.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
She let him go. Now why she let him go,
I have.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
No idea, But her reasons that she stayed in her
press conference are ridiculous, and they're so easily proved as false.
I can't believe she said it. At this point, where
do we go from here? Ellwood?
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Right now?
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Elwood is a freeman and there's absolutely nothing that can
be done about it. But I just hope that some
truth comes out of that office. You know, when they
make decisions like this of this magnitude. This is a
thirty year old death penalty case, and everyone forgets about
Rhoda Nathan, everyone forgets about the victims family, and they're
(25:42):
this suffering. I talked to her son a couple of
times over the weekend, and his hurt is like it
happened yesterday. Connie said he was disappointed. Yeah, she said,
he's furious. And as a matter of fact, we gave
I think you have his statement bill that he made.
(26:05):
He's stunned, he's sick to his stomach. It went beyond disappointment.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
Mark Pete Maher as far as it's inexplicable, how this
diamond special brooch just happened to show up in the
toolbox of Elwood Jones. And there's no answer other than
somebody planeted it. Uh, you know the O. J. Simpson defense.
Somebody somebody killed, you know, the two gloves and the
blood and the car. Someone did it, and so can
(26:32):
you state for the record. I feel silly asking this
question whether you plant it, the diamond brooch and the
toolbox along with the pass key and the chain link.
Did you plant or did blue eh police plan it
to make sure an innocent man was convicted and a
guilty man sent free. Can you admit whether or not
you did that or not? I want a lawyer. You
want a lawyer. Take the fifth bill.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
If if they're going to frame Elwood, why don't just
get somebody wrote his blood and throw it around his
car or throw it on his clothes.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
The other thing.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
One of the first officers interviewed him and he wasn't
in custody yet, and they talked to him. They could
have said, you know, he told me I didn't mean
to kill her. I didn't think anybody be in I mean,
they could make up a statement. The important thing is, too,
is when as soon as that other couple got back
to the room, they noticed her necklace was gone. So
it's not like it was laying on the floor and
an officer could have picked it up. And plus, why
would you You're thinking this is a piece of evidence.
(27:23):
You're going to put it into evidence. You're going to
put it in a little baggy, you're gonna print it,
You're gonna do that. So theoretically one of the officers
got that, held it till the right time, and then
somehow put it in his toolbox. It's just physically, I
don't know how you could do it.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
So, in a sense, indirectly or directly, Hamnica Prosecutor's office
is accusing a dead blue ash police officer of planning
evidence in the capital case. Yes, Joe, how does well?
It's that's absurd.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
It's one of many offensive statements made by this office
that I would hope people ask the hard questions, how
can you exclude this guy? How can you make these
statements that people hit stuff. I mean, it's just false.
It's it is blatantly false. And that's one thing. And
(28:11):
I said before, if she wants to let the guy go,
that's her. I mean, she's a prosecutor, have mercy. You know,
he's been in there thirty years, whatever, go ahead, let
him go. But to then use just falsehoods for the
reason that evidence was hidden and that new medical scientific
evidence has excluded him, that's just false. And someone else confessed,
(28:34):
I mean, she's making false statements, I mean, just to
her constituents about this case and impugning the reputation of
really good prosecutors that devoted their lives to public service.
And she, you know, she just casually makes that offensive comment,
and it's horrible.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Do you have a concern in the future there's other
noted cases that you two guys handled, and you're two
of one of one hundred and fifty prosecutors in Hamlin County.
When you two guys are there.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
Well, she listens to defense attorneys and not talk to
the prosecutors. She's gonna come the same conclusion on a
bunch of cases. There's not the case of Woganstall Tracy Hunter.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Just line them up let's come up with something here,
Anthony Anthony Kirkland. After all the defense counsel said, you know,
is he is he executed yet?
Speaker 2 (29:22):
No, but he's there's that SMI defense serial mental illness
that they found a doctor to say he has that,
and if he does, the judge can take him off
death row, but.
Speaker 3 (29:33):
Not only off that. Ell would not off death row.
He got to know our bond and it's walking around
Hamilton County right now.
Speaker 4 (29:40):
Well he's he.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
Doesn't even have to know our bond anymore. He's free
with prejudice, which means it's over. It could ever be refiled.
Are you concerned this will be repeated? As part of
your motivation coming here today is to say, okay, this
is Elwood Jones. He got thirty years, which is better
than nothing. But worry about the next case, in the
next case, in the next case. Have you concerned this
(30:01):
this will be repeated?
Speaker 4 (30:03):
I hope it's not, but.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
You know, unfortunately, I'll have to speak out on it
again if it does, and I will, especially if she
uses the reason, oh we hid evidence or you know
something that's totally false scientifically, I mean it's just false.
Speaker 4 (30:21):
I don't know how else to say it.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
And as far as the dead police officer in blue
ash his name's been out there, I hesitate to repeat it.
She's indirectly accusing him or someone like him, of committing
serious felonies while wearing the uniform of a police officer.
He's and by all counts, was a great police officer.
And you know Marx has said this before. You know,
(30:44):
he's got kids, he's got a wife, and to hear
your dead father talked about like this, and if nothing else,
I mean, somebody has to stand up for a road
to Nathan.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
I mean she she came to this this tell for
a bar mitzvah from New Jersey, Yeah, and was brutally murdered.
The evidence is overwhelming on Elwood Jones, and it just
seems like her name gets lost in the shuffle here.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Yeah, came here for a Jewish shavenna about Smithsmah and
all of a sudden she has her teeth punched down
into her stomach. Can you imagine the violence of that attack?
She sixty seven year old woman with Elwood had no chance,
but she fought like a warrior poet and she lost,
and she lost her money out of her purse. She
lost her life, she lost her diamond brooch, almost as
(31:35):
if she said, the killer has my diamond brooch.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
She lost her life, but think about what her family
lost because by all accounts, and I talked to her again.
I talked to her son Val over the weekend twice.
She was just a lovely woman. Just she kept their
family together. And the loss they feel almost hourly.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
And.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
Someone needs to speak for her.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
And I just wish there is more sensitivity to victims
in that office.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Mark Pete, maher thank you. Anything that you want to
add I haven't. I've asked you a few questions here, sir,
Are you okay? I'm okay, You're okay. I'll say hell
out of my wife, Carol. She's listening.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
How many years fifty years in May she going to
keep you or not? We went to the Roger Bacon
prom together, so, oh my gosh, back in a good
old day, back in a good old day.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
Yes, I'm not sure there was so Joe you okay.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
The last thing my wife says said, don't say hi
to me, So I'm not going to do that.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
Well nine stands for news. That's all I know. Well, guys,
good luck and by the way, you think it's over.
I think it's just it's over. It's for Elwood is over.
Speaker 4 (32:39):
It's over for Elk.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
You come forward and confess now. And there's legally nothing
you can do about it because she dismissed it with prejudice.
So Ellwood could say, you know, I found the lord,
beat up cops, beat up my wife, burglarized a bunch
of places, went to prison a few times, and then
all of a sudden, you know, I'm sorry I did,
Murder wrote, I'm very sorry I did, and I beat
(33:01):
her to death and I shouldn't have done it. But
I suspect that will not occur. But if it did,
he's still a free man. Joe, thank you. You worry
about the future, don't you do? This is one case
I do. All right, Mark, thank you, sir, thank you.
Let's continue with more News Radio seven hundred WLW
By Billy Cunningham, the Great America and a studio with
me now is Joe Eaters former how many County prosecutor
also on the High Supreme Court now and Mark Petemar,
who spent how many years prosecuting criminals? Are Mark?
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Did you spend forty four year for six months when
I was activated for Desert storm?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
So you know it's where the bodies are buried? Forty
four years? Bhi Joe.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
First of all, you want to make a statement, Well,
I just want to make sure that your listeners know
that I am on the Supreme Court and this has
got nothing to do with the Supreme Court. I voluntarily
recused myself from anything to do with.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
The Jones case, and.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
I felt compelled to write this letter bill that you
have now and I think it's on your website too,
laying out my concerns with MS. Pillage's press conference is
clearing Elwood Jones of the murder of Roode Nathan, and
I appreciate the opportunity to come in here talk to
you about it. I brought Mark with Ian. Mark was
(01:00):
the trial attorney in this case. I don't know that
many people know Mark's reputation and I wish he wasn't
here to listen to this, but it's stellar. He was
the lead prosecutor in all the Lucasville Right cases. He
was in that office forty years about maybe the best
(01:21):
prosecutor in the state of Ohio. And Mark was the
trial attorney. And I send to be here with us
just in case you had questions about the facts of
this thing.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Mark Pete Meyer did Eldwood Jones murder wrote a Nathan.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yes, tell me why, well, a lot of evidence. In fact,
I was speaking of Joe before. You know, we've tried
some tough cases where you really rely on eyewitnesses only,
and those are the kind of the tough cases. And
people criticize this because it was only quote only, a
circumstantial evidence case. And to me, circumstantial evidence is unrefuted facts,
(01:57):
and these are the unrefuted facts. Elwood Jones was working
on the second floor of the Embassy Suites hotel in
the afternoon of I think it was a Friday afternoon,
setting up a banquet room when a couple arrived to
go into the room next door to where he was working.
That was Joe Kaplan and Elaine Shube. Elwood could have
easily seen them go into that room, and our theory
(02:18):
as he did see them, knew that it was a
couple staying in that room. Later that night, after Elwood
got off of work, rode to Nathan, our victim showed up.
Elwoodt did not realize now that there are three people
in the room. The next morning, the couple that first
arrived went down to breakfast and rote of Nathan is
in the room. She's going to take a shower, and
(02:40):
Elwood is also working in the room right next door.
That day, it's a banquet room with the door open,
and Elwood is a thief. He's a career thief. And
our belief is is that he saw an opportunity, went
in the room because he thought it was open and confronts.
Wrote to Nathan. Rode to Nathan is savagely beaten. He
died of blunt force trauma. There was very little blood
(03:03):
at the scene because it was just beaten to death.
About a half hour later, the couple comes back from breakfast,
open the door and they find Roda Nathan laying on
the floor. All she had on her was a bath towe.
They think, oh my god, she must have had a
heart attack. And they call paramatics and they come and
they're treating her, trying to revive her from what they
(03:23):
believed was a heart attack. Two other things were noticed
by the couple at the time. There was a distinctive
handweight made necklace that Roda always wore around her neck
and it was missing. Also, Elaine Schub noticed there were
hundreds of dollars of cash that she had in her
purse that was taken. One other thing is this is
(03:44):
a you know, thirty years ago or so, and back
then they didn't have the electronic key cards. You needed
a key to get in the door, and the door
latsed automatically, but Joe Kaplan was sure when he left
the room, he did what most people do, checked to
made sure it was securely locked, because they didn't one
it opened with Rooda in. They're taking a shower. When
(04:04):
Rhoda gets to the hospital, she dies. They take her
to the coroner's office and lo and behold, they find
that she died from blunt for's trauma. A couple other
things about her body. There was a couple of distinctive
bruises that were developed on her body. One was very
consistent with a walkie talkie, which some of the workers
in the hotel were issued. Elwood Jones was one of those.
(04:25):
There was also a door chain a latch, which is
kind of an unusual mark to have on a body.
She also had that on her body, and it told
us that whoever did this three things we know for sure.
The person had to have a master key. The person
also had to have a walkie talkie, and the person
also had to have one of these door latches. We
(04:46):
also know that the person that did this took Rhoda's necklace.
When Elwood Jones arrived at work that morning, everybody noticed
he was fine. A couple hours later, people noticed that
his left hand was bandaged, and people said, Elwood, what
happened to your hand? And one person he said, oh,
I was taking some trash out and I fell and
I cut it. And somebody else asked him he says, well,
(05:07):
when I was up on the second floor taking down
that banquet room, a piece of the floor and fell
on my hand and he cut it.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
So some inconsistent things.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Immediately, when Blue Ass started investigating, they realized one very
important thing. Whoever did this had to be in the
hotel that morning and had to have a master key,
and that limited the suspect pool from hundreds of people
in the hotel to about four people. You know what
I'm saying this, I feel like I've given an opening
statement again. But these are the facts, and this is
(05:36):
what we presented to the jury. About four or five
days later, Elwood's hand got very infected and he's thinking,
I'd better do something about this, and he goes to
some clinic and there's a doctor, John McDonough, who taught
at UC Med School, and he was one of the
best hand surgeons in the country. And one day a
(05:56):
month he would volunteer to go to this clinic and
treat people basically for free. It's almost like God said,
I want you there that day because I want someone
to see what Elwood has. And Elwood comes in and
his left hand has severely sworn. It's Elwood, what what
happened to your hand? And he gives them a couple
other stories. And the doctor knows that anytime you've got
(06:16):
a cut in one of your knuckles, chances are you
pop somebody in the mouth. He also knows that inside
the human gum line there's a bacteria Aikinella crodins I
don't know science very well. Hell, I want to Roger
Bacon I Joe couldn't get in, but he had to
settle for saying it's just sad, you know, but we
(06:37):
have standards like you. Anyway, he knew that if I
don't treat this hand for Konella crones or tests for it,
he's going to lose his hand. So even though Elwood
said I cut it on something, he tested for this
bacteria that's in the gum line. Lo and behold, it's
Akonela crodins. In fact, he was so sure of this
he took a picture of Elwood's hand to teach to
(07:00):
his medical students and said, if anybody ever comes in
with a hand swollen like this, you've got to test
for that bacteria because if you don't, they're probably gonna
lose their hands. So when this came out, everybody started
focusing on Elwood. Blue Ash police got a search warrant
for his car, for his home, for his trunk of
his car. A couple things they found. Number one, they
(07:21):
found Milwaukee talkie that actually Joe and I went to Washington,
d C. And had the FBI lab look at it,
and they were able to match it again it's Alwaukee talkie.
There were more than one in that hotel, but it
matched all the rivets and everything matched exactly. The mark
on road in Nathan's check chest. Also in his toolbox
(07:42):
there was one of these door latches and that also
matched the toolmark. The impression of that door lock on
her chest, which is again that's a lot more unusual
than Milwaukee talkie. But the absolute thing that clinched it
all was that pendant of Rooda Nathan. There were a
(08:02):
picture of taking of Roda Nathan wearing that, and it
matched exactly that pendant found in the trunk of Elwood
Jones's car. I think that's a pretty darn good case.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Rhoda is almost reaching back from the grave saying the
evidence of my killing is in possession of the murderer,
and that man was Edward Jones. And Rotea had that
virus in her mouth.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
That was so that's how the infection occurred.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Joe. When I read and you looked at the news
conference of our new prosecutor, Connie Pillage, she uses words
like cheat it in quotes that you and Mark cheated.
She also used terms that you withheld evidence well, in
other words, she's accusing you two of making sure that
an innocent man is convicted and the guilty guy gets
(08:51):
all free. Whoever, this mystery man is with OJ Simpson
in a sand trap. So how do you respond to
this allegation of Connie Pillach, who never tried a criminal
case in her life, that you cheated.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
I'm, frankly, I'm dumbfounded by the allegation. She's further stated
she's cleared him because of modern medical scientific evidence. I
don't know what she's talking about. If she is talking
about hepatitis B. The defense's own witness, in his request
for a new trial, said there was about a thirty
(09:26):
three percent chance of him getting that by punching her
in the mouth.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
So it's not.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
How can you exclude.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Somebody when there's a seventy or sixty seven percent chance
that that could still be true. But the allegation, Look,
I said this in the letter. I hope the people
that are listening to this could have a chance to
read the letter.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
It's not that long.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
It's on our website, it's on your website.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
It's just so offensive.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
If she wants to let this guy go, maybe she says, oh,
you know what, thirty years is enough, the litigation is enough.
In mercy for whatever reason decides to let him go.
I got no problem with that. She's the prosecutor. She
can do whatever she wants. What I take umbrage to
is accusing the prosecutor's office of what I mean, seriously,
(10:22):
she's accusing people of a crime here hiding evidence. I mean,
that is outrageous to make that allegation. There's no proof
of it. And even that, Look, we had the trial,
it went through all the judges in state court, affirmed, affirmed, affirmed,
Then they go to federal court. And when they went
(10:43):
to federal court, they asked for all these documents from
Blush police. We're basically questionnaires given to everybody stay at
the hotel. The vast majority was we didn't see anything.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
That's the thousands of pages of evidence that was hidden,
and then police runs to the hotel. The Federal Court
of Appeals, the judge of at the trial level said
that the material was in fact immaterial and it would
not have affected the outcome of this trial. Then it
(11:16):
went all the way to the six Circuit Court of Appeals,
Federal Court Appeals on the same issues exact same issues,
and they unanimously affirmed that too. So this has been
litigated before, and to claim now that we've hid evidence
or that you can exclude this guy is total bull crap.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Also, she said the modern scientific when she said that, I,
you know, I think about DNA.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
That's what I thought.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
There's no DNA. She was talking about a hepatitis B
that one third of the time is communicated two thirds
of time not Also, Mark Petemyer, you were in charge
of providing to the defense in this case all available evidence.
You've been accused of playing a game of Lucy Hyde
the football, and that you had these thousands and thousands
of pages of inculpatory or exculpatory evidence that you refuse.
(12:10):
You knew what was in there, and you didn't want
to give it to the defense because it proved that
Elwood was innocent. That's the allegation of Connie Pillage. You're
the guy in charge of giving the papers. What do
you say about that one? That's just not true.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
And Bill, you've tried a lot of cases too, including
murder cases, and the rules of discovery back then is
the basically everything you had you gave to the defense.
One thing they were not entitled to were witnesses statements.
Now since then the law has been changed. But as
you know, if I called Joe Deaders as a witness
and he's made a prior statement before you cross examine him,
(12:45):
you can ask the judge to review his prior statement,
and the judge will do that, and if there's anything
in there inconsistent here, say hey here, Bill, you can
cross examined leaders on this because he said some things
different that happened during the trial a couple times.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
That's the only thing that was not given. But again
they had access to it during the trial. All this
other stuff, these questionnaires at Blue ass sent out that
meant nothing. As far as I know, we never got
and we certainly never got afterwards. We never subpoenaed the
records of all the crimes that ever took place in
that hotel. I remember they had some prostitution ring if
(13:19):
you going on back there years ago, that a lot
of people were prosecuted for that, they had some undercover
cops in there.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Those are the kind of records they also subpoened. So
the vast, vast majority of this stuff we never had.
But the federal judge got all this all this stuff
that they said proved he was innocent and that we withheld. Again,
we didn't even have it. The judges looked at it
and says, there's nothing here. This is absolutely nothing that
(13:46):
exculpates Elwood Jones.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
And that's why it's already been ruled on. That's why
when a common police judge basically overruled the federal judge
and the Federal six Circuit Court of Appeals, it's like,
what's going on. Judge Cross never been on the bench before.
She's a brand new judge from the Public Defender's Office,
and she held a four day hearing on emotion for
a new trial, essentially the appetitis B issue and not
(14:11):
giving over the document she used to explain, what's the motivation?
Joe Dieters, what's the motivation?
Speaker 4 (14:16):
I have no idea why you would do this.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
I mean, she's parroting the talking points of the defense attorneys,
which is a good thing sometimes, well for you maybe,
But she's supposed to be representing the state of Ohio.
And you know, and I know this is kind of
personal in nature, but I was the prosecutor and I
litigated this case for twenty five years, and she clearly
(14:42):
talked to the defense attorneys.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
She was in a press commerce.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
She said, oh why send them a screenshot of my
emotion to dismiss the whole case, you know, almost gleefully.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
And she never called me one time.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
I've met her.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
One time, I said, if you need thing, feel free
to call me. Be happy to talk to you about
the office. But so she talks to the I don't
know who she talked to besides these defense attorneys that
she said she talked to. But anyone who thinks that
Ellwood's been excluded, Uh, I'm trying to be judicious about this.
(15:21):
It's either dead wrong or they're lying. You know, they
just don't understand what this What exclusion means, it's gonna turn.
It means he can't possibly be the guy. That's what
Connie Pillage said.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
This cannot be the guy Mark Petemer based upon the
layout of the case. This can and in fact, there's
somebody out there who committed this other than El would
now talk about his record many you didn't talk about it.
He was in his early forties when he committed these crimes.
And you know, I watched the Curtis Fuller interview at
Channel five and almost seem like a he was a
boy scout leader. When we come back, I want you
(15:58):
to talk about the previous record Eldwood Jones. Well, this
misbehavior is consistent, which includes, by the way, assault on
a police officer. We'll talk about that on the other side.
And by the way, the letter is on our Twitter account.
Let's continue with more. Bill Cunningham with Mark Pete Meyer
and Joe Eaters on news Radio seven hundred WLWN. Let's
(16:22):
continue now we have in the studio Joe Meeters and
also Mark Pete Meyer left it kind of hanging because
many times this is such a vicious beating. Some of
wrote his teeth was found in her stomach.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Correct, there was one on the floor of the hotel
room and one was found in her stomach.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Yes, Now, what was the previous criminal record of Elwood Jones.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
You know, it's interesting because when they did the podcast,
the inquiry reported to the original podcast, she says, well, well,
wouldn't no, you're not a saint, or he goes, oh no, no,
I gotta admit I'm a thief. I'm a thief, and
it was all they laughed about that, like it's okay.
But he was more than a thief. He was arrested
five or six times for assault, you know, beating someone,
once for domestic violence, which would have been beating his wife,
(17:05):
once for assault on a police officer. But he was
also arrested four times, four different times for aggravated burglar,
which is breaking into someone's residence to steal something. After
I guess the first couple. He actually was convicted on
one of those and went to prison, apparently convinced the
par board that hey, I've been scared straight, I learned
my lesson. You're not going to see me again. They
(17:27):
cut him loose early, and with a short amount of
time he was arrested and convicted of another burglary and
went down to prison. So Elwood Jones was a career criminal,
and what better place for a guy like him to
work at a nice hotel with a master key.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
It's like a kid in a candy store. One of
the other allegations of County pillage was that there was
someone else who would confessed to the murder of Elwood Jones.
Can you ferret out the facts in that matter?
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Yes, this was first came to light, I think from
one of his attorneys twenty years after the murder happened,
but they had a lady who said back around that
shortly after this happened, she was locked up in the
justice center and her cell mate was a lady I
think her name was Linda Reid. And they get to
be talking, kicking a little bit, and Linda Reid tells
(18:14):
this lady, I have to tell you something. You know
that person that's been arrested on that embassy suite's case. Yes, yes,
well my husband the one is really did it, and
the Blue Ash Police framed that guy for it, but
my husband is really the one.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
That is important stuff right now, Yeah, this is big.
Well somebody confessed to it. So you're Mark Petmer's your
ears looked like a rabbit. Well this is you know,
it is twenty years later, but still, who is this guy?
I mean, I never remember number one. He didn't work
for Blue ass Police. Number two, there's no association with
him in the hotel. And then we find out at
the time this lady is locked up and she's telling
(18:49):
her cellmate this. She's going through a divorce with her husband.
So I'm thinking, well, that's kind of red flag number one.
But I don't say, you know what, I'm gonna go
over and pull the domestic relations court case and see,
maybe this guy is a violent guy and he's constantly
beating the crap out of her, and maybe it's something
like that. When I pull the file, I see it's
Ken Peller, guardian for Ken Peller's a local attorney, guardian
(19:12):
for Linda Red versus mister Reed. And I'm thinking, why
does she have a guardian? I mean, why is she
not participating in the divorce. So I look further and
actually contacted Ken Peller. He says she was incompetent. She
was mentally incompetent to participate. That's the hook upon which
Connie Pillage hanged part of this. Well.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
First of one, it's double hearsay because the guy that
really did it is dead. His wife is really dead,
So the person that did it telling his wife is
hearsay it, and his wife telling this other lady is
double hearsay. So number one, it's legally admissible, inadmissible. But
this lady that said it was found crazy by the
court so much that she couldn't even participate in.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Her own divorce. No way in the world that is evidence.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
But that is the third prong Again, Number one is
the evidence that we withheld that the court said no.
Number two is the hepatitis, which only a third of
the people. In fact, the study that I referred to
us people that use needles of other people, and you're
very likely probably.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
To get it there, but a third of those people
get it. Only a third.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
So anyway, those are the three prongs based on that
he's cleared.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
He's yeah, someone else confessed, Joe talk about hepatitis b
because you told me off there. There was some reference
in the optops optops the well, the defense.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
Initially said, we hid the fact that she had hepatitis.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
Did you do that?
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Well, it was in the autopsy report that they got.
It was in black and white. Yes, it was inlaps,
he said. And I don't have to tell them what
defense to pursue. They can do whatever they want. You know,
it's not my job. But they received information she had hepatitis.
You know the reason I wanted to come her bills.
I was so offended by that press conference.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
I mean, it was.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Factually and fundamentally incorrect, and it was so offensive to
accuse my office of hiding evidence to convict an innocent man.
It I don't know that she realizes the magnitude of
that statement. I mean, if people actually did that, they should.
Speaker 4 (21:21):
Be in jail.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
That it's just beyond defensive to me. And she I
think she owes the prosecutors an apology for this, but
you know she's obviously talking to defense attorneys and that's
who she talks to. So I guess that's the message
(21:44):
you get out of this whole case.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
And Mark Pete Myer. As far as Elwood Jones himself,
I watched an interview on Channel five he did of
a Curtis Fuller positioning himself as a guy who's made
a few mistakes in the past, like beating up your
wife and hitting cops and serving time in prison for
burglaries twice, and now he's seen the light. And when
she uses the term cheated, that you cheated in this case,
(22:07):
how does that strike your heart? It really offends me.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
And again I was asked by Connie Pillitts to stick
around and help with the transition for the office, which
I agreed to do.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
And I you know, she's the other party.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
I supported Missy Powers, and I thought, you know, people
are going to come in and take over the senior positions.
That really have never done this stuff. In fact, within
the first month, I think we had two different police shootings,
and I always went on both of those, on all
of those. So I took the new people out to
show you how we get involved in these police shootings,
what we do when we don't do, how we make decisions.
(22:38):
So you know, I did my best to help with
the transition, you know, just so because I cared about
the office.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
I cared about the county forty four years, yes, And
for them to imply that, and Seth Tiger was the
other person that tried the case, I saw much younger
Mark Petemyer and a much younger Seth Tiger standing up
in nineteen ninety Yes, yes, ninety five or six was
the trial.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
And now we're bent over with walkers. It's not the
same game. But again I just I was stunned. I mean,
I just where did this come from?
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Now another aspect of the case is I can sense
things are often about money, and the county prosecutor is
in charge of representing judges and prosecutors because the county
prosecutor has civil responsibilities, thinking as a civil attorney, which
I think neither maybe you two or none. I don't
know you're on the Supreme Court and you're retired more
(23:26):
or less. What does it do when the county prosecutor
representing the judges and the prosecutors and the sheriff, et cetera,
come in open forums and say, you know what, we
cheat it not we, but you guys cheated, you withheld
evidence and there's new stuff that isn't new stuff. What
(23:47):
does that do for the liability of Hamilman County.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
To me, you're saying we are liable. You know, there's
two things in a civil suit. A is are you
liable for it? And b as how much money do
you get? And she is the has a civil division
that represents the county against lawsuits, and she's basically saying,
we didn't accidentally we may have intentionally sent an innocent
man to death row. I don't think it's if it's
(24:14):
when Ellwood's going to file this huge civil suit against
the county, and if i'm them, witness number one is
County Pillage. Hey, you said he's exonerated and the office cheated.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
I might I sent this letter to the Attorney General's
office today also because if he makes his ridiculous claim
though at least no where to go to talk to
about the facts of the case. I just want to
make it very clear to your listener's bill, my office
doesn't cheat. To make that statement is highly offensive. Elwood
(24:53):
Jones is a murderer. We had the right guy, absolutely
positively sure, and.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
She let him go. Now why she let him go,
I have.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
No idea, But her reasons that she stayed in her
press conference are ridiculous, and they're so easily proved as false.
I can't believe she said it. At this point, where
do we go from here? Ellwood?
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Right now?
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Elwood is a freeman and there's absolutely nothing that can
be done about it. But I just hope that some
truth comes out of that office. You know, when they
make decisions like this of this magnitude. This is a
thirty year old death penalty case, and everyone forgets about
Rhoda Nathan, everyone forgets about the victims family, and they're
(25:42):
this suffering. I talked to her son a couple of
times over the weekend, and his hurt is like it
happened yesterday. Connie said he was disappointed. Yeah, she said,
he's furious. And as a matter of fact, we gave
I think you have his statement bill that he made.
(26:05):
He's stunned, he's sick to his stomach. It went beyond disappointment.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
Mark Pete Maher as far as it's inexplicable, how this
diamond special brooch just happened to show up in the
toolbox of Elwood Jones. And there's no answer other than
somebody planeted it. Uh, you know the O. J. Simpson defense.
Somebody somebody killed, you know, the two gloves and the
blood and the car. Someone did it, and so can
(26:32):
you state for the record. I feel silly asking this
question whether you plant it, the diamond brooch and the
toolbox along with the pass key and the chain link.
Did you plant or did blue eh police plan it
to make sure an innocent man was convicted and a
guilty man sent free. Can you admit whether or not
you did that or not? I want a lawyer. You
want a lawyer. Take the fifth bill.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
If if they're going to frame Elwood, why don't just
get somebody wrote his blood and throw it around his
car or throw it on his clothes.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
The other thing.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
One of the first officers interviewed him and he wasn't
in custody yet, and they talked to him. They could
have said, you know, he told me I didn't mean
to kill her. I didn't think anybody be in I mean,
they could make up a statement. The important thing is, too,
is when as soon as that other couple got back
to the room, they noticed her necklace was gone. So
it's not like it was laying on the floor and
an officer could have picked it up. And plus, why
would you You're thinking this is a piece of evidence.
(27:23):
You're going to put it into evidence. You're going to
put it in a little baggy, you're gonna print it,
You're gonna do that. So theoretically one of the officers
got that, held it till the right time, and then
somehow put it in his toolbox. It's just physically, I
don't know how you could do it.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
So, in a sense, indirectly or directly, Hamnica Prosecutor's office
is accusing a dead blue ash police officer of planning
evidence in the capital case. Yes, Joe, how does well?
It's that's absurd.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
It's one of many offensive statements made by this office
that I would hope people ask the hard questions, how
can you exclude this guy? How can you make these
statements that people hit stuff. I mean, it's just false.
It's it is blatantly false. And that's one thing. And
(28:11):
I said before, if she wants to let the guy go,
that's her. I mean, she's a prosecutor, have mercy. You know,
he's been in there thirty years, whatever, go ahead, let
him go. But to then use just falsehoods for the
reason that evidence was hidden and that new medical scientific
evidence has excluded him, that's just false. And someone else confessed,
(28:34):
I mean, she's making false statements, I mean, just to
her constituents about this case and impugning the reputation of
really good prosecutors that devoted their lives to public service.
And she, you know, she just casually makes that offensive comment,
and it's horrible.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Do you have a concern in the future there's other
noted cases that you two guys handled, and you're two
of one of one hundred and fifty prosecutors in Hamlin County.
When you two guys are there.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
Well, she listens to defense attorneys and not talk to
the prosecutors. She's gonna come the same conclusion on a
bunch of cases. There's not the case of Woganstall Tracy Hunter.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Just line them up let's come up with something here,
Anthony Anthony Kirkland. After all the defense counsel said, you know,
is he is he executed yet?
Speaker 2 (29:22):
No, but he's there's that SMI defense serial mental illness
that they found a doctor to say he has that,
and if he does, the judge can take him off
death row, but.
Speaker 3 (29:33):
Not only off that. Ell would not off death row.
He got to know our bond and it's walking around
Hamilton County right now.
Speaker 4 (29:40):
Well he's he.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
Doesn't even have to know our bond anymore. He's free
with prejudice, which means it's over. It could ever be refiled.
Are you concerned this will be repeated? As part of
your motivation coming here today is to say, okay, this
is Elwood Jones. He got thirty years, which is better
than nothing. But worry about the next case, in the
next case, in the next case. Have you concerned this
(30:01):
this will be repeated?
Speaker 4 (30:03):
I hope it's not, but.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
You know, unfortunately, I'll have to speak out on it
again if it does, and I will, especially if she
uses the reason, oh we hid evidence or you know
something that's totally false scientifically, I mean it's just false.
Speaker 4 (30:21):
I don't know how else to say it.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
And as far as the dead police officer in blue
ash his name's been out there, I hesitate to repeat it.
She's indirectly accusing him or someone like him, of committing
serious felonies while wearing the uniform of a police officer.
He's and by all counts, was a great police officer.
And you know Marx has said this before. You know,
(30:44):
he's got kids, he's got a wife, and to hear
your dead father talked about like this, and if nothing else,
I mean, somebody has to stand up for a road
to Nathan.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
I mean she she came to this this tell for
a bar mitzvah from New Jersey, Yeah, and was brutally murdered.
The evidence is overwhelming on Elwood Jones, and it just
seems like her name gets lost in the shuffle here.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Yeah, came here for a Jewish shavenna about Smithsmah and
all of a sudden she has her teeth punched down
into her stomach. Can you imagine the violence of that attack?
She sixty seven year old woman with Elwood had no chance,
but she fought like a warrior poet and she lost,
and she lost her money out of her purse. She
lost her life, she lost her diamond brooch, almost as
(31:35):
if she said, the killer has my diamond brooch.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
She lost her life, but think about what her family
lost because by all accounts, and I talked to her again.
I talked to her son Val over the weekend twice.
She was just a lovely woman. Just she kept their
family together. And the loss they feel almost hourly.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
And.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
Someone needs to speak for her.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
And I just wish there is more sensitivity to victims
in that office.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Mark Pete, maher thank you. Anything that you want to
add I haven't. I've asked you a few questions here, sir,
Are you okay? I'm okay, You're okay. I'll say hell
out of my wife, Carol. She's listening.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
How many years fifty years in May she going to
keep you or not? We went to the Roger Bacon
prom together, so, oh my gosh, back in a good
old day, back in a good old day.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
Yes, I'm not sure there was so Joe you okay.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
The last thing my wife says said, don't say hi
to me, So I'm not going to do that.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
Well nine stands for news. That's all I know. Well, guys,
good luck and by the way, you think it's over.
I think it's just it's over. It's for Elwood is over.
Speaker 4 (32:39):
It's over for Elk.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
You come forward and confess now. And there's legally nothing
you can do about it because she dismissed it with prejudice.
So Ellwood could say, you know, I found the lord,
beat up cops, beat up my wife, burglarized a bunch
of places, went to prison a few times, and then
all of a sudden, you know, I'm sorry I did,
Murder wrote, I'm very sorry I did, and I beat
(33:01):
her to death and I shouldn't have done it. But
I suspect that will not occur. But if it did,
he's still a free man. Joe, thank you. You worry
about the future, don't you do? This is one case
I do. All right, Mark, thank you, sir, thank you.
Let's continue with more News Radio seven hundred WLW
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