On March 12, 1983, Sander Leach was shot and killed in the van from which he was selling vegetables on Clevelands east side. Arthur Tyler has steadfastly denied shooting Mr. Leach.
Leroy Head, on the other hand, has repeatedly admitted shooting Mr. Leach. Within minutes, he told two friends that he shot the fruit and vegetable man during a robbery, saying the old man forced his hand by trying to pull a gun. Head told his mother he did it, too. She urged him to come clean.
So he told police he did it as well. And he signed a confession.
But it was not Head who was condemned to die.
Just before trial, Head struck a deal with prosecutors and fingered his co-defendant, Arthur Tyler, instead. Arthur has sat on Ohio's death row for 25 years for a crime he did not commit.
Head could be paroled as early as next year, even though he has acknowledged several times since that he was the triggerman after all.
On May 16, 1989, Head told attorneys Joanne Bour-Stokes and Richard Vickers that he had lied when he testified at Tylers trial and that he (Head) killed Leach. Head said the prosecutors threatened him at Tyler's second trial that if he did not testify he would be tried for capital murder or sent to a less secure prison, with the prosecutor making sure the other inmates knew he was a snitch.
Keep up the great work. Look what you've accomplished!
1
0
0
0
grab this widget
for your site or blog
Make a difference for the issues you care about while adding cool interactive
content. Your readers sign without ever leaving your site. It's simple, just choose
your widget size and color and copy the embed code to your site or blog.